By: Jonathan Mayer / Staff Writer
After a dominant season-opening victory by a score of 48-10 against LIU, the Panthers were looking to make it 2-0 to start the season as they faced off against the Texas State Bobcats, however they fell short, losing 23-17 in overtime.
“You can give all the credit about hard we played, but there were a lot of things we did tonight, that you can’t do to win football games,” Butch Davis said postgame. “Getting the ball inside the redzone, turning the ball over, not putting enough points on the board, and making explosive plays that get called back for penalties, it was disastrous.”
As the game started with FIU winning the toss and electing to defer, the Bobcats were able to score early on their first drive as quarterback Brady Mcbride threw a 17-yd touchdown pass to running back Caleb Twyford, giving Texas State a 7-0 lead.
The FIU offense was stagnant for all of the 1st quarter, and most of the 2nd quarter until six seconds down 10-0, as quarterback Max Bortenschlager found wide receiver Tyrese Chambers in the endzone for a 22-yd touchdown, making it 10-7 as the game entered halftime. Chambers finished the game leading the team with nine receptions for 79 yards.
At the start of the 3rd quarter, the Panthers came out hot. After three carries to senior running back D’vonte Price for a total of 22 yards, Bortenschlager threw a laser to tight end Rivaldo Fairweather for a 34-yd TD pass, and gave FIU a 14-10 lead.
On their next drive, the Panthers drove down the field to the goal line, but could not score their third touchdown of the day. FIU had to settle for an 18-yard field goal by kicker Chase Gabriel, extending their lead to 17-10.
To begin the fourth quarter, FIU was in the midst of an offensive drive that looked very promising until the Bobcats forced a D’vonte Price fumble, which was Price’s second of the night. Texas State made notice of their defensive turnover, as they scored on a 1-yd TD run for running back Brock Sturges, tying up the game at 17.
On the next drive for FIU, they took advantage of many pass interference calls going their way, however were unable to get good yardage in Texas State territory, and had to punt the ball.
In the next four drives, the Panthers and Texas State both had trouble finding a groove on offense, and continuously punted the ball away. The Bobcats had the ball with 0:12 left in the game, but took the knee to send the game into overtime.
Texas State won the coin toss, and gave the ball to FIU. On 3rd and 8 from the Bobcats 13-yard line, Bortenschlager was sacked and had the ball stripped from him, and Texas State recovered it.
“I tried stepping up a little bit, I should have better ball security in that situation and that’s something I need to make sure that will not happen again”, Bortenschlager said postgame.
The Bobcats got their turn to win the game, and after a 14-yard carry to Sturges, he was given the ball once again, this time taking it 11-yards to the endzone for the win.
Overall, quarterback Max Bortenschlager went 17-34 with 259 yards and two touchdowns. Running back D’vonte Price had himself another 100-yard game getting 23 carries on 111 yards.
Defensive tackle Davon Strickland had a great game with seven tackles and one sack. Strickland spoke about how good it felt carrying his play from last season.
“It is satisfying for me, now I know at least where I am at. This game made up for last week, and had more opportunities to make plays which are tackles for loss or even sacks.”
FIU will now head to Lubbock, Texas to take on the Texas Tech Red Raiders on Saturday, September 18 at 7pm. The game will be streamed on Big 12 Now on ESPN+.
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