2013 Texas State Spring Football Analysis

2013 Texas State Bobcats - Head Coach: Dennis Franchione

Texas State Bobcats

2013 Schedule
8/31 at Southern Miss
9/7 Prairie View A&M
9/14 OPEN DATE
9/21 at Texas Tech
9/28 Wyoming
10/5 at Louisiana
10/12 ULM
10/19 Georgia State
10/26 South Alabama
11/2 at Idaho
11/9 OPEN DATE
11/16 at Arkansas State
11/23 WKU
11/29 at Troy

Why To Be Excited There were signs last season that Dennis Franchione’s team was pointed in the right direction with a few massive rushing performances here and there, starting out the year ripping up Houston and finishing up with 446 yards and five scores on the ground against New Mexico State. Terrence Franks looks ready to take over the main duties in the backfield working behind a line that returns four starters. All the top receivers are back to help ease in the new starting quarterback, while the defense gets all four starters back and all are seniors.

Why To Be Grouchy The key parts of the offensive puzzle are gone. Eight starters return, but tackle Adley Eshraghipour was one of the team’s top blockers for the team’s two leading rushers, Marcus Curry and quarterback Shaun Rutherford. It was running back-by-committee throughout the season, and while Curry was hardly a workhorse, he was the team’s most effective rusher. On the other side of the ball, the team’s top defender, middle linebacker Joplu Bartu, is gone along with running mate Brian Lilly in the 4-2-5 scheme.

What Needs Working On Pass rush, pass rush, pass rush. The Bobcats destroyed New Mexico State in the season finale with six sacks and 13 tackles for loss – Bartu’s four sacks had a lot to do with the huge day. Before that, over the previous 11 games the defense generated a mere six sacks total with two in the Opening Day win over Houston, two against New Mexico and two against Idaho while suffering through a stretch of five straight games without popping a quarterback. Bartu along with the team’s second-leading pass rusher, end Chase Harper, but he only came up with two sacks.

Non-Conference Games: at Southern Miss, Prairie View A&M, at Texas Tech, Wyoming, at Idaho
Realistic Best Case Record: 6-6
Worst Case Record: 2-10
Likely Finish: 4-8
Pre-Preseason Projected Wins: Prairie View A&M, Georgia State, South Alabama, at Idaho
Pre-Preseason Projected Losses: at Southern Miss, at Texas Tech, Wyoming, at Louisiana, ULM, at Arkansas State, WKU, at Troy

Schedule Analysis: The Bobcats don’t have that much to do over the first half of the season with road games at Southern Miss, Texas Tech and Louisiana woven between home games against Prairie View A&M, Wyoming and ULM. With a nice midseason run of ULM, Georgia State and South Alabama all at home, TSU has to fatten up before closing out with the meat of the schedule. Going to Idaho might not be that big a problem, and getting a week off helps, but finishing up with at Arkansas State, WKU and at Troy isn’t going to be rough.

Team Concerns For 2013: The Bobcats had their moments on both sides of the ball, but this year the pass defense has to be night-and-day stronger. Most current Sun Belt teams can't bomb away, but after allowing 200 yards or more in every game but two - and those two coming against Navy and New Mexico teams that never threw - there's work to do in the secondary. It would help to come up with a pass rush after failing to come up with one in eight of the 12 games. The offense has to find something that works on a regular basis and stick with it.

The 2013 Class Is Heavy On ... JUCO defensive backs. The team went big on JUCO talents all across the board with tight ends Tristan Henderson, Kris Petersen and Lawrence White to go along with guard Brandon Sarabia and running back C.J. Best; all should see work right away. Prep running back Jamel James is the star of the class, and quarterback Tyler Jones was a good get, but overall, it's about JUCO, JUCO, JUCO. The secondary signed immediate depth help with Donta Clanton and Trey Garrett out of California, and Demetrius Woodard from Blinn JC.

2012 CFN Recruiting Ranking: 119. That Class Was Heavy On ... Head coach Dennis Franchione has to go heavy to upgrade an offensive line that loses three starters and needs more quality depth. The defensive line also needs help with the depth on the ends lacking. For now, simply coming up with more FBS bodies is the main job, and the opportunities will be there for young players to be in the hunt for playing time.

Team Concerns For 2012: Besides the offensive line, the Bobcats have to come up with more options for a linebacking corps that wasn’t all that great last year and now has to replace Josh Minde on the strongside and Bryan Iwuji in the middle. The biggest issue, though, is the left side of the O line with tackle Michael Chambers and guard Jon Vernon gone.