2013 Texas State
College Football
Betting Preview
Schedule and Odds
The Bobcats enter the Sun Belt Conference as one of two newcomers this season. They started last year with a nice win over Houston, but fell apart as the season went on, with their only other wins coming against teams found at the bottom of the WAC standings. against the better teams in the Sun Belt, they will have some troubles.
The main question for Texas State is at quarterback where they don’t have a hands down starter to go to. Tyler Arndt was last year’s backup, but he isn’t exactly the greatest choice as seen in his 39.3 percent completion rate in 56 passes a year ago. He’ll be battling with a couple freshmen which usually isn’t a good sign. They will likely use multiple running backs, led by Tim Gay and Robert Lowe. Gay averaged more than 10 yards per carry last season, but that was only on 27 rushes. The receiving Game will get back all of the relevant players, although none of them really stand out as Andy Erickson led the unit with 482 yards.
Defensively, they were beat up last year on the ground allowing 232 yards per Game. While the Bobcats won’t be playing against as good of running teams in the Sun Belt, it’s still an area they have to improve on. A couple transfers will help that in D.J. Yendrey and Michael Orakpo. Both guys had problems with their former teams and are looking to start over. Their defense will have to step up in the bigger Conference Games if they want to grab an upset.
2013 Texas State Football Schedule
Aug. 31 at Southern Miss
Sept. 7 vs. Prairie View A&M
Sept. 21 at Texas Tech
Sept. 28 vs. Wyoming
Oct. 5 at LA-LAfayette
Oct. 12 vs. LA-Monroe
Oct. 19 vs. Georgia State
Oct. 26 vs. South Alabama
Nov. 2 at Idaho
Nov. 16 at Arkansas State
Nov. 23 vs. Western Kentucky
Nov. 29 at Troy
The Schedule sets up nicely for the Bobcats as their only real difficult non-Conference Game comes at Texas Tech. OUtside of that, Games against Southern Miss, Wyoming and Idaho are all winnable. In fact, a 4-1 non-Conference record isn’t out of reach.
However, that’s not how Conference play will go for them as Texas State opens up with a back-to-back against LA-LAfayette and LA-Monroe who will both likely be too much to handle. After a couple more nice matchups, the Bobcats will finish the season with a tough three-Game stretch. Arkansas State, Western Kentucky and Troy will all be difficult tasks, especially with two of them coming on the road.
Even though their QB situation is unsettled, a rather favorable Schedule could see Texas State finish with close to six wins. That’s saying a lot for this team, but a couple studs enter defensively which should prove helpful throughout the year.