GJ Winne

Kinda feel like that's a stamp of approval, given your history.

I have never harbored delusions of grandeur and an undefeated season/playoffs, so I'm not too torn up about last night's L. I got exactly what I needed out of this game: Be in the fight with a P5 late in the game, and show everyone, including ourselves, that we're legit. The W would have been a huge bonus, but in the big picture of the program overall, that singular result isn't as important as the process. My goal for this year has always been a Sun Belt title, and nothing I've seen so far tells me that can't happen. More than anything, I'm incredibly proud of the students for showing up and showing out the last 2 games. They really made a difference in the game, causing false starts, timeouts, etc. Unreal atmosphere that I wasn't sure we'd ever see in SMTX. Seeing students cheer on all 3 downs of defense, get bonkers on 3rd down, quiet each other down of offense - hell, even the alumni side was up and out of their seats the whole game and cheering. 25K+ on a weeknight and 9k+ students at the game? Win right there. This was epic:

It's a huge hit w/ the fans. Everyone wants the Cats shirts the coaches are wearing and I've already seen it on hats being sold.

I know y'all may be referring to it as Kinne's offense because he's the HC and people keep acting like he's the architect, but Mack Leftwich runs the O and calls the plays. Couldn't agree more on the playcalling being less than ideal, and it was like that from the jump - we were behind the chains all night because of limp dick calls on 1st and 2nd down. The late game horizontal calls were GDGD-esque and had me punching air. There is some unreal beauty in our offense when it's playing balls out, but it can't slow down and idle for shit. Grinding out games isn't what we do well, and I think they were trying to pace, knowing ASU can eat clock. I'd rather hang brain and lose going full throttle than trying to do something other than what we do best.

G.J. Kinne has made football Texas State’s biggest attraction since swimming pigs Kinne’s Bobcats have been hogging time on ESPN ever since he arrived last year. Once upon a time, San Marcos’ biggest attraction was Aquarena Springs and its marquee act, Ralph the Swimming Pig. The theme park on the crystal headwaters of the San Marcos River also featured glass-bottom boats, alligators, mermaids and a chicken that took on all comers in tic-tac-toe. But the top dog, or hog, was Ralph, a gen-u-ine even-toed, hoofed mammal who executed his signature “swine dive” into the hearts of children and adults alike. Ralph — or one of his more than 700 understudies — famously warranted segments on Walter Cronkite’s CBS Evening News and “That’s Incredible!” But when Ralph took his final dip in 1996, he took much of the town’s national interest with him. Until G.J. Kinne showed up at Texas State last year, that is. He’s been hogging time on ESPN ever since. The 2-0 Bobcats’ game Thursday night at UFCU Stadium against Arizona State will be one of four on ESPN this season. Until this year, according to a report in the local paper, the Bobcats had only made ESPN’s primary feed three times in school history. “It’s a testament,” athletic director Don Coryell said over the phone, “to the man sitting here next to me.” The man, of course, is Kinne, who kick-started his tenure last year with a 42-31 road upset of Baylor, a four-touchdown favorite, and didn’t stop until he’d led the Bobcats to a win over Rice in Frisco’s First Responder Bowl. Only one year into the job, and he’d already made history. Before he left Incarnate Word for Texas State, Kinne had no idea the Bobcats had never been bowling. “Damn,” he said Tuesday, “I probably should have asked that before I came.” Kinne has shaken up things on a campus long known across the state for shaking. The university hardly shies from the reputation. On its official bio of Boko the Bobcat, the school mascot, his fields of study include “partyology.” Considering Arizona State makes national lists of schools known for a good time, Thursday’s game seems like a natural match. “The more I think about it,” tweeted Andy Staples, national college football writer for On3.com, “the more excited I get about the Party School Bowl on Thursday in San Marcos.” The fact that the Sun Devils will even be on hand in San Marcos is a novelty as rare as swimming pigs. Most FBS schools — certainly those from power conferences — are only too happy to include Sun Belt inventory and the like for nonthreatening nonconference games. Occasionally big-time schools will sign a two-for-one deal, meaning two games at their place for one on a Group of Five campus. Until this season, the only power conference schools to play in San Marcos were Texas Tech in 2012 (a 58-10 blowout of the locals) and Baylor in ‘21 (a 29-20 heart-stopping win for the Bears). Coryell — who’s been at Texas State for 21 years, the last four as athletic director and is not related to the Hall of Fame coach — doesn’t know why Arizona State agreed to a home-and-home in 2015. There were no stipulations, as far as he knew. Maybe it was because the Sun Devils were on their way from six wins in ‘15 to five in ‘16. The Bobcats had only been an FBS school for a couple of years. Maybe they seemed like the perfect patsies. Back when it was known as Southwest Texas State, the school that also gave us a president (Lyndon Johnson) and a king (George Strait) won back-to-back national titles under Jim Wacker in 1981-82. But that was NCAA D-II. Until Kinne’s eight wins last year, the Bobcats had had more head coaches (Dennis Franchione, Everett Withers and Jake Spavital) than winning seasons (one) since moving up in class in 2012. What Coryell saw in Kinne, the third-youngest FBS coach when he was hired at 34, was someone who’d gone 12-2 in his first season at Incarnate Word and led the nation in points (51.5) and yards (581.2) per game. He also liked the experience the Mesquite native had accumulated in an eventful, peripatetic life. From the time he moved on from Canton, where his father and coach, Gary Joe Kinne, was badly wounded by a gunshot from a bitter parent, to Gilmer, where he was coached by Jeff Traylor, now his chief rival at UTSA; to Texas and Tulsa; through seven pro football stops as a quarterback and occasional wide receiver or running back exposed to the coaching of Tom Coughlin, Chip Kelly, Doug Pederson, Ryan Day and Steve Spagnuolo; to five jobs in five years as an assistant under, among others, Chad Morris, Sonny Dykes, Todd Graham and Gus Malzahn, Kinne had pretty much seen it all. Too much, maybe. Like the 2017 Frisco Bowl, when Dykes, hired after Morris left for Arkansas and took most of his staff with him, put the young GA in charge of the offense against Louisiana Tech, a 51-10 flop. Until those responsibilities were thrust upon him, Kinne said, he was the typical GA who thought himself at least as smart as his bosses. Then the first night in the team hotel, three SMU players got in trouble. “I’m not ready for this,” Kinne thought. He grew up fast, same as Thursday’s counterpart, Kenny Dillingham. Like Kinne, Dillingham worked for Malzahn and is generally credited for salvaging Bo Nix’s professional prospects at Oregon. At his presser this week, Dillingham called Texas State the equivalent of “a power four football team” that could “compete in the Big 12.” He was just as effusive about the Bobcats’ coach. “I think people should talk more about the job that he’s done,” Dillingham said. “He’s going to be on most head coaches ‘Watch Lists’ to be a head coach in a power four level here in the next four months because of the job he’s done.” Kinne’s “Take Back Texas” theme has done wonders for more than the football team. Season-ticket sales more than doubled this year to 5,769. The stadium’s 30,000 capacity was full to the brim for last week’s blowout of UTSA, though a second straight sell-out could prove problematic for a midweek game. To that end, a Texas State student with a Thursday night class conflict mounted a campaign on “Maroon and Golden,” a Bobcat fan site, to seek cancellation of his class. He was subsequently chided for even thinking class might come before football. The Bobcats will have their hands full Thursday with Cam Skattebo, who ran 33 times for 262 yards in the Sun Devils’ win over Mississippi State last week. For his part, Dillingham is impressed with the quick release and decision-making of Texas State’s Jordan McCloud, now on his fourth school. Even Vegas can hardly decide who should win, making Arizona State a 1.5-point favorite as of Wednesday. Whatever happens, wrote Colton McWilliams of the San Marcos Daily Record, “Texas State has already won. San Marcos will be shown on a national stage in front of millions of people and the university in a spotlight where they can attract potential students to their school outside Texas.” Once it took a swimming pig to draw that level of attention to San Marcos, but not since Aquarena Springs folded. Texas State bought the land and made it an environmental research facility. No more swine dives. These days, it’s up to the football team to make a splash.

I don't like a lot of our uniform combos, or even everything about this particular one, but the script Cats is pretty sweet. If you've been paying attention, and judging by the attendance you haven't, we shiny-ed up the gold on our helmets this year and they look SO much better than the old matte version.

This cracks me up!

The latter. Marburger started the 2nd half. I believe the line is Texas -30.

It definitely doesn't. What it takes is competent coaching. 2022 TXST: 104 rush yards per game, 3.3 yards per attempt, 4 wins 2023 TXST: 187 rush yards per game, 4.6 yards per attempt, 8 wins 2023 OL were all transfers playing in their 1st year for TXST, and 4 of them came from FCS. 1st guy off the bench was a 4th year guy who had never started (not sure he'd even ever played on the OL - special teams only) and ended up starting 7 games due to an injury.

But for real, I'd be absolutely shocked if he left the state of Texas for his next job. I'm worried about Baylor, Tech and TCU, but definitely not Colorado.

Proud of the students, and the crowd overall. I've had season tickets since 2012 and it's been a tough dozen years, not only on the field, but getting fans in the stands, getting the cheerleaders and band on the same page as the action on the field, etc. Rewatching the game right now, and it's really impressive - look (and sound!) like an actual program! Can't give President Damphousse enough credit - the guy has changed the culture almost overnight. Gotta try and bring the same energy on Thursday vs Arizona State. Tough to fill the stadium on a weeknight, but I've seen a lot of buzz from folks who made the decision to attend based on yesterday's W. Traylor: "Their student section was fantastic, by the way. It was deafening down there, so much props to them."

Sold out at 28K. We lost 2K seats to rearranging the donor seats last year. This is right before the game - crowd definitely thickened up. Great atmosphere.

total fever dream

He went against the numbers and did not move up to the P5 job when he had the chance. Once a G5 coach hits 10 wins, they either move up or get fired within the next 3 years. The exceptions are the ones committed to a long term stay, and produce results - Pat Hill at Fresno, Boise State w/ Hawkins and Petersen. It's unbelievably hard to be a consistent winner at the G5 level. Harder now w/ NIL and unlimited transfers - all our good players get sniped. I think Traylor is committed to staying until the job he wants opens up, and I think he can keep winning 9+ games at UTSA to avoid being fired. He's in a uniquely good position. Fuck them birds. Good to finally get that W. Should be at least our 3rd, but fuckery and whatnot.

Battle for Interstate 35 Texas and Texas A&M are finally renewing their conference rivalry this season, but it might not even be as Texas-centric as the I-35 Rivalry between UTSA and Texas State. The two schools, less than 60 miles apart, have a lot more in common than just proximity. Their two coaches first met in 2005 at a Dairy Queen in Gilmer, Texas. Now-Texas State coach G.J. Kinne was then a star quarterback whose dad, Gary Joe, was his coach at Canton High School in East Texas, before the father was shot by a disgruntled parent in the team's locker room. Jeff Traylor, now at UTSA, was the coach of his hometown Gilmer Buckeyes, about 70 miles away from Canton, where he had built a powerhouse that won three state championships. (The Buckeyes now play at Jeff Traylor Stadium.) In 2005, Traylor and G.J. Kinne first matched wits when Canton and Kinne beat Gilmer and Traylor 61-58 in a playoff game. After that season, Gary Joe Kinne landed a job at Baylor and G.J., whose mother and father were divorced, decided he wanted to escape the family history in town -- and his mom and stepdad opted to move to Gilmer. This came as a shock to Traylor, who had a star quarterback, Jamell Kennedy, who was committed to SMU. "We meet at the Dairy Queen," Traylor said of G.J. Kinne. "You can't make this up, now. I said, 'You sure we want to do this?'" "I think he was trying to talk me out of it," Kinne said, but he was determined to play for Traylor if he couldn't play for his dad, even noting he also had admired Traylor's work with the McCown brothers (Randy, Josh and Luke) as their QB coach at another East Texas school. Kinne enrolled then Kennedy got hurt. Kinne stepped in, threw for 3,216 yards and 47 touchdowns with one interception and rushed for 11 more scores. He was named the Texas 3A Offensive Player of the Year and signed with Texas Longhorns before eventually transferring to Tulsa, where he starred for Gus Malzahn. (Kinne also later worked for Malzahn at UCF, after working with Traylor at SMU then at Arkansas for Chad Morris, who is now on Kinne's staff at Texas State. Got all that?) Now, less than two decades since they met at DQ, they're two of the hottest coaches in the country going head-to-head in a blizzard of emotions. Traylor has a 40-14 record with two American Athletic Conference titles at UTSA. Kinne went 12-2, won a Southland Conference championship and went to an FCS semifinal in a single season at Incarnate Word, before taking Texas State to its first bowl game in history last season and winning it to finish 8-5 after the Bobcats finished 4-8 the year before. Traylor made every phone call he could to help get Kinne the job, and Kinne can't help sharing his praise for Traylor. Both have jokingly said maybe those were bad ideas as the heat gets turned up in the matchup. Last year's game drew 49,000 at San Antonio's Alamodome. UTSA is 5-0 in the series that dates back to 2012, when both schools became full FBS members, but four of the contests were decided by one score or less. When the two coaches meet Saturday (4 p.m. ET, ESPNU), Kinne will face Traylor along with UTSA's starting QB, Owen McCown, the son of Josh McCown. The coaches will be on opposite sidelines, but they are still family. Kinne -- who was in the wedding of Traylor's son Jordan, an assistant coach with the New Orleans Saints -- said this week that Jordan texted him asking whom he was supposed to root for. Kinne said he better pick Dad on that one. Meanwhile, when Kinne's daughter, Swayze Jo, was born this summer, "Jeff was one of the first people I called," Kinne said. The opposing coaches have a mutual love and admiration, but Traylor will always be Kinne's old coach. "You can't help but love the kid," Traylor said of Kinne last year. "He's good-looking. He's young. He's smart. He's the whole package. I know you're not supposed to say that because I'm competing against him. But I'm just telling you, I think the world of him, and I'll be the big fan." -- Dave Wilson

Battle for Interstate 35 Texas and Texas A&M are finally renewing their conference rivalry this season, but it might not even be as Texas-centric as the I-35 Rivalry between UTSA and Texas State. The two schools, less than 60 miles apart, have a lot more in common than just proximity. Their two coaches first met in 2005 at a Dairy Queen in Gilmer, Texas. Now-Texas State coach G.J. Kinne was then a star quarterback whose dad, Gary Joe, was his coach at Canton High School in East Texas, before the father was shot by a disgruntled parent in the team's locker room. Jeff Traylor, now at UTSA, was the coach of his hometown Gilmer Buckeyes, about 70 miles away from Canton, where he had built a powerhouse that won three state championships. (The Buckeyes now play at Jeff Traylor Stadium.) In 2005, Traylor and G.J. Kinne first matched wits when Canton and Kinne beat Gilmer and Traylor 61-58 in a playoff game. After that season, Gary Joe Kinne landed a job at Baylor and G.J., whose mother and father were divorced, decided he wanted to escape the family history in town -- and his mom and stepdad opted to move to Gilmer. This came as a shock to Traylor, who had a star quarterback, Jamell Kennedy, who was committed to SMU. "We meet at the Dairy Queen," Traylor said of G.J. Kinne. "You can't make this up, now. I said, 'You sure we want to do this?'" "I think he was trying to talk me out of it," Kinne said, but he was determined to play for Traylor if he couldn't play for his dad, even noting he also had admired Traylor's work with the McCown brothers (Randy, Josh and Luke) as their QB coach at another East Texas school. Kinne enrolled then Kennedy got hurt. Kinne stepped in, threw for 3,216 yards and 47 touchdowns with one interception and rushed for 11 more scores. He was named the Texas 3A Offensive Player of the Year and signed with Texas Longhorns before eventually transferring to Tulsa, where he starred for Gus Malzahn. (Kinne also later worked for Malzahn at UCF, after working with Traylor at SMU then at Arkansas for Chad Morris, who is now on Kinne's staff at Texas State. Got all that?) Now, less than two decades since they met at DQ, they're two of the hottest coaches in the country going head-to-head in a blizzard of emotions. Traylor has a 40-14 record with two American Athletic Conference titles at UTSA. Kinne went 12-2, won a Southland Conference championship and went to an FCS semifinal in a single season at Incarnate Word, before taking Texas State to its first bowl game in history last season and winning it to finish 8-5 after the Bobcats finished 4-8 the year before. Traylor made every phone call he could to help get Kinne the job, and Kinne can't help sharing his praise for Traylor. Both have jokingly said maybe those were bad ideas as the heat gets turned up in the matchup. Last year's game drew 49,000 at San Antonio's Alamodome. UTSA is 5-0 in the series that dates back to 2012, when both schools became full FBS members, but four of the contests were decided by one score or less. When the two coaches meet Saturday (4 p.m. ET, ESPNU), Kinne will face Traylor along with UTSA's starting QB, Owen McCown, the son of Josh McCown. The coaches will be on opposite sidelines, but they are still family. Kinne -- who was in the wedding of Traylor's son Jordan, an assistant coach with the New Orleans Saints -- said this week that Jordan texted him asking whom he was supposed to root for. Kinne said he better pick Dad on that one. Meanwhile, when Kinne's daughter, Swayze Jo, was born this summer, "Jeff was one of the first people I called," Kinne said. The opposing coaches have a mutual love and admiration, but Traylor will always be Kinne's old coach. "You can't help but love the kid," Traylor said of Kinne last year. "He's good-looking. He's young. He's smart. He's the whole package. I know you're not supposed to say that because I'm competing against him. But I'm just telling you, I think the world of him, and I'll be the big fan." -- Dave Wilson

Credit where it's due - this is blasphemous, but still pretty damn funny!

Eat 'Em Up!

Neither team is on your schedule this year, but this is a pretty wild anomaly. Curious if anyone has ever seen this before, or has any idea just how rare it is to be up 8 at set point and give up 10 straight to lose the set.

Eat 'Em Up!

San Marcos BBQ ~$95 Brisket was pretty tasty - could have been a little jucier, but I also didn't ask for fatty, so that could be on me Sausage and ribs were above average Pork belly burnt ends were ok Mac & Cheese was good, not great - would order again Braised cabbage was ass