DFW, Tx- The Texas State-Rice intrastate matchup became a prominent part of the Bobcats’ history. A little over two years ago, Texas State knocked off Rice 45-21 in the First Responder Bowl, marking Texas State’s first bowl game and win in school history. Friday’s Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl brought back the same memories for Texas State and its fans, as the Bobcats dominated Rice on both offense and defense, 41-10.
“[Friday’s win] was important for us as a program,” Texas State head coach GJ Kinne said. “Chris [Dawn Jr.] has been here for three years now and has three bowl victories, three rings, with the opportunity to go make it four next year. In college football now, that’s hard.”
Friday’s game started as a defensive battle. Rice punted twice, and Texas State punted, along with turning the ball over on downs. Then Texas State picked up the big play of the first half, an interception thrown by Patrick Crayton Jr. to Bobcats Jaden Rios. Rice’s quarterback pool was already thin entering Friday’s bowl game. Both Chase Jenkins and Drew Devillier entered the transfer portal and opted out of Friday’s bowl game. Therefore, the Owls showcased their two quarterbacks, Crayton Jr. and Lucas Scheerhorn.
“Pretty tough day for us,” Rice head coach Scott Abell said. “Our young quarterbacks struggled and never let us get into a rhythm. No matter what you are doing, [the] quarterback position still remains [a] very important position. As the game went on, [it] put our defense in a bad situation in our second half.”
After the Rios takeaway, Texas State moved down 38 yards on eight plays. Bobcats’ quarterback, Brad Jackson, took it himself to the left side of the end zone to put Texas State on the board first, 20 minutes into the game.
On Texas State’s ensuing possession, there was a third and 10 on their own 10-yard line. It appeared Rice stopped the Bobcats at the 5-yard line and forced fourth down. However, an unsportsmanlike penalty where one of the Rice coaches made contact with an official on the sideline kept the drive alive, followed by another penalty, a block below the waist, on Rice, which took Texas State into field goal range. Tyler Robles knocked a 30-yard field goal to extend the Bobcats’ lead to 10-0.
In the final minute of the half, Crayton found Payton Matthews for 54 yards. Before that completion, Rice had 49 yards of total offense and 29 yards of passing. After a couple of failed attempts from the 1-yard line, Crayton tossed it to Aaron Turner as Rice cut the Texas State lead to 10-7 at halftime.
“We didn’t really change anything [or] make any adjustments,” Texas State quarterback Brad Jackson said on the offensive difference between the first and second half. “[It] came down to just play in our game.”
Texas State responded in the opening minute of the second half with Jackson finding Beau Sparks in the flat for 69 yards. Sparks sped down 65 yards down the left sideline for a touchdown. Sparks also completed his first college pass earlier in the day for 22 yards to Blake Smith. He had not attempted a pass in the 30 previous games Sparks played.
“We tried to run it earlier in the season, and it kind of blew up a little bit,” Beau Sparks said about the pass completion. I live with Blake, and we’re all the time in the backyard playing catch [and] practicing it. It came to tuition today, so we were super excited about it.” Beau added that there were no nerves, but he was more proud of the completion than the 69-yard catch and run.
Later in the quarter, Kalil Alexander forced a Crayton Jr. fumble recovered by Tymere Jackson, setting up Texas State inside the Rice 15-yard line. Two plays later, Jackson found Chris Dawn Jr. up the middle for another touchdown throw.
Lincoln Pare stamped his name on Friday’s win with a 63-yard sprint touchdown. On the next drive, Jackson found Dawn Jr. for 14 yards for another Bobcats touchdown. Texas State forced 3 Rice turnovers, scoring 17 points off turnovers, and accumulated 436 yards of total offense Friday.
The Bobcats will make the move to the Pac-12 starting next season and finish with three straight winning seasons and three straight bowl victories.
“I’m not sure it was about the Pac-12, just more [with] this program [and] where we want to head,” Bobcats head coach Kinne said regarding carrying the momentum of a bowl win to the Pac-12 next season. “We’ve been able to do that three years in a row, and that creates so much momentum.”
While not the most ideal situation for Rice, Friday’s bowl loss was an experience that coach Abell wouldn’t give up.
“I take it again and say yes again. Three weeks of practice, I can’t replicate that [and] that moment out there on the field today.”
