Ranking the Top 131 College Football Programs of the Last 40 Years: 128. Texas State
"Rawr" - Bobcats
I had a friend online who used to swear Texas State’s football team was the next big thing. Every year was “the year” for the Bobcats. Sadly for him, that glory never came, but Texas State did enough to not finish in the bottom 3 in my ranking. The fifth-largest university in Texas with an enrollment of over 38,000, they could be a sleeping giant as a premier Texas team in the Group of 5 now that Houston moved to the Big 12 and SMU is looking to move up.
Best Seasons and Highlights
+------+-------------+------+--------------+--------+
| rank | team | year | resume score | record |
+------+-------------+------+--------------+--------+
| 72 | Texas State | 2014 | -11.927 | 7-5 |
| 86 | Texas State | 2013 | -22.514 | 6-6 |
| 99 | Texas State | 2012 | -33.437 | 4-8 |
| 105 | Texas State | 2021 | -34.614 | 4-8 |
| 115 | Texas State | 2022 | -37.567 | 4-8 |
| 119 | Texas State | 2019 | -44.14 | 3-9 |
| 112 | Texas State | 2018 | -44.317 | 3-9 |
| 122 | Texas State | 2020 | -45.722 | 2-10 |
| 113 | Texas State | 2015 | -46.182 | 3-9 |
| 123 | Texas State | 2017 | -58.931 | 2-10 |
| 128 | Texas State | 2016 | -62.278 | 2-10 |
+------+-------------+------+--------------+--------+
Overall Score: -7292.3427 (128th)40-92 record
0 conference titles
0-0 bowl record
0 consensus All-Americans
2 NFL players drafted
No conference titles, no bowls, no All-Americans. None of this is particularly surprising for a team with just 11 years of FBS experience, but 2 NFL players drafted is a lot less than their counterparts. Compare them with UMass, who moved up alongside them in 2012, with 6 NFL players drafted. It’s been a tough stretch for the Bobcats as their three best seasons came in succession immediately after moving up, from 2012-14, with only losing seasons since. Still, the past two years also make their top five seasons, so they could have some momentum.
Top 5 Seasons
5. 2022 (4-8 overall, 2-6 Sun Belt)
The much maligned Jake Spavital was let go after 2022, finishing with a 13-35 record. With 1 one-possession win and 3 one-possession losses, this could’ve easily been a 6-6 or 7-5 team, but lost 4th quarter leads in three straight games against Troy, Southern Miss, and UL Monroe. QB Layne Hatcher, a 4-time high school state wrestling champion in Arkansas, put up a gutsy season of 19 TD and 10 INT after transferring from Arkansas State. DL Levi Bell was 2nd team all-conference and OL Kyle Hergel was 3rd team.
4. 2021 (4-8 overall, 3-5 Sun Belt)
The glory days, before it all fell apart for Spavital…kidding, this wasn’t much better than 2022 but they actually finished 2nd place in the five team Sun Belt West division. The team had an impressively low 3 total interceptions on the year. Still, it was a fun-ish season for the Bobcats, going 2-0 in overtime games with a 1OT win over FIU and a 33-31 4OT win over South Alabama. Kicker Seth Keller was probably the best player on the team, going 15/18 on FGs and 32/32 on XPs.
3. 2012 (4-8 overall, 2-4 WAC)
Texas State’s first FBS season started off with a bang. 34.5 point underdogs to Houston who was coming off a 13-1 season, the Bobcats walloped them 30-13 to become the first team in history to be an underdog by 34 points or more and win the game by dougle digits. It wasn’t a total fluke, either, as Texas State would prove their FBS quality by taking down Idaho and New Mexico State by a combined score of 104-35. QB Shaun Rutherford had a solid season of 15 TD and 5 INT with an additional 597 rushing yards. Marcus Curry averaged 6.1 yards per carry with 10 TD. I think my favorite player though was the 5’11 248 lb Tim Gay, who on 27 carries, somehow ran for 279 yards with a 10.3 YPC average. This was the last year of WAC football, so Texas State would leave for the Sun Belt in 2013.
2. 2013 (6-6 overall, 2-5 Sun Belt)
Texas A&M fans may remember Fran differently, but Texas State fans should see him as a god for the work he did. This team continued on the success of 2012’s team to start the year 6-3, with wins over perennial solid G5 teams Southern Miss and Wyoming. The team did finish the year 0-3, but played a murderer’s row of top four Sun Belt finishers Arkansas State, Western Kentucky, and Troy. RB Rob Lowe (not the actor) was 2nd team all-conference with 1111 yards from scrimmage and 10 TD, and DB Justin Iwuji also finished 2nd team with 3 INTs.
1. 2014 (7-5 overall, 5-3 Sun Belt)
This was undoubtedly Texas State’s best team. QB Tyler Jones threw for 2670 yards with 22 TD and 7 INT along with 539 rushing yards and 6 TD. Rob Lowe had another great year with 1298 yards from scrimmage and 13 TD. Backup RB Terrence Franks had 712 yards, 6.7 YPC, and 8 TD, and even third string CJ Best averaged 9.1 YPC with 681 yards from scrimmage. TE Brad Miller led the team in receiving yards and finished 1st team all-conference. On the defensive side, LB David Mayo was the Sun Belt DPOTY and finished 2nd in the nation with 154 tackles. Overall, six players finished 1st/2nd team all-conference, and two players were drafted to the NFL with CB Craig Mager in the 3rd round and Mayo in the 5th. On the field, the Bobcats finished 7-5 with close losses to Illinois, Georgia Southern, and South Alabama, but unfortunately were robbed of a bowl game despite the 7 win season.
5th Quarter
Can Texas State ever get to 2014 levels again? Bobcat fans, what is the future outlook with new head coach GJ Kinne?
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