SAN MARCOS, Texas – Texas State scored on six of its 10 drives and held App State without a touchdown for the first 35 minutes of the game as the Bobcats beat App State, 36-24, on Saturday at Bobcat Stadium to give them their best start to a season since 2014.
 
Leading by double-digits for nearly all of the final three quarters, the Bobcats (3-3, 1-1 Sun Belt) evened their overall and conference records with the program's first ever win over the Mountaineers (3-3, 1-2 Sun Belt) and in front of the seventh-largest crowd in Bobcat Stadium history.
 
Tory Spears returned an interception for a 94-yard touchdown in a momentum-swinging play midway through the third quarter while the Texas State defense forced two total turnovers. The Bobcats also limited App State to 6-of-15 on third downs and forced them into four turnover-on-downs after failed fourth-down attempts.
 
Texas State was outgained by App State, 436-334, but the Bobcats had 22 first downs to the Mountaineers' 20 and won the time of possession, 32:39 to 27:21.
 
Layne Hatcher was 26-of-26 passing with 281 yards and two touchdowns. He connected with Charles Brown and Ashtyn Hawkins for the scores.
 
Hawkins finished with a game-high 105 receiving yards on six catches. It was his third 100-yard game of the season.
 
Lincoln Pare led the team in rushing for the third game in a row, totaling 64 yards on 20 rushes. He also scored a touchdown, the Bobcats' first of the game with 4:54 left in the first quarter.
 
While Pare's score gave the Bobcats a lead they never relinquished, Hatcher and Brown's connection from two yards out capped a nine-play, 48-yard drive that made it 14-0 Texas State.
 
After Seth Keller's 33-yard field goal put the Bobcats up 17-0 with 6:46 remaining in the second quarter, the Texas State defense went on to force a turnover with a fumble. While the Bobcats could not flip the turnover into points, they later got a three-and-out by App State with two minutes to go in the first half. On the punt, Hawkins took advantage of a bouncing ball and scampered for a 17-yard return to put the Bobcats at the App State 33.
 
Two plays later, Hatcher found Hawkins for a 23-yard dart in the end zone to help lift the Bobcats to a 24-0 advantage.
 
The Mountaineers added a field goal to end the first half, but the three points tied the fewest points allowed by the Bobcats in the opening stanza of a Sun Belt game.
 
Texas State led by as much as 30-3 in the third quarter when Spears returned the interception five minutes into the second half. The Mountaineers were driving to start the second half, ignited by a 55-yard pass from Chase Brice to Dalton Stroman that put the ball at Texas State 21-yard line. However, on a third-and-four, Spears jumped a Brice pass to the right side for the longest interception return by a Bobcat in nearly two years.
 
After App State used a six-play, 82-yard drive to make it 30-10, the Bobcats answered on their only offensive drive of the third quarter with a field goal by Keller. Texas State chewed up six minutes and 33 seconds with the 12-play march down into App State territory.
 
Keller later added his third field goal of the night that made it 36-18 with 5:08 remaining in the game.
 
The Mountaineers scored on the final play of the game with a 3-yard pass from Brice to Stroman.
 
The 12-point win by the Bobcats was their largest conference victory since September 2019 against ULM.
 
Texas State will return to the road for its next game when it takes on Troy on October 15 at 2:30 p.m.
 
 
Postgame Notes
Saturday's attendance was 25,613, which was the seventh-largest crowd in Bobcat Stadium history and largest ever in a Sun Belt conference game for Texas State.
 
Spears' interception returned for a touchdown was the longest by a Bobcat since Jarron Morris ran back an interception for a program-record 100 yards on Sept. 19, 2020 vs. ULM.
 
Saturday was the Bobcats' ninth double-digit conference win in their FBS history and first at home since November 19, 2015 vs. ULM.
 
The win snapped Texas State's six-game losing streak to App State.
 
The Bobcats' three-game winning streak is their longest since 2012-13.
 
It is Texas State's first 3-0 start at home since 2011.
 
The Bobcats had back-to-back drives starting in opponent territory in the first quarter, was a first for them this season.
 
The 3 points allowed in the first half were the fewest surrendered by a Texas State in a Sun Belt game since November 19, 2015 vs. ULM.