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The Sun Belt conference released their football schedules Tuesday afternoon for it’s members. The conference in 2018 will see the debut season of divisional play with the winners of the two divisions facing off in the inaugural Sun Belt championship game on December 1st.
The Bobcats this season will have showdowns with four non-conference opponents and eight conference games including a nationally televised game in October.
2018 Texas State Football Schedule #EatEmUpCats pic.twitter.com/tiK6YsHxw2
— TXSTATEFOOTBALL (@TXSTATEFOOTBALL) February 27, 2018
Non-Conference Play
Year three of the Everett Withers era begins against Big Ten member Rutgers on September 1st. The Scarlet Knights have had a similar tear-down & rebuild under head coach Chris Ash and each of his two seasons at Rutgers has improved steadily. This game will be the Bobcats’ first trip to the northeastern United States and will pit one of the oldest college football programs against a team who is in their seventh FBS season.
Of course there is the highly anticipated I-35 rivalry game against UTSA which fires up the social media smack talk. This year the game is set at the Alamodome and with the first two wins under the Roadrunners’ belt this could be the defining game for the Withers’ era in San Marcos if the ‘Cats can get some revenge.
Fun Belt
Texas State will have plenty of chances to prove themselves with their tough conference schedule.
After a month away from home the Bobcats will host the Ragin’ Cajuns on October 6th only to turnaround to host Georgia Southern on the following Thursday night for a nationally televised game.
The real test though will be the triad of death lying within the final three games of the season. Texas State will face off against App State, Troy and Appalachian State in consecutive weeks and besides the ever important UTSA game the outcome of these last three brutal games could make or break Everett Withers “The Path Is Set” campaign.
Fun fact: Texas State has not won against any of these teams since 2015. Let’s hope this streak ends this year.