SAN ANTONIO – Texas State is bowling for the first time in program history after a record-breaking season and recent the announcement of a contract extension for first-year head coach GJ Kinne.
Kinne led the Bobcats to a 7-5 overall record and a second-place finish in the Sun Belt West Division. It will be the first time Texas State has played in a bowl. The team joined the FBS ranks in 2012.
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The Bobcats will play the Rice Owls in the nationally televised SERVPRO First Responder Bowl at Gerald J. Ford Stadium in Dallas on Tuesday, Dec. 26 at 4:30 p.m. They are favored by about 4 points.
This meeting between Texas State and Rice is the fifth all-time meeting between the two schools, but first since 1987. The Owls finished 6-6 in the American Athletic Conference.
Texas State reached the bowl season by tying its FBS program record for wins in a season, including five at home. The Bobcats started their season with an impressive road win at Baylor, the program’s first win over a “Power 5″ program.
After a successful year as UIW’s head coach in 2022, Kinne wasted no time in San Marcos. He overhauled a roster that made major improvements on both sides of the ball.
The Bobcats have the nation’s 10th-best offense and 17th-highest scoring offense while the defense leads the country in tackles for loss and is top-10 in sacks. The special teams unit is fourth in the nation in kick returns.
Leading the offense is quarterback TJ Finley. In his first season as a Bobcat after transferring from Auburn, Finley has thrown for 3,287 yards in 12 starts this year. The 3,287 passing yards are the most ever by a Bobcat, breaking the previous record of 3,129 by Barrick Nealy in 2003. He’s thrown for 24 touchdowns and 8 interceptions this season.
While the passing game can be explosive, running back Ismail Mahdi is arguably the second most important player on offense.
Mahdi was named an All-American by four different organizations. He rushed for 1,209 rushing yards on 199 carries this season and enters the bowl season as the only player in the country with 2,000 or more all-purpose yards this year. He had 2,014 all-purpose yards in the regular season.
Aside from the bowl game excitement, the biggest news to come out of San Marcos was the contract extension for Kinne, which makes him the highest-paid head coach in the conference if he meets certain goals and incentives. If Texas State wins the bowl game, Kinne would become the first first-year head coach at Texas State to win 8 or more games since 1983.
JUST IN: Confirming @PeteThamel report that @TxStateBobcats and @GJKinne have agreed to a contract extension making him one of the highest paid coaches in Sun Belt. Kinne led @TXSTATEFOOTBALL to 7-5 record and program's first bowl game. #KSATsports @txstatealumni @TXSTBobcatClub pic.twitter.com/vi062me9Lq
— RJ Marquez (@KSATRJ) December 21, 2023
“We’re proud of the team reaching a bowl game and excited for all of Bobcat Nation to celebrate this great moment for our program in Dallas next week, but we believe we can win championships at Texas State,” Kinne said after the extension was announced. “Our goal is to continue to take this program to new heights and build on this year’s success.”
The program can continue to build and take another key step in the right direction with a win against Rice on Tuesday. The game will be shown live on ESPN. Fans and alumni can get more information about pre-and-post game bowl festivities here.