Everything is different for Texas State this year. 

The lone school in the Sun Belt Conference from the Lone Star State is picked to finish first in the West Division; under center is the reigning conference player of the year, Jordan McCloud;  and a real-life video game number-producing running back, Ismail Mahdi returns to San Marcos to help power their Supercat Spread offense.

But the early season MVP doesn’t even play on the field. It’s Kinne’s wife, Summer. 

The ultimate coach’s wife induced labor last week to give birth to Swayze Jo ahead of the team's mid-summer debut in New Orleans. 

“I’d like to start by giving my wife a shoutout,” Kinne said. “Summer, I know you’re watching, we just had our third child, our first little girl … we induced early to make sure we were here today. So, I would not be here if it wasn't for her and that decision. A real coach’s wife's decision.” 

Only 211 days ago, Kinne and the Bobcats made history by becoming the first-ever-bowl game champions. Kinne said work to get the team back to that level or beyond started the next day, just two days after Christmas on December 27th. 

“Really, the night of the bow game, after we beat Rice – had a huge win,” Kinne said. “I’m calling our current players like Ish the next morning at 7 a.m. and calling donors to raise as much money as possible because we have some super talented players on our roster and we couldn't have gotten anyone better than those guys in the portal.” 

Kinne called it the best recruiting he did in the off-season. The return of impact players like Joey Hobert, Kole Wilson and Ben Bell are half the story; they also added McCloud in the offseason who threw 35 touchdowns for 3,657 yards last year with the James Madison Dukes. 

At this time last year, nearly every question at SBC media days had the same underlying tone: Could Kinne, his offensive coordinator Mack Leftwich and a bunch of transfers light up the scoreboard in San Marcos? 

The UIW Cardinal offense under Kinne and Leftwich averaged more than 50 points per game. The notion seemed almost laughable until the team put up an average of nearly 37 points per game in Year 1 at Texas State. 

Kinne says the team is currently focused on eliminating inconsistencies from last season and erasing another skeleton in their closet: A win over their most hated rival, the UTSA Roadrunners.

“It’s a big game,” Mahdi said. “Texas school, nearby us and stuff like that – look at Twitter (X), they talk a lot of smack and stuff like that, so we gotta get after them this year.” 

This year’s matchup happens in Week 2. Last year, the Bobcats lost to the roadrunners 20 to 13 at the Alamodome in downtown San Antonio. They’ll look to avenge the loss and finally get over the current five-game losing streak since the rivalry was started in 2012. 

It wasn’t just players that Kinne had to keep in San Marcos in the off-season. Following the win over Rice in Dallas, Kinne’s defensive coordinator Jonathan Patke took over the same role at Duke. Kinne’s teammate from his time in Tulsa, Dexter McCoil Sr., is now in charge of that side of the ball. At Tulsa, McCoil set the program and Conference USA career interception record. 

Leftwich also had opportunities but ultimately decided that staying with the Bobcats was best.  

A lot has changed for the team, a lot has changed for college football as a whole. At least one thing remains true: The guys love football, virtual, in real life or otherwise. McCloud, Mahdi and Kinne have all played the new NCAA College Football 25 video game – from their couches, they say they’re repping state. 

“It’s pretty fun,” McCloud said. “It’s something we obviously haven’t had for 10 years. Ten years ago we had to create our own players to do it. Now, you know we’re in the game.” 

“It’s competitive,” Mahdi said. “Bringing that competitive edge outside of the field as well. We’re out there, learning the playbook even more playing the game, so it’s a little bit of an advantage as well.” 

Everything is different for Texas State this year. 

The team opens up their season at home on August 31 against Lamar University.