Football | 10/11/2017 11:11:00 PM
The Texas State football team plays in a nationally-televised game on ESPNU this Thursday night when the Bobcats travel to Lafayette, La. for a Sun Belt Conference game against the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns. The game kicks off at 6:32 p.m. on Cajun Field. Shawn Kenney and Ray Bentley will describe the action.
The game can also be heard throughout the I-35 corridor between Austin and San Antonio on 1300 the Zone in Austin, KRDY (1160 AM) in San Antonio and KTSW (89.9 FM) in San Marcos with Brant Freeman and Bill Culhane calling the action and Megan Trammell serving as the sideline reporter.
Texas State enters Thursday night looking to win its second game of the season after the Bobcats opened the season with a 1-5 overall record and a 0-2 mark in Sun Belt games after falling 45-27 against ULM in San Marcos last Saturday. Texas State began the season with a 20-11 victory over Houston Baptist on Sept. 2 before suffering losses in their last five games.
Louisiana is 2-3 overall and 1-1 in home games this season. The Ragin' Cajuns evened their Sun Belt Conference record to 1-1 last Saturday when they recorded a 21-16 victory at Idaho after dropping a 56-50 decision against intrastate rival ULM on Sept. 23.
The Ragin' Cajuns limited Idaho to 279 total yards in the game and had a season-high three sacks with seven pass breakups against the Vandals.
TEXAS STATE vs. Louisiana SERIES
This marks the fifth meeting between Texas State and Louisiana, and the Bobcats enter Thursday night looking for their first win against the Ragin' Cajuns. Texas State is 0-2 on Cajun Field after dropping a 48-24 decision on Oct. 5, 2013 in the first meeting between the two schools. Texas State also suffered a 49-27 setback on Oct. 10, 2015. Last season, the Bobcats fell 27-3 on Oct. 22 in San Marcos. The Bobcats also enter Thursday night seeking their first road win of the season after falling at Colorado (37-3) on Sept. 9 and Wyoming (45-10) on Sept. 30.
Texas State Notables
Texas State enters the Louisiana game ranked third nationally and tied with Idaho for the Sun Belt Conference lead in blocked punts with one this season after
Anthony D. Taylor recorded his fourth career blocked punt at Wyoming. Taylor led the nation with three blocked punts last season.
Taylor's blocked punt gives the Bobcats two blocked kicks overall this season, which ranks eighth nationally and leads the Sun Belt Conference.
Easy Anyama also blocked an extra-point attempt against Houston Baptist earlier this year.
The Bobcats are tied with Idaho for the most sacks in the Sun Belt Conference with 15 this season after
Easy Anyama recorded his third sack against ULM. Anyama is tied with
Frankie Griffin for the team lead with 3.0 sacks. Texas State recorded a season-high six sacks against Houston Baptist and had three sacks at Colorado. The six sacks against HBU are the highest single-game total by the Bobcats since Dec. 1, 2012 when they had six sacks against New Mexico State.
Easy Anyama enters the Louisiana game ranked fifth among league leaders after averaging 0.6 sacks this season. Anyama collected his third sack against ULM and has played in five games.
Frankie Griffin ranks seventh among league leaders in sacks after averaging 0.5 sacks per game. He has collected three sacks in six games. In addition,
Gabe Loyd has logged 2.5 sacks this season after recording a sack at Wyoming, while
Jordan Mittie has two sacks.
Hal Vinson,
Gavin Graham,
Caeveon Patton and
Clifton Lewis Jr. have recorded one sack each.
Sami Awad and
Dean Taylor have assisted on a sack this year.
Texas State ranks second in the Sun Belt Conference and 18th nationally in fourth-down conversion defense. The Bobcats have allowed opponents to convert only 33 percent of their fourth down attempts. Texas State gave up one of two ULM fourth down attempts and have surrendered two of six attempts overall.
The Bobcats rank third in rushing defense among Sun Belt teams after surrendering an average of 143.8 yards per game. Texas State gave up 156 rushing yards against ULM. The Bobcats have held three opponents under 100 yards rushing. They include Wyoming (84), Colorado (91) and Houston Baptist (59). Texas State also held Appalachian State to a season-low 116 yards rushing.
Texas State ranks 49th nationally and second among Sun Belt Conference leaders after allowing 3.7 yards per rush. The Bobcats held Wyoming to 2.4 yards per carry to mark the third opponent they have held under 3.0 yards per rush this season.
The Bobcats also rank 37th nationally and second among Sun Belt Conference leaders with four fumble recoveries.
A.J. Krawczyk,
Frankie Griffin,
Ishmael Davis and
Caeveon Patton have recovered one fumble each for the Bobcats.
Texas State had its best rushing total of the season when the Bobcats gained 181 yards and scored two touchdowns on 39 rushing attempts against ULM. It marks the third time that Texas State has run for more than 150 yards in a game. TXST had 156 yards on 47 carries at Colorado and 155 yards and two TDs on 41 rushing attempts against Houston Baptist.
What's Next
Following the Louisiana game, Texas State will play its next game on October 28, when the Bobcats travel to Coastal Carolina. The Bobcats return home to Bobcat Stadium on November 4 when Texas State hosts New Mexico State in its annual Homecoming game.
