Texas State Athletics
Texas State finished the 2014 football season with a record of 7-5, an improvement from last season's record of 6-6.  The Bobcats finished 5-3 in conference play and ended the season on a two-game winning streak. The two-game winning streak included a 45-27 win at home against last season's Sun Belt Conference Co-Champion, and this year's GoDaddy Bowl representative, Arkansas State, and a 54-31 road win against Georgia State to end the regular season.   The Bobcats won four of their final six games, with their two loses coming against Conference Champion Georgia Southern and Raycom Media Camellia Bowl representative South Alabama.  The Bobcats lost those two games by a combined seven points. The Bobcat offense improved dramatically this season averaging 464.4 yards per game. That is an improvement of over 140 yards per game from last season, which is fourth best in the country.
 
Individually for the Bobcats, linebacker David Mayo is currently second in the country with 12.8 tackles per game. His 154 tackles for the season ties for the most in Sun Belt Conference history.  Quarterback Tyler Jones has 22 passing touchdowns this season. That is the second most this year in the Sun Belt Conference and is third most in a single season at Texas State. Jones completion percentage of 65.43 this season is the all-time single season record at Texas State.  Robert Lowe became Texas State's first 1,000 yard rusher since 2008, finishing the regular season with 1,091 yards. For his career he has 2,112 yards.
 
Bobcat Stadium averaged 20,598 attendees per game this season, a 14% increase from the previous season.  Texas State students also showed up big for the Bobcats this year, averaging 4,788 students per game.  That is an increase of 30% from the previous season. The Bobcats sold out Bobcat Stadium on September 13th against Navy with a crowd of 32,007.  In addition, all premium seating options at Bobcat Stadium, including all 15 luxury suites and 450 club seats, were sold out for the season. 
 
The Bobcat Club broke all-time annual fundraising records for number of donors with 1,212 and all-time scholarship fund dollars raised with $1,157,893.42 to date. Total fundraising for Bobcat Athletics surpassed $4.6 million dollars, and this year's licensing revenue projections place the Bobcats in the top 60 nationally among Collegiate Licensing Company partners.
 
Bowl Information
When visiting with Bowl Committees and ESPN about what factors influence selection of participating teams, attendance and fan support (at both home and away games) and how well our fans would travel to a bowl game are the two main factors. 
 
With that in mind, Texas State has prepared marketing plans with benefits and travel incentives for Bobcat fans and presented it to the Sun Belt Conference.   Incentives the Bobcats presented if selected included purchasing tickets for any Texas State Students who want to attend the games, ensuring a strong turnout of our Bobcat students.  Along with the complimentary tickets for all students, Texas State is also prepared to offer travel incentives.  To help guarantee "heads in beds", Texas State will assist our students to help cover the cost of their hotel expenses at host cities. Texas State is also prepared to support a game day tailgate for Bobcat Fans highlighting bowl city restaurants and entertainment. 

Despite a strong resume and what we believed to be a strong case to select the Bobcats, Texas State was not selected to participate in one of the three guaranteed Sun Belt Bowls; the R&L Carriers Bowl in New Orleans, Louisiana, the GoDaddy Bowl in Mobile, Alabama, or the Raycom Media Camellia Bowl in Montgomery, Alabama. 
 
What's next?
Moving forward over the next four days, the Sun Belt Conference and Texas State Athletics will dedicate all of their efforts toward securing an at-large bowl berth for Texas State.  Receiving an at-large bid relies on several factors.  Selection decisions for bowls outside of the Sun Belt Conference are determined by Executive Bowl Committees, and in several cases, selections are made directly by ESPN.  In some cases, bowls that may appear to have potential openings for at-large placements may have several back up agreements with other leagues that are not commonly listed in national publications.   Bobcat fans need to know we have been, and will continue to be, engaged in discussions with all potential bowl options.

What can Texas State Fans do?
Over the next few days, continue to follow Texas State through social media and txstatebobcats.com for bowl updates.  Continuing to support the Bobcats is extremely important for our team and student-athletes.  Let potential bowls know through social media, including those listed as potential options for the Bobcats in national projections, how excited we are to be considered for their bowls.  Bobcat Athletics staff members and Sun Belt Commissioner, Karl Benson, are doing everything possible to support the Bobcats in a bowl!