SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Brad Jackson threw for 286 yards and Beau Sparks caught five passes for 155 yards as Texas State took down UTSA, 43-36, on Saturday.
The game featured six lead changes, one tie and 951 yards of total offense, with Sparks' 65-yard touchdown reception on the first Texas State play of the fourth giving the Bobcats (2-0) the lead for good.
Sparks also took the first play of the second quarter 73 yards, but was brought down at the UTSA 11. Robert Henry led off the second half with a 75-yard touchdown run, his second score of the day. Henry totaled 159 yards rushing on 17 carries.
The Texas State defense forced three straight incompletions on UTSA's final drive for a turnover on downs.
Ryan Nolan racked up 11 tackles and Kenard Snyder had the lone sack for the Bobcats.
Owen McCown completed 23 of 43 passes for 219 yards and two touchdowns for the Roadrunners, who start 0-2 for the first time since 2018.
Texas State has won two straight against UTSA in the I-35 Rivalry, played in football since 2012. UTSA leads the overall series 5-2.
Texas State Postgame Notes – September 6, 2025
Texas State 43 (2-0), UTSA 36 (0-2)
Attendance: 45,778
Alamodome (34,984) | San Antonio, Texas
Media Guide | Roster | Schedule
NEXT GAME: Saturday, September 13 | at Arizona State | 9:30 p.m. CT | TNT
Head Coach GJ Kinne
Career Record: 30-12
Career FBS Record: 18-10
Record at TXST: 18-10
TEAM NOTES
Captains: Brad Jackson, Lincoln Pare, Dorion Strawn, Kalil Alexander, Ryan Nolan, Treylin Payne, David Nunez
Series vs UTSA | 2-5
Road | 1-3
- The Bobcats win their second straight in the series after defeating UTSA 49-10 in 2024
- TXST wins its first game in the Alamodome (The Bobcats played a pair of games in 1979-80 against Prairie View A&M at Alamo Stadium).
- Texas State wins its true road opener for the third straight year (2023 Baylor 42-31, 2024 Troy 38-17).
- Texas State has won four straight dating back to the 2024 season.
- The Bobcats move to 2-0 to open the season for consecutive seasons and first time in back-to-back seasons since 1983-84.
Coming into the game… The Roadrunners won a school record-tying 10 straight and 17 of their last 18 home
Score | TXST 43, UTSA 36
Texas State scored 40+ points in 5 games in 2024, just shy of the program record of 6 games set in 2023 – 2 in 2025 (52 vs Eastern Michigan)
Total Yards | TXST 454, UTSA 464
Back-to-back games this season over 450+ (606 vs Eastern Michigan)
Rushing Yards | TXST 168, UTSA 248
2nd consecutive game with 3 players scoring rushing TDs (Pare, Jenkins, Jackson 2)
2nd consecutive year against UTSA TXST has a QB with 2+ rushing TDs
Passing Yards | TXST 286, UTSA 219
Had 2 100-yd receivers in the same game (last time vs South Alabama 11.25.23)
All-Purpose | TXST had 3 players with 100+ all-purpose yards (Jenkins 173, Sparks 155, Dawn Jr. 109)
Sacks | TXST 1.0, UTSA 1.0
TFLs | TXST 7.0, UTSA 5.0
Back-to-back games with 7.0+ TFLs
Scoring Drives | Texas State's offense scored on 48% of drives in 2024, scoring on 73 of 151 drives (8-0 when scoring on 40% or more of its offensive drives) – 15-25 (60%) in 2025 (2-0 over 40%)
Long Drive | 95-yard drive in 1st quarter was first 90+ since Arkansas State (10.12.24, 93yd/TD)
Scored a safety | Last time vs Southern Miss (9.19.15)
Fast Start | TXST outscored opponents 162-61 in the first quarter of games in 2024 and 275-177 through the first half – In 2025: 16-3, 43-31
Individual Stats
Brad Jackson | QB | R-Fr. | Earl Campbell Tyler Rose Award Watch List
Passing: 12-20-1, 286 yards, TD
Rushing: 12-34 yards, 2TD
2nd straight 200-yard passing game
2nd career game with 2 TD rushes (11.9.24 at ULM)
286 passing yards – career high
73 yard pass – career long
Beau Sparks | WR | Jr. | Earl Campbell Tyler Rose Award Watch List
Receiving: 5-155 yards, TD
3rd career 100-yard game (2nd in 2025)
Has a receiving TD in 2 straight games
Chris Dawn, Jr. | WR | Jr. | Earl Campbell Tyler Rose Award Watch List
Receiving: 2-109 yards
2nd career 100-yard game (150 vs UTSA 9.7.24)
Lincoln Pare | RB | R-Sr. | Doak Walker Award Watch List, Earl Campbell Tyler Rose Award Watch List, Allstate Wuerffel Trophy Watch List, AFCA Good Works Team Nominee
Rushing: 21-71 yards, TD
Receiving: 3-13 yards
5th straight game with a rushing TD (dating back to 11.16.24)
8th career game with 20+ rushing attempts
Jaylen Jenkins | RB | R-Jr.
Rushing: 7-52 yards TD
Kick Returns: 4-121 yards
All-Purpose: 173 yards
Career-best kick return yards
TXST-best all-purpose yards (184 at Washington State vs USC 2022)
Tyler Robles | K | R-So.
5-5 PAT
2-2 FG - 50 yds, 38 yds
Career-long field goal
5th 50+ yard field goal in FBS era for TXST
First 50+ yard since Mason Shipley at Troy (10.3.24)
Ryan Nolan | S | Jr.
11 tkls (5 solo), 0.5 TFL, 1 PBU, 2 QBH
Career-high for tackles & QBH
Treylin Payne | LB | Sr.
8 tkls (5 solo), PBU
Second consecutive game with 8+ tkls (9 vs EMU) – Did not have over 6 in a game in 2024
Head Coach GJ Kinne
On what it means to get a huge win like this
It was a good win, and we knew coming into this environment, it was going to be a tough place to play. And not something we talked about, but I think that was something on everyone's mind type situation. But we found a way to win, just a total team effort, and we were just unbelievably proud. That was a good one.
On what this win mean on a personal level to you
To be honest with you, anytime you win like that you're excited for your guys
On Brad Jackson's recruiting
I saw him on twitter and his high school stats were really good. So, we got him to camp and after one throw we knew that was the guy. We recruited him and Kylen (Evans) about the same time, and we recruited him (Brad) extremely hard and got him to jump in the boat early and held on. We knew we were going to have to hold on, because we knew what kind of player he was very early on.
On Ryan Nolan today
Yeah, he's super smart. Everyone was saying "captain, captain, captain" all offseason. And we voted in fall camp, but everyone knew he was going to be a captain. Just kind of the way he carries himself, he's just a playmaker. He's not the biggest, he's not the fastest, not the strongest, but that dude is a football player, and he's just an unbelievable kid. Another one of those guys that you know should be proud to be a captain.
Brad Jackson and Kalil Alexander
To Alexander on getting back-to-back wins in the series
It's a nice feeling, I can't explain when winning with some guys that you work so hard with for the past 365 days. We knew it was going to have some tension between us but the main thing we had to do was just stay focused. You know, it was only a big game because it was the next one. You know we have to treat every opponent as the same. So it was definitely exciting and we came to handle business.
To Alexander on setting the tone
The message all week was physicality. We had to dominate the line of scrimmage and on that play (against McCown) I was actually in coverage and was just playing my job. As soon as I seen him take off I came down.
To Brad on being back in San Antonio
The atmosphere and the crowd today was something like I've never seen before, that was such a cool environment to play in, and then two it helps to get the win. To hear how loud it was at the beginning of the game and then at the end, it's not exactly the same. I'm just proud of the guys, that's an environment that you can easily lose your composure in.
To Alexander on the last stop
It's always a lot of pressure. But that's why Coach Kinne recruited us here to handle those big-time moments like this. You know, he put us in a position, our coaches put us in a position, and we executed. Like Brad said, it's all about execution. We practice this stuff, so much in practice, just for deep moments like this. So it was great to see it in action with the guys we have.
