Texas State still looking for respect in the Sun Belt
First, a bowl snub, then team is picked fifth in the Sun Belt.
Texas State has won 13 of its 24 games in its first two seasons as a member of the Sun Belt Conference but still has some work to do to join the upper echelon and earn the respect of the conference’s coaches.
The Bobcats, picked to finish fifth in a poll of the coaches released last week, were 7-5 overall and 5-3 in conference last year and were not invited to a bowl game despite being eligible for the second consecutive season.
All the talk from Texas State coach Dennis Franchione at Sun Belt media day Monday was about his team’s need to finish what it has started and “leave no doubt,” the Bobcats’ motto for the coming campaign.
“We have to find a way to do whatever it takes to get over this hump,” Franchione said. “Our players have a real chip on their shoulder about being left out of a bowl for the past two years, and I know I’m tired of it. It’s up to us to take the next step.”
The road is full of obstacles, beginning with a schedule that includes away games against two powerful nonconference opponents (Florida State and Houston) as well as three league teams ranked above them in the preseason polls (Georgia Southern, Louisiana-Lafayette and Arkansas State).
“This is about as tough a schedule as we could have, and we obviously need to win some of those games to reach the top of the league and play in the postseason,” Franchione said.
Franchione was buoyed by Texas State’s announcement Monday that it will provide the full cost of attendance for scholarships beginning in the 2016-17 school year.
The projected cost for all student-athletes in the three full-scholarship sports (football and men’s and women’s basketball) is approximately $400,000 per year.
“Cost of attendance is certainly going to help our program’s ability to recruit against the schools that are going to be offering that stipend as well,” Franchione said. “Kudos to our administration for finding ways to put things together, because it will be a big issue in recruiting, especially against Power Five conferences looking to poach athletes out of Texas.”
Notes: Texas State’s David Mims was picked as the preseason Sun Belt defensive player of the year, Louisiana-Lafayette’s Elijah McGuire was selected as offensive player of the year.
Mims, a senior defensive back, is on the watch list for the Jim Thorpe Award, given to the nation’s top collegiate defensive back. He had five interceptions in 2014 — all in the final seven games — and was sixth on the team in tackles with 48. Mims was a 2014 All-Sun Belt first-teamselection.
Joining Mims as a firstteam preseason selection is senior offensive tackle Adrian Bellard, and junior offensive tackle Ryan Melton is on the second team.
Texas State will play its first football game against a member of the Pac-12 at Colorado on Sept. 9, 2017. The Bobcats have scheduled contests against teams from the Big Ten (Illinois), Big 12 (Texas Tech twice), ACC (Florida State), SEC (Arkansas) and Pac-12 (Colorado) since moving to the FBS ranks in 2012.