Texas State 16, Louisiana-Monroe 3: What We Learned

ezgif-3376400448Texas State notched its third win of the season with a 16-3 victory over Louisiana-Monroe. What did we learn? DCTF's Greg Tepper watched it – yes, really! — and breaks it down.Let us never speak of this game again. A win is a win for Texas State at this point, who notched just their third victory of the season, but goodness gracious, was this hard to watch. The Bobcats’ offense could never find its stride aside from a pair of check-down touchdown passes from Tyler Jones to Lawrence White down the seam. And Louisiana-Monroe may have just put out one of the worst performances you will ever see from an FBS team, putting up just 181 total yards. There were essentially no redeeming qualities of this game. If you have this game on tape, burn it and bury the ashes. Plant a tree on top of those ashes so that maybe, just maybe, something beautiful can come out of something truly hideous. Don’t get too excited about the defense. Here’s a way to tell who actually watched this game, and who just looked at the box score: ask them what they thought of Texas State’s defensive effort. Yes, the Bobcats’ defense held Louisiana-Monroe to 181 total yards of offense, but saying that Texas State “held Louisiana-Monroe to 181 total yards of offense” is tantamount to “making breakfast” by picking up donuts — you put on shoes and went to the donut shop, but let’s not oversell your efforts here. Louisiana-Monroe played with a backup quarterback, an interim head coach and, apparently, no stomach for the fight. Texas State took full advantage, and that’s not to be understated, but this was more a case of a woebegone Warhawks offense than a resurgent Bobcats defense. This was proper send-off for the seniors. Earlier today on DCTF Live — our live show, every weekday at noon at TexasFootball.com/Live — we talked with Joe Vozzelli of the San Marcos Daily Recordabout this game, and the topic of Senior Night came up. This was the final home game for the Texas State seniors, some of whom — like Robert Lowe and Jafus Gaines — feel like they’ve been Bobcats for decades. These are cornerstones of the Texas State program, guys who helped usher the Bobcats into the brave new FBS world. This season has been an abject disappointment, but for the 27 seniors who played their final game at Bobcat Stadium, it was an appropriately triumphant curtain call.