Nov. 12, 2016 | 3 p.m. (CT) | Bobcat Stadium | San Marcos, Texas
ESPN3 | KTSW in San Marcos | 1300 The Zone in Austin | KSLR AM 630 in San Antonio
Watch | Texas State Radio | Live Stats |
Game Notes
OPENING KICK
SAN MARCOS, Texas – Looking to even its record in home games to 2-2 this season, the Texas State football team returns to Bobcat Stadium on Saturday when the Bobcats host Idaho in a Sun Belt Conference game beginning at 3 p.m.
Texas State will be battling for its first Sun Belt Conference game this season after dropping its last four Sun Belt contests. The Bobcats fell 35-10 at Appalachian State last Saturday after losing 27-3 against UL Lafayette on Oct. 22, and road games at Georgia State and UL Monroe. Texas State has a 2-6 overall record this season.
Meanwhile, Idaho enters Saturday's game having won three of its last four games after posting a 23-13 victory at UL Lafayette last Saturday. The Vandals also edged UL Monroe, 34-31, on a last-second field goal and beat New Mexico State 55-23 before falling 37-19 at Appalachian State on Oct. 22.
MEDIA COVERAGE
Saturday's game will be televised on Spectrum Sports and ESPN3 with Marc Hoenig calling the play-by-play and Bucky Godbolt serving as the analyst.
The game can be heard live on 1300 The Zone (1300 AM) in Austin, KTSW (89.9 FM) in San Marcos, KLUP the Answer (930 AM) in San Antonio and on www.txstatebobcats.com. Brant Freeman is the play-by-play announcer with Ben Campos serving as analyst and
John McElfresh serving as the sideline reporter.
SERIES HISTORY
Texas State has a 4-4 record against Idaho in a series that began Sept. 8, 1990 in San Marcos. The Vandals won that game, 38-35, before winning 41-38 on September 14, 1991 and 66-38 on September 11, 1993 in Moscow. The two teams met one other time on September 28, 1996 before Texas State joined the WAC in 2012. The Bobcats won that game, 27-21, before winning their only WAC game against the Vandals, 38-7, on Oct. 13, 2012. Texas State also won 37-21 in 2013 when Idaho was an independent and 35-30 on October 4, 2014 in the first Sun Belt game between the two schools. Idaho tied the series last season when the Bobcats dropped a 38-31 decision in Moscow on November 28, 2015.
THE COACHES
Texas State's
Everett Withers enters today's game with a 27-19 career record in his four seasons as a head coach. Withers came to Texas State after coaching the last two seasons at James Madison, where he compiled an 18-7 mark. He also was an interim head coach at North Carolina in 2011 when he led the Tar Heels to a 7-6 record. In between those two stints, he was the co-defensive coordinator at Ohio State for two years under Urban Meyer. He also played for Mack Brown at Appalachian State and was on Brown's staff at Texas before coaching with the Tennessee Titans and at North Carolina.
Paul Petrino is in his fourth season at Idaho and in the midst of his best season with the Vandals. Petrino began his coaching career as an assistant coach at his alma mater, Carroll College, in 1989. He also was an assistant coach at Idaho (1992-94), Utah State (1995-97), Louisville (1998-99), Southern Miss (2000-02), Louisville (2003-06), Atlanta Falcons (2007), Arkansas (2008-09), Illinois (2010-11) and Arkansas (2012) before being named Idaho's head coach.
SCOUTING TEXAS STATE
This marks the 35th season that Bobcat Stadium has been the home for Texas State. The Bobcats enter today's game with an all-time record of 121-87 after splitting their first two home games this season. Texas State was 3-3 last season and 4-2 in 2014 home games.
Redshirt freshman
Bryan London has tallied a total of 33 tackles in Texas State's last three games and has 10 or more tackles in six of Texas State's eight games this season. London notched a game-high 10 tackles at Appalachian State. He had 10 stops against UL Lafayette and a career- and game-high 13 tackles at ULM. He began the season with 12 tackles at Ohio, and had 11 against Houston and 10 at Arkansas.
Gabe Loyd has also totaled 30 stops in the last three contests with nine tackles against both Appalachian State and UL Lafayette to go with his career-best 12 stops at ULM.
Tyler Jones completed 28 of 38 passes for 183 yards at Appalachian State and enters the Idaho game having completed 48 of 66 passes for a 72.7 completion percentage in the last two games. His 73.7 completion percentage against Appalachian State marks the second straight game and the fourth time overall this season that he has completed 70 percent of his passes.
UP NEXT
Texas State travels to New Mexico State on November 19 before returning to Bobcat Stadium for the final two home games of the 2016 season. Texas State will play against Troy on Nov. 26 at 3 p.m. and Arkansas State on December 3.
