Texas State didn’t just beat Oregon State on Saturday. The Bobcats left Corvallis with a 42-21 win, 600 total yards and a label that landed like a punch.
After the game, Texas State coach GJ Kinne called the Beavers a “finesse” team, pointing to a physical edge his group had all night.
“We talked about it all week, our defensive line versus their O-line, our O-line versus their D-line,” Kinne said following Saturday’s game. “Fresno exposed them a little bit last week and we were the more physical team and that’s what it’s about when you play these teams like that, finesse teams. They’re a finesse team and we were more the physical guys.”
For Oregon State, the comment was another jolt in a season already marked by rebuilding and an emphasis on toughness under JaMarcus Shephard. He didn’t bite when asked about Kinne’s words.
“We’ll look into it,” Shephard said after being made aware of Kinne’s comments. “Good luck to coach Kinne and his football team the rest of the year.”
The numbers backed up Texas State’s edge. The Bobcats piled up 386 rushing yards and became the second straight opponent to hit Oregon State with four plays of 30 yards or more. Outside of one sack, the Beavers didn’t manage a tackle for loss against Texas State running backs Davian Jackson and Torrance Burgess Jr. or quarterback Brad Jackson.
Defensive coordinator Mike MacIntyre said he plans to share Kinne’s remarks with the defense.
“That does rile you up some, there’s no doubt that,” MacIntyre said. “We definitely don’t want to be called that on either side of the football whatever.
I think that’s something we’ll put in the back of our hat for next year, but I also think that’s something that our guys will take forward. ... That’s something that we’ll definitely try to use for motivation, but hopefully we can keep getting stronger and more powerful on both sides of the ball.
“I know that’s something (offensive coordinator) Mitch (Dahlen) wants. That’s something I want.
And we’re working at it. I know it’s something the kids want; we just got to keep pushing them to get there.”
Oregon State’s offense had its own rough afternoon. Two late touchdowns made the final score look a little less severe, but the game was tilted well before that. Texas State finished with only two tackles for loss and one sack, yet Braden Atkinson was under heavy pressure before injuring his hand, and the offensive line was flagged multiple times while trying to slow the pass rush.
Dahlen said he wants to see more “aggression” from the offense, especially right away in the three regular-season games left.
“There’s three guaranteed games left and we got to go get every single one of them,” Dahlen said. “It’s not going to be handed to us.
There’s that aggression you got to play with. I thought guys up front did a better job, they did, but we got to execute early.
The pass game was behind last week and got to do a better job of completing balls early and pushing the ball down the field.”
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