SAN MARCOS, Texas - The Texas State football team plays its second Sun Belt Conference road game of the season when the Bobcats travel to ULM for a contest that begins at 6:05 p.m. on Oct. 20. The game will be televised on ESPN3.
TXST enters the game with a 1-5 overall record and is 0-3 in league games after suffering its fourth straight loss against Georgia Southern, 15-13, on Oct. 11. Texas State also fell against Louisiana (42-27) on Oct. 6, at UTSA (25-21) on Sept. 22 and at South Alabama (41-31) on Oct. 15.
ULM enters Saturday's game with a 3-4 overall record and a 1-2 Sun Belt mark after defeating Coastal Carolina, 45-20, in Conway, S.C.
The contest can be heard on the Texas State Bobcats Sports Network on TuneIn.com, AM 1300 the Zone in Austin, KTSW (FM 89.9) and AM 1160 in San Antonio.
Brant Freeman (play-by-play),
Bill Culhane (analyst) and Karina Medellin (sideline) will call the action.
The game will be broadcast on ESPN3 with Will Kollmeyer (play-by-play) and Gregory Bowser (analyst) describing the action.
ABOUT TEXAS STATE
Texas State looks to win its first road game of the season when the Bobcats travel to ULM. In addition to the South Alabama and UTSA road games, the Bobcats opened the season with a 35-7 loss at Rutgers.
ABOUT ULM
The Warhawks won a 45-20 decision at Coastal Carolina on Oct. 13 after dropping their previous four games. ULM suffered a 70-21 loss at Ole Miss on Oct. 6, 46-14 loss at Georgia State on Sept. 29, at 35-27 setback against Troy on Sept. 22 and a 48-10 loss at Texas A&M on Sept. 15.
TEXAS STATE VERSUS ULM
Saturday's game marks the third time that Texas State plays at ULM since joining the Sun Belt Conference in 2013. The two schools have split the first two meetings in Monroe with Texas State winning a 22-18 decision on Oct. 25, 2014 and ULM winning, 40-34, on Oct. 15, 2016.
TEXAS STATE STORYLINES
Texas State announced on Thursday that quarterbacks coach
Brett Elliott will call the offensive game plan for the rest of the season and that
Zak Kuhr would remain as the running backs coach and join the entire offensive staff with the preparation of the offensive game plan this week and the remainder of the 2018 season.
Elliott returned to Texas State as the quarterback coach this year after spending last season in the same capacity at Mississippi State. He called plays for the Bulldogs when they upset Louisville and former Heisman Trophy winner Lamar Jackson, 31-27, in the TaxSlayer Bowl. He was a co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the Bobcats in 2016 when Texas State set single game passing records for most completions, most yards and most touchdowns in a game.
Texas State's defense is ranked among the top four Sun Belt Conference teams in four primary defensive categories. The Bobcats are ranked third in total defense (366.7 ypg) and pass defense (199.0 ypg), and fourth in scoring defense (29.7 ppg) and rushing defense (167.7 ypg). Last season, Texas State ranked 10th in total defense (439.5 ypg), 11th in passing defense (2972 ypg), ninth in scoring defense (33.6 ppg) and fifth among Sun Belt teams in rushing defense (142.2 ypg).
Texas State held Georgia Southern to 164 yards rushing on 52 carries and 215 yards of total offense after the Eagles entered the game leading the Sun Belt in rushing offense with 275.2 yards per game and averaging 375 yards of total offense. The Bobcats join Clemson as the only two schools to hold Georgia Southern below 200 yards rushing and 28 points.
Bryan London II leads the Sun Belt Conference in tackles with an average of 9.7 tackles per game after collecting a combined 21 stops in Texas State's last two games. London II had a season-best of 11 tackles against Georgia Southern on Oct. 11 after recording 10 stops against Louisiana on Oct. 6.
London II also had a game-high seven solo stops and 1.0 tackle for loss against Georgia Southern. His tackle for loss against Georgia Southern gives him 3.5 tackles for loss this season. That surpasses his 2017 total of 3.0 tackles for loss and is the most since he had 8.5 in 2016.
In addition to the 11 tackles by London II,
Nikolas Daniels tallied a career-high 10 tackles against Georgia Southern. It marks the first time this season that two Bobcats have recorded 10 or more tackles in the same game.
Keenen Brown recorded Texas State's longest run of the season when he galloped 61 yards on a carry against Georgia Southern. Brown scored Texas State's first touchdown in the game with a three-yard run two plays later. Brown leads the Bobcats with 26 catches for 370 yards and four touchdowns.
NEXT WEEK
Following the ULM game, Texas State will play its annual Homecoming game against New Mexico State on Oct. 27. The Homecoming game will also be Texas State's Throwback game.
