Week 10 Football Recap: Manball’d

The Bobcats are now in a very difficult situation as they drop a tough one to Arkansas State 38-21. Trying to nab onto an open bowl spot, Texas State could’ve used a victory over a very good Red Wolves team on their resume. But Arkansas State’s gashing running attack was too much in the end for Texas State.

Michael Gordon. That’s the best summary for the game. Arkansas State’s Michael Gordon trampled the number one rush defense in the Sun Belt for 184 yards on 19 carries and three touchdowns.

Unfortunately we don’t have access to footage of Gordon’s runs, but rest assured it was something like this, and this.

Both teams actually came out in an offensive shootout. Texas State relied on their recent go-to plays, the wheel route to Terrence Franks and a QB roll out-out to Ryan Caren. Both resulted in touchdowns and it looked as if the Bobcats had the Red Wolves’ defense figured out. But the defense struggled early.

Well we lost the line of scrimmage tonight. When you give up over 300 yards rushing you got handled up front and we did.

– Head Coach Dennis Franchione

I believe the word Coach Fran is looking for is “Manball”. A team just lining up their offensive line and running it down the defense’s throat the entire game…old school…like the traditional men…#Manball.

A 40 yard touchdown run by Michael Gordon hit Texas State’s defensive momentum early. Throughout the entire game, the defense could not find an answer for Gordon who effortlessly ran through arm-tackles and used his low center (5’9, 190 lbs) of gravity to maneuver through Texas State’s highly touted front seven. At times, Gordon would head to the sidelines for a breather and running back and David Oku and quarterback Adam Kennedy made sure the Bobcat defense didn’t have the chance to do the same.

Kennedy and Oku combined for 133 yards on the ground. Kennedy may not be the fastest runner but he was able to utilize the offensive line’s domination of the line of scrimmage to effectively run the QB draw.

Texas State’s offense stagnated after halftime. Arkansas State shut down the plays that had previously worked for Texas State and the Bobcats failed to adjust. Tyler Jones seemed to have injured his wrist during the game and that hindered the play calling in the second half. Jones would stay in the game but he made some suspect throws that caused some to suspect that the true freshman wasn’t 100% healthy.

Other than the injury, Jones had a decent game and the playbook looks as if it’s opening more and more every week. In the end, the downfall of the Bobcats was the inability to adjust to Arkansas State’s rushing trio.

The Bobcats now look to their final home game of the season vs Bobby Petrino’s Western Kentucky Hilltoppers. The athletic department needs to market and promote this game like non before as this is the University’s last chance to sell Texas State to bowl sponsors. These last two games are must-wins for the Bobcats and both Western Kentucky and Troy are very tough opponents.