University Star

An early first quarter 88-yard interception return for a touchdown by Red Raider Cody Davis was just part of spoiling the first home game for Texas State, a 58-10 loss for the Bobcats in front of a Bobcat Stadium record 33,006.

After junior linebacker David Mayo recovered a Texas Tech fumble on the first series of the game, Texas State starting quarterback Shaun Rutherford threw the interception resulting in the long touchdown. Rutherford was engineering a drive inside Texas Tech territory before the turnover.

Offensively, Texas State struggled to move the ball consistently all night. Rutherford went 0-7 passing in the first quarter and did not complete his first pass until the start of the fourth quarter.

Tyler Arndt relieved the senior after Rutherford’s tough first quarter and guided the Bobcats to their only 10 points of the game on a 25-yard touchdown pass to running back Terrence Franks and a 12 play, 53-yard drive resulting in a 38-yard field goal by Will Johnson with 5:52 remaining in the first half.

Arndt finished the game 12-22 for 130 yards, a touchdown and an interception. The Bobcats tabbed a total of 270 yards, with just 20 coming in the third quarter. The yards were distributed between the pass and run almost evenly (129 rushing, 141 passing). Rutherford led all rushers with 35 yards on nine carries. Franks had 31 yards on six carries. Marcus Curry missed the game with a quad injury.

The Texas State defense was unable to get any pressure on Texas Tech’s quarterback Seth Doege, giving last season’s FBS passing leader enough time to spray passes all over the field. Doege ended the night with 319 yards on 25-32 passing with a career tying five touchdown tosses.

Three Red Raider receivers had touchdown receptions. Darrin Moore had two touchdown catches of 23 yards and four yards. Javon Bell, Alex Torres and Jace Amaro had the other touchdown grabs. Bell led all receivers in receiving with 5 catches for 81 yards. Texas Tech was never forced to punt.

After last week’s win over Houston, the defense received credit for stopping the Cougars on critical third and fourth downs. The Bobcats, giving up a total of 591 yards, only stopped the Red Raiders on 4-11 third downs.