The Texas State Bobcats take on the Eastern Michigan Eagles in front of a home crowd to kick off their 2025-2026 football season. Bobcat fans are planning to fill up UFCU stadium on Saturday night in support of GJ Kinne and the program he’s built in San Marcos. It’s finally here – Texas State football is back and Saturdays are now strictly reserved for the Bobcats. I’ll be in attendance in my David Mayo jersey, cheering from the general admission section. Win or lose, I can’t wait to be under the lights come Saturday night. Although if we lose, you can expect a very passionate blog post breaking down exactly what went wrong. In the meantime, I’ll be here crossing my fingers in hope that we blow the tops off the Eagles in a little less than a week.
We’ve spent enough time this offseason discussing this Texas State football team and what we can expect this season. Let’s take a deeper look into the Eagles up North and what they have planned. Every team in the modern era has had to deal with losing players to the transfer portal. Eastern Michigan managed to survive the portal to the best of their abilities and may have enough returning starters to keep their head above water and get a few big wins. Either way, they have a good chance with returning Head Coach Chris Creighton. In their 50 years of playing in FBS play, the Eagles football team has only had 10 winning seasons. Coach Creighton is responsible for four of them. Each team in this matchup lost key players in the offseason and we get to see how their replacements work out. It’s going to come down to the performance of these replacements on both sides of the ball, but more importantly the performance each head coach puts on. Coaching is the most vital part of any organization, and the result of this matchup should prove that point. Both schools are confident in their coaching staff and program, resulting in some friendly smack talk. Take a look at the Eastern Michigan admin poking fun at the Bobcats heading into their week 1 matchup:
The Eagles defense was their achilles heel last year and I’m sure Texas State plans to attack them with dual threat QB Brad Jackson under center. Jackson should be able to take advantage of this Frankenstein-Esque defense, both on the ground and in the air. Last year’s Eastern Michigan defense allowed more than 30 points seven times and is returning this season with a reworked defensive line. Adam Jefferson is their best returning pass rusher and I wouldn’t necessarily call their linebacker or secondary core a “strength”. Their inexperienced defensive line should allow Lincoln Pare and the Bobcats running back room to take over early and establish the running game. Let’s hope we can see a few runs like this one from Pare in training camp.
If I was GJ Kinne, I would have an offensive strategy based around establishing the run early, so you can set up play-action rollout plays. This will give Brad Jackson the ability to find some holes in the secondary or take off with his legs. The key to this game is to come out hot and dominant offensively. Then, you can let this defense do its thing against an Eastern Michigan offense that should be dealing with a lack of chemistry.
The Eagles offense managed to finish 3rd overall in the MAC last year even with multiple collapses down the stretch. They showed they can move the ball but made costly mistakes repeatedly. I’m sure this is something Head Coach Chris Creighton has focused heavily on this offseason. The good thing for the Eagles is that they have most of their offensive line returning and depth at each position. Their receiving core took a few hits, but they still have their #1 wideout from last year, Terry Lockett. At the very least, they should be able to protect their QB so he can feed his trusted source. Speaking of their QB situation, the Eagles have been undergoing a 2-way QB battle between transfers Noah Kim and Cameron Edge. I didn’t see an official announcement from the team on who their starter will be, but they announced that Noah Kim will be a team captain, inferring he will be under center week 1. Kim started his career at Michigan State, working hard for a starting position. Evidently, it didn’t work out. He ended up transferring to Coastal Carolina, where he only threw four touchdowns in seven games. They tell you to not look at the past, but that history makes me feel good about our chances.
Looking at each team’s roster and the talent level of each program, the Bobcats should handle the Eagles with ease and kick off the season with a win. However, there will be rust to shake off and chemistry to develop with this refreshed Texas State Bobcat team. I believe with GJ Kinne’s leadership, he’s fully prepared his players for this matchup. From the looks of their recent cookout at President Damphousse’s estate, team chemistry doesn’t seem to be an issue.
Add that on top of a filled up UFCU stadium, rocking with a bunch of die-hard Bobcat fans? I like our chances. Bring ’em hell, Cats.
Personal Prediction: TXST 38 EMU 17