Texas State Bobcats ranking: 55/134
[Check out RJ Young’s ultimate 134 college football rankings here]
Conference ranking: 2nd in Sun Belt (+400 to win conference)
Teams ahead of them: Central Florida (54), Georgia Tech (53), Fresno State (52), Duke (51), Troy (50)
Teams behind them: Arizona State (56), Cincinnati (57), Virginia Tech (58), Western Kentucky (59), Coastal Carolina (60)
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RJ’s take: Gary Joe Kinne III got his first head job at Incarnate Word and promptly turned Lindsey Scott, Jr. into the Walter Payton Player of the Year, a First Team All-American, a 4,600-yard passer and the FCS single-season passing TD record holder with 60. He followed up at Texas State with an 8-5 record, a 3,520-yard passer in T.J. Finley and a win against Baylor. Finley holds the Bobcat record for passing yards in a season. In 2023, Kinne’s cats scored 40 or more in six games.
Now he’s got former stud Jordan McCloud running through his play sheet and a pass rush that includes Ben Bell and Tavian Coleman, who combined for 27 tackles for loss last year. Bell will ring it himself when it’s time to eat: 16 tackles for loss and 10 sacks in each of the last two years means that man ought to be an All–American by year’s end and a sleeper first round pick.
In two years as head coach, Kinne is 20-7 and with a 10-win season, this will be his last as G5 head coach. I don’t think more of a young coach, 35, than I do of Kinne.
He’s one of them 1s.
Texas State’s Win Total Odds: Over 8 (-140) Under 8 (+110)
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