Texas State stuns Baylor for first win over a Power Five opponent
Baylor was a 27.5-point favorite entering the game
Texas State pulled off the biggest upset of Week 1 with a 42-31 win over Baylor on Saturday night.
Baylor entered the game as a 27.5-point favorite but never regained the lead after an early 3-0 edge. Texas State and former Auburn quarterback TJ Finley diced up the Baylor defense and the Bears failed to stop the Bobcats on four fourth-down conversions.
After a 4-8 season in 2022, Texas State fired Jake Spavital after four seasons and hired former Tulsa QB G.J. Kinne. The 34-year-old Kinne is one of the youngest head coaches at the top level of college football and was the coach at FCS Incarnate Word in 2022 after a season as the co-offensive coordinator under Gus Malzahn at UCF.
Finley threw for 298 yards and three touchdowns in his Texas State debut as Joey Hobert had six catches for 105 yards and a score. Finley also ran for a touchdown as his rushing score gave Texas State a 35-21 lead in the third quarter.
Baylor mounted a late comeback attempt in the fourth quarter after backup QB Sawyer Robertson was forced to replace starter Blake Shapen. Shapen had to leave the game with six minutes to go after a big fourth-down conversion.
Robertson was able to get Baylor inside the Texas State 10, but threw a pass behind receiver Monaray Baldwin. The ball bounced off Baldwin’s hands and was intercepted at the goal line with 3:56 to go. Baylor got the ball back less than a minute later, but Robertson fumbled after breaking a long third-down run.
The win is the biggest for Texas State since it stunned Houston in 2012 in its first win at the top level of college football and is also the school's first win ever over an opponent in a Power Five conference. The Bobcats have posted just one winning season in 11 years at the FBS level and haven’t won more than four games in a season in any of the last nine seasons.
