Texas State's issues in Austin went beyond the box score. Kicker Dylan Cunanan missed two chip-shot field goals, and the defense let Arch Manning throw for 305 yards and 4 touchdowns in just 2.5 quarters behind a pass rush that never got home. None of that erases what Jackson did as a first-year starter in 2025 — 3,224 yards, 21 touchdowns, 9.2 yards per attempt, eighth-best in the country — but it's a reminder that Saturday is the first real read on whether last week was an outlier or a preview of a long season.
It'll be a scorcher in San Marcos, with temperatures near 99 degrees and clear skies at UFCU Stadium — an outdoor, afternoon kickoff that tends to favor whichever team can wear the other down in the fourth quarter. UTSA showed some of that stamina against UTRGV; Texas State spent the second half of last week's game searching for answers instead.
Jeff Traylor and G.J. Kinne know each other about as well as two FBS coaches can — Traylor coached Kinne in high school and the two worked together at SMU and Arkansas before Kinne took over in San Marcos. That relationship has produced some wild finishes: a 51-48 shootout in 2020 and a 43-36 thriller last season in San Antonio, part of a stretch where Texas State has won the last two meetings after UTSA won 5 of the first 6.
UTSA still owns the head-to-head history and it showed up ready to defend it, cutting down on the kind of self-inflicted mistakes that plagued Texas State against Texas — though the Roadrunners have their own discipline problem to clean up after 11 penalties for 115 yards against UTRGV. Whichever team plays cleaner Saturday is probably going to be the one still standing when this one turns into the shootout the series usually is.