About Our Ads Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement SAN MARCOS - Over the past year, Texas State football has made an unfortunate habit of losing games it had no business losing.
It flipped the script Saturday night against Utah State. Despite the Bobcats' worst offensive performance of the year yardage-wise and scoring only one offensive touchdown, they prevailed 20-17 as the Aggies missed a game-tying 48-yard field goal to end the game.
"We grew through the adversity and came together as a team," Texas State head coach GJ Kinne said.
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The Bobcats have lost games for a variety of reasons, but the most notable of which are their poor second halves and lackluster special teams. Those two factors were key in defeating the Aggies. Running back Jaylen Jenkins has been quiet on kick returns this season after a strong 2025. He reminded Utah State exactly why teams avoid him on the first kickoff, returning it 100 yards for a touchdown.
Texas State needed that boost. The offense recorded one first down in its first four drives and finished the second quarter with 82 yards, struggling to find a rhythm against Utah State's stout run defense. Texas State entered halftime trailing 9-7 after kicker Jacob Bonilla missed a 49-yard field goal.
Texas State running back Jaylen Jenkins celebrates after a 100-yard kick return touchdown in the first quarter against Utah State on Saturday, Oct. 23, 2026. (Texas State University athletics)
Bonilla could've spiraled mentally after a miss. He'd already suffered an embarrassment earlier in the week, when he missed two kicks Tuesday that would've allowed the team to skip their scheduled lift. Bonilla knew he would respond, and so did Texas State.
"You just got to look at it, figure out where you went wrong and go from there," Bonilla said.
That's exactly what the Bobcats did. They opened the second half with their best drive of the game: a 12-play, 78-yard sequence that ended in quarterback Brad Jackson running it in from three yards out for six. And the defense held Utah State to six yards in the third quarter. Bonilla nailed a 51-yard field goal to extend Texas State's lead to 17-9. The Bobcats were succeeding in everything they'd failed to do in their losses - even in their wins.
But could they close it out? The last time Texas State trailed at the half and came back to win was South Alabama in 2024. Utah State punched back in the fourth quarter, with wide receiver Anthony Garcia throwing a touchdown, tying the game on a two-point conversion. Memories came flooding back: a two-overtime loss to Marshall, a blown 28-7 lead to Troy, even the recent collapse against San Diego State.
"You could put the pressure on yourself, make all these expectations," Bonilla said. "Just go out there with the mentality of, 'I got nothing to lose.'"
The Bobcats chewed up just over six minutes of clock on their final offensive possession, and Bonilla hit the go-ahead 37-yard field goal. Although Texas State gave up a fourth-and-6 on the final drive, the defense did its job, keeping Utah State out of the end zone.
It wasn't pretty. Kinne called the offense a "bad dream," and linebacker Treylin Payne still thinks there's another level the defense can reach. Regardless, Texas State showed Saturday a different side of its team.
Texas State faces its toughest two-game stretch of the year in the coming weeks: road games against Boise State (6-1, 3-0) and Oregon State (5-2, 3-0), the two top teams in the Pac-12. It'll need the grit it showed against Utah State to keep its conference championship hopes alive.
"We just got to fight, fight, fight," Payne said.
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This article originally published at Texas State wasn't supposed to beat Utah State. The Bobcats found a win anyways .
Source: Sports
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