SAN MARCOS, Texas – With the help of a career-high 216 rushing yards by Ismail Mahdi, Texas State overcame a 17-0 halftime deficit on Saturday against Nevada and beat the Wolf Pack 35-24 at Bobcat Stadium for the program's largest come-from-behind win in its FBS history.
 
The Bobcats (3-1), off to their best four-game start since 2013, scored touchdowns on five of its seven second-half drives to complete the comeback win. Mahdi had 166 rushing yards and two touchdowns in the final two quarters.
 
Texas State finished with 276 rushing yards and 574 yards of total offense. It held the Wolf Pack (0-4) to 353 yards of offense, including 175 in the second half, and forced three second-half turnovers.
 
The Wolf Pack built the 17-0 lead in the first half thanks to a field goal on their opening drive, an interception returned for a touchdown on the Bobcats' first drive, and a rushing touchdown early in the second quarter.
 
Texas State had 197 yards of offense in the first half, but it came away scoreless on its four drives. In addition to the interception returned for a touchdown when they were in the red zone, the Bobcats had drives in the first half end in a punt, turnover on downs twice, and a fumble on the final play of the half.
 
Nonetheless, Texas State rallied in the third quarter with three touchdowns. TJ Finley found Joey Hobert for a 25-yard pass in the back of the end zone to break the Nevada shutout and then Finley connected with Kole Wilson for a 77-yard touchdown reception – the longest touchdown pass for Texas State in five years – to make it 17-14. Mahdi followed that up with rushing touchdowns of 46 and 36 yards to put the Bobcats in the lead.
 
Malik Hornsby capped the scoring for the Bobcats in the fourth quarter with a 13-yard scamper and the Bobcats' third rushing touchdown in the game.
 
Finley finished the game 25-of-31 with 295 yards and two passing touchdowns against one interception.
 
The Texas State defense finished with the three takeaways, which resulted in 14 points off turnovers. The Bobcats forced a total of four fumbles, two of which were recovered in the second half. Kaleb Ford-Dement had an interception in the closing seconds of the first half.