Record-breaking Homecoming Win for the Bobcats

SAN MARCOS, Texas – The Bobcats took care of business and then some as they destroyed the Southern Miss Golden Eagles 58-3 on Texas State Homecoming night at UFCU Stadium.

The Bobcats finally picked their first home win against the Golden Eagles and they did it spectacularly. The Bobcats move to 6-4 for the season and are now bowl eligible for the second consecutive season.

From the opening kickoff, the offense for the Bobcats was rolling, as Redshirt Senior QB Jordan McCloud found RB Ismail Madhi and TE Konner Fox for two touchdown passes to quickly jump to a 14-0 lead halfway through the first quarter. With 2 minutes left in the first quarter, True Freshman QB Brad Jackson was put in the game and ran in a 10-yard touchdown to make the score 21-0.

The Golden Eagles tried to claw their way back into the game with a 46-yard field goal in the second quarter, but the Bobcats were not having any of that as Jordan McCloud threw for two more touchdowns. With the first one being a 30-yard bomb to Senior WR Jaden Williams and the following one being a 15-yard pass to Ismail Madhi, his second receiving touchdown of the night to make the score 34-3 at halftime.

McCloud only saw one drive in the second half which ended in an explosive 57-yard touchdown run from Redshirt Junior transfer Torrance Burgess Jr. to make it 41-3. McClouds’ final stat line for the game was 23-28 throwing for 335 yards with four touchdowns and one interception.

Brad Jackson would take over for the rest of the third quarter as he led the team to 10 more points, including his first career passing touchdown which was a 60-yard pass to Junior WR Drew Donley to give the Bobcats a 51-3 lead heading into the final quarter. Jackson would end his day completing 4 out of his 6 passes for 102 yards and had 32 yards on the ground and had a touchdown each on the air and the ground.

Jackson wasn’t the only Freshman QB to get playing time though as midway through the fourth quarter as Redshirt Freshman PJ Hatter saw the field. He ultimately didn’t have to do much as Redshirt Junior RB Lincoln Pare took the reigns and broke off a 68-yard touchdown run for the only score in the final quarter as the Bobcats would go on to win 58-3.

The Bobcats ended the game with 703 total yards of offense which is a new program record, and scored on 9 out of 11 drives. “The goal is to win the game, but I thought we played a clean game, I told the guys it was homecoming night no matter what level you play at homecoming is special and I’m glad we put on a show”, said Coach GJ Kinne when asked about the record-breaking night for the Bobcats.

It was a near-perfect game for the Bobcats from all three sides of the game. With three different running backs finding the endzone we asked Coach Kinne about having so many lethal offensive weapons at his disposal, “Man it’s a lot of fun I know it can be a problem for teams when you have all this talent, but it’s not a problem for us we have a lot of unselfish guys who play for each other”.

With this dominant win, the Bobcats will go bowling for the second consecutive season after not going to a single bowl game for ten years. We asked about his thoughts about how he’s been able to turn this program around, “Yeah it’s awesome it’s not just me it’s the administration, the players, the coaches it takes everyone involved to accomplishment back to back years it’s only the beginning and we are really excited going forward, but its special”.

The job isn’t over for the Bobcats yet as they host their final home game of the season to taking on the Georgia State Panthers on Saturday at 6 p.m. CT.