Texas State stuns Baylor 42-31 for first-ever win over Power 5 program

The Bobcats beat the Big 12 Conference's Baylor Bears 42-31 at McLane Stadium for the program's first-ever win over the Power 5 school behind a potent offensive attack led by quarterback TJ Finley.

AUSTIN (KXAN) — The GJ Kinne era at Texas State started with one of the biggest wins in program history Friday in Waco.

The Bobcats beat the Big 12 Conference's Baylor Bears 42-31 at McLane Stadium for the program's first-ever win over the Power 5 school behind a potent offensive attack led by quarterback TJ Finley.

Finley threw for 298 yards with three touchdowns and added a score on the ground. The Bobcats put an exclamation point on the big win with a 26-yard touchdown pass from Finley to Joey Hobert with 13:52 left in the game to take a 42-24 lead. Hobert finished with 105 receiving yards on six catches to lead the Bobcats' pass catchers.

"That was pretty fun," Kinne said after his first game as the Bobcats head coach. "I'm really proud of everyone involved, and we couldn't have done it without them. This is a big-time win for our program."

Texas State lived by explosive plays to take the win. The Bobcats had eight plays for more than 20 yards, including a 65-yard touchdown run by Ismail Mahdi to set the tone in the first quarter. Mahdi finished with 83 rushing yards on six carries. Texas State was perfect converting fourth downs at 4-for-4 and their 42 points were the most in a road game for the program since 2016.

"We put our foot down and let people know that we're here," Finley said. "I'm not worried about silencing doubters or anything like that. We need to clean up our small mistakes and we'll be just fine."

Finley was in a position battle with Malik Hornsby all training camp, and even though Kinne named Finley the starter for the game, Finley said Hornsby would get his shot eventually.

"Malik worked his butt off in the spring learning the playbook, and we have a great partnership," Finley said. "It's a good 1-2 punch. We've both been splitting reps equally and I don't think anyone had any animosity."

Hobert, Finley and Hornsby are part of 37 transfer players in the Bobcats' program this season. With 51 new players on the roster in total, Kinne said during training camp that quickly building chemistry and culture would be crucial for the Bobcats to succeed. It appears they've been able to do that.

"We shocked the world but we didn't shock ourselves," Hobert said. "That locker room was going crazy. This is a whole new team, a whole new staff with a different environment and atmosphere."

While the Bobcats' offense was humming, the defense came up big late to help preserve the historic victory. Shawn Holton picked off Baylor backup quarterback Sawyer Robinson in the end zone with 3:56 remaining and Kaleb Culp recovered a fumble forced by Ben Bell around the 2-minute mark to seal the deal.

Baylor quarterback Blake Shapen played injured for a portion of the game and was later diagnosed with a sprained MCL in his left knee, Bears head coach Dave Aranda said. Shapen's availability going forward is unclear.

The Bears outgained the Bobcats 524-441 and Baylor tight end Drake Dabney had six catches for 101 yards with two touchdowns. Baylor was a 27.5-point favorite going into the game and it was the first time the Bears have lost to the trio of Sun Belt teams Arkansas State, Louisiana-Monroe and the Bobcats.

Texas State (1-0) makes the quick trip south to the Alamodome to take on UTSA at 2:30 p.m. Saturday.