SAN MARCOS, Texas – On the heels of last Saturday's six-point, overtime victory at Florida International, the Texas State football program will look for its best start to a season since 2013 when the Bobcats host the University of the Incarnate Word on Saturday, Sept. 18 at 6 p.m.
Saturday's football game against the Cardinals can be viewed on ESPN3 with
Brant Freeman and Keith Moreland in the booth and Koral Riggs on the field.
Clint Shields and
Geff Gandy will bring the action to the airwaves on KTSW (89.9 FM San Marcos) and The Varsity Network app.
LOOKING AT THE BOBCATS
Texas State sophomore running back
Brock Sturges made his season debut in dramatic fashion last weekend during the Bobcats' overtime win at FIU. The Allen, TX native carried the rock nine times for 43 yards, but no rush was more important than his game-ending 11-yard touchdown run in overtime. The scoring run marked the second rushing touchdown for Sturges against the Panthers after having a 1-yard score with 10:09 remaining in regulation.
For the second consecutive week, the defensive combination of
Zion Childress and
Caeveon Patton played a major role in forcing turnovers. A week after forcing a fumble against Baylor, Childress opened the fourth quarter by forcing a fumble from FIU running back D'vonte Price, which setup Sturges' game-tying touchdown run minutes later.
Patton, after recovering a fumble forced by Childress against Baylor, found the football again at FIU when freshman linebacker
Issiah Nixon forced a fumble to end the Panthers' overtime possession. Texas State won the game two plays later with Sturges' game-ending touchdown.
Across the national scale, Patton is one of just five FBS football student-athletes who have recovered two fumbles this season. Childress is one of four Sun Belt Conference football student-athletes to average one forced fumble a game through this point of the 2021 season.
SCOUTING THE CARDINALS
UIW enters Saturday's football game with an overall record of 1-1. The Cardinals opened the season with a 44-41 overtime loss at Youngstown State before bouncing back last weekend by beating Prairie View A&M, 40-9, in San Antonio.
Cardinal sophomore quarterback Cameron Ward is the reigning STATS FCS Jerry Rice Award winner from this past Spring, a honor awarded to the top freshman football student-athlete in the FCS. Ward has yet to throw an interception in 85 attempts so far this season and has completed 57% of his passes for 560 yards and seven touchdowns. Five different UIW student-athletes have caught at least one of Ward's touchdown passes with Taylor Grimes and Darion Chafin leading the team with two apiece.
UIW will bring a high-octane offense to San Marcos this weekend. Over its last eight games, the Cardinals have scored 40-or-more points in seven of those contests and boasted the 3
rd highest scoring offense in the FCS this past Spring, while ranking 13
th in the FCS through two games this season.
SERIES HISTORY
Saturday's football contest between Texas State and UIW will mark just the second all-time meeting between the two programs despite being less than an hour apart.
Texas State won the previous matchup, 48-17, on Oct. 1, 2016, in San Marcos. In that game, Texas State quarterback Tyler Jones completed 31-of-40 passes for a program record 475 yards and five touchdowns to five different receivers. Jones' five passing touchdowns are also a program record, a mark matched by current Texas State quarterback
Brady McBride on Nov. 21 of last season against Arkansas State.
FOLLOW US
For all the latest information on Texas State football, be sure to follow the team at @TXSTATEFOOTBALL on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. General athletic news can also be found at @TxStateBobcats on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
