The College Football season kicks off its true Week 1 schedule with a full slate of games this week. On Saturday, the Texas State Bobcats hit the road and travel to Mackay Stadium in Reno, Nevada to take on the Nevada Wolf Pack to kick off the 2022 season for the Bobcats while the Wolf Pack looks to improve to 2-0. Texas State finished 2021 with a record of 4-8 overall and 3-5 in the Sun Belt Conference. The Wolf Pack finished 8-5 overall in 2021 and 5-3 in the Mountain West Conference. The opening kickoff is set for 5:30pm EST.
This will be the fourth season in the regime of head coach Jake Spavial in charge of the Texas State football program. He has now won nine times in three seasons heading into 2022 including a high of five wins last season. Spavial hopes his team can make the leap this year and earn their first winning season since 2014 and perhaps even the school's first-ever bowl appearance. Spavial hopes that his team is ready to do in the now new and improved Sun Belt conference this year. He brings his most experienced, deep and talented team to the table in his fourth season.
Spavial's offense will move fast and try to win through the air. The challenge will be to find the most effective signal caller. Spavial brought in Layne Hatcher from Arkansas State and Dillon Markiewicz from Syracuse along with incumbent Ty Evans. Hatcher will get the first crack and has the most experience in the quarterback room after 32 career ga mes at Arkansas State. Hatcher will have plenty of options at wide receiver with several key players returning including Javen Banks, who led the team in yards and touchdowns last year, and Marcell Barbee, who led the team in catches in 2021. The Bobcats averaged nearly 150 yards rushing per game in 2021 and returns leading rusher Calvin Hill, who averaged over five yards per carry last season. They also return his backup, Jahmyl Jeter, who led the team with eight touchdowns last season. The offensive line has depth and is led by tackle Dalton Cooper, an all-Sun Belt performer in 2021.
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— Texas State Football (@TXSTATEFOOTBALL) August 20, 2022
The Bobcats return a number of key defensive players but, unfortunately, they weren't a top unit last season. Texas State was dead last in the Sun Belt last season in sacks and allowed 430 yards per game and 33 points per contest. The team was also terrible against the run so there is much work to be done. Isaiah Nixon returns with his team-leading four sacks as well as the team's second leading tackler last season, LB Sione Tupou. The Bobcats have size up front but have struggled with getting much of a push. In the secondary, things were not much better last season. They had just three total interceptions in 2021, which helps explain the 33 points per game allowed. In addition, the Bobcats lost their best playmaker in Zion Childress, who transferred to Kentucky. They will return defensive backs Kordell Rodgers and DeJordan Mask to bring some stability to the secondary.