September 7th, 2008
Bobcats mistakes come early and often

DALLAS – The Texas State Bobcats traveled Saturday to Gerald R. Ford Stadium to take on the Southern Methodist University Mustangs.  A host of early mistakes put them in the situation of playing catch-up the rest of the game, as they fell to SMU 47-36.  Normally, a 36 point outing is something to cheer about, but the Bobcats never had a chance to celebrate due to costly mistakes from the outset.

SMU capitalized on their first possession as former Katy Tiger quarterback, Bo Levi Mitchell capped a six play, 57 yard drive with a 21 yard TD strike to Emanual Sanders.   This first of his five TD passes gave the Mustangs a lead they would never relinquish.   The Bobcats had a pair of fumbles on their first two possessions and SMU capitalized on the second when Mitchell hit Aldrick Robinson for a 32-yard TD strike to give SMU at 14-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.

“We killed ourselves,” senior wide receiver Cameron Luke said. “We didn’t punt the ball one time because we either scored or turned the ball over. We gave them 16 points with our turnovers and you can’t do that if you expect to win.”

Texas State scored its first points when Karrington Bush ran for a two-yard touchdown to cap a 17-play, 80-yard drive to make the score 21-6. Senior kicker Andrew Ireland’s point after attempt was blocked and SMU’s Derrius Bell picked up the miss and returned the ball 80 yards to give the Mustangs two more points.

After Mitchell threw another touchdown pass to Sanders on SMU’s next possession, the Bobcats closed to within 30-13 when Toon ended the half with a nine-yard touchdown pass to Cameron Luke.  Toon threw another touchdown pass to Luke on Texas State’s second possession in the third quarter to make the score 30-19 before Ireland’s kicked his extra-point try wide.

After both teams exchanged field goals, SMU extended its lead to 40-22 on a seven-yard touchdown gallop by DeMyron Martin.

Texas State scored a pair of touchdowns on its next two drives when Toon hit Luke for a 29-yard TD pass and Bush from five yards to make the final score 47-36.

“We kept fighting and coming back in the game,” said Texas State head coach Brad Wright. “But in the end, the 16 points we gave up on offense proved to be too big a difference to overcome.

The positives from this game are hard to notice at first, but aside from the scoring there are some other bright spots.  The Bobcats outscored SMU for more than three quarters of play.  Bush finished the game with 111 yards rushing, becoming the first Bobcat to run over 100 yards in 2008. Toon threw for 111 yards and one touchdown, while he combined with Stan Zwinggi and Alvin Canady for another 111 yards on the ground. Toon also enjoyed a stellar performance throwing the football as he completed 19 of his 27 passes for 225 yards and four touchdowns.

“We have a chance to be a good football team,“ Wright added. “We just need to look at the film and correct some things.’

The Bobcats will travel to Northern Colorado on Sept. 20 before returning home to play host to Southern Utah and Texas Southern.

Scoring Summary (Final)

2008 Texas State Football

Texas State (1-1) vs. SMU (1-1,0-1)

Date: Sep 06, 2008 Site: Dallas, Texas Stadium: Ford Stadium

Attendance: 22218

Score by Quarters
—————– — — — — —–
Texas State……. 0 13 9 14 – 36
SMU…………….. 14 16 3 14 – 47

Scoring Summary:

1st 11:18 SMU – SANDERS, E. 21 yd pass from MITCHELL, B.L. (MORSTEAD, T. kick)
6 plays, 57 yards, TOP 3:42, TXST 0 – SMU 7

04:26 SMU – ROBINSON, A. 32 yd pass from MITCHELL, B.L. (MORSTEAD, T. kick)
3 plays, 38 yards, TOP 1:01, TXST 0 – SMU 14

2nd 11:45 SMU – SANDERS, E. 8 yd pass from MITCHELL, B.L. (MORSTEAD, T. kick)
1 play, 8 yards, TOP 0:07, TXST 0 – SMU 21

03:33 TXST – Bush, Karrington 2 yd run (Ireland, Andrew kick blockd)
17 plays, 80 yards, TOP 8:12, TXST 6 – SMU 21

03:33 SMU – BELL, Derrius PAT return
TXST 6 – SMU 23

02:45 SMU – SANDERS, E. 35 yd pass from MITCHELL, B.L. (MORSTEAD, T. kick)
3 plays, 56 yards, TOP 0:48, TXST 6 – SMU 30

00:02 TXST – Luke, Cameron 9 yd pass from Toon, Clint (Ireland, Andrew kick)
14 plays, 76 yards, TOP 2:43, TXST 13 – SMU 30

3rd 09:31 TXST – Luke, Cameron 17 yd pass from Toon, Clint (Ireland, Andrew kick failed)
3 plays, 67 yards, TOP 1:15, TXST 19 – SMU 30

05:44 SMU – MORSTEAD, T. 30 yd field goal
13 plays, 47 yards, TOP 3:47, TXST 19 – SMU 33

02:14 TXST – Ireland, Andrew 34 yd field goal
7 plays, 57 yards, TOP 3:23, TXST 22 – SMU 33

4th 14:00 SMU – MARTIN, DeMyron 7 yd run (MORSTEAD, T. kick)
7 plays, 60 yards, TOP 3:09, TXST 22 – SMU 40

10:38 TXST – Luke, Cameron 29 yd pass from Toon, Clint (Ireland, Andrew kick)
6 plays, 56 yards, TOP 3:14, TXST 29 – SMU 40

07:12 SMU – ROBINSON, A. 34 yd pass from MITCHELL, B.L. (MORSTEAD, T. kick)
6 plays, 72 yards, TOP 3:19, TXST 29 – SMU 47

02:41 TXST – Bush, Karrington 5 yd pass from Toon, Clint (Ireland, Andrew kick)
11 plays, 75 yards, TOP 4:25, TXST 36 – SMU 47