Texas State and Rice Set for Battle as Big as Texas

You could say the 2023 First Responder Bowl is fixin’ to be a rootin’-tootin’ time in Dallas.

For the first time in the game’s 14 editions, two in-state schools will face off in a true Texas Showdown when Texas State (7-5, 4-4 Sun Belt) and Rice (6-6, 4-4 American Athletic) meet a few hours past high noon (4:30 p.m.) on Dec. 26.

It was welcome news for a bowl that has been blessed with some tight ballgames (three of the last four have been decided by a touchdown or less), but with a Christmas-time wish for two regional teams whose fan bases could easily travel around the holiday.

Right out of the shoot, ticket sales were hotter than a billy goat in a pepper patch. And fans have good reason to feel giddy. The Bobcats are making their first-ever bowl appearance, while the Owls are playing in a bowl game in back-to-back years for just the third time in more than a century of football.

Rookie head coach G.J. Kinne led Texas State to its first-ever win over a Power 5 Conference team in the season opener, a 42-31 win at Baylor, en route to tying the school record for wins in a season as an FBS school.

“We’re really ecstatic, staying in Texas and getting to play an in-state team,” Kinne said. “There’s a little extra juice any time you get to play an in-state team. I think Bobcat Nation is excited, and I really believe it’ll be a packed stadium. It’s an exciting time and our guys are fired up.”

Texas State scored 36.0 points per game (tied for 16th nationally) and averaged a whopping 471.8 yards per contest, the 10th-highest total in the nation. Quarterback TJ Finley, an SEC transfer who played at both LSU and Auburn, threw for 3,287 yards and 24 touchdowns and also added five rushing scores in his first season in San Marcos.

Defensively, the Bobcats surrendered 33.8 points and 414.3 yards per game. In all, seven Bobcats were named first- or second-team All-Sun Belt, a conference that produced a national-best 12 bowl teams.

Rice won its last two games, defeating Charlotte and Florida Atlantic, to become bowl eligible under sixth-year coach Mike Bloomgren. The Owls’ season also included a thrilling 43-41 double-overtime win over crosstown rival Houston. Two of Rice’s losses came to teams that have been ranked in the top 25, Tulane (by two) and SMU (by five).

“Our players cannot wait to get to Dallas,” Bloomgren said. “They came to work every day over the last year with the mindset to not only return to a bowl, but to come home as champions. That determination drove them to close the season with wins in our last two games to earn this opportunity and I know will continue to as we prepare for Texas State.”

On the defensive side, the Owls allowed 26.7 points and 370.1 yards per outing. Offensively, Rice averaged 30.3 points and 376.8 yards per game.

Luke McCaffrey needs 37 receiving yards in the bowl game to reach 1,000 for the season. The first-team All-American Athletic Conference wideout has 12 touchdown catches (tied for seventh nationally) and 68 total receptions on the year.

This is the fifth meeting between the schools and the first since 1987. Both teams are stocked with Lone Star State talent and will be looking for braggin’ rights. It should be a real humdinger.