The inaugural ‘H-Town Showdown,’ renewed a rivalry between two old Lone Star Conference foes in Sam Houston State (4-1) and Texas State (2-2), proving that fiery regional style matchups like this still matter in the broader college football landscape. 

The Bobcats were dominant to kick things off inside NRG Stadium, leading at the end of the first quarter by 22. 

The Bearkats played within themselves and stuck to their gameplan of a dominant and varied run scheme, six rushers combined for 298 yards on the day. 

Sam Houston’s Head Coach K.C. Keeler said the difference was culture. 

“We just constantly talk about, ‘listen, we owe it to each other to play all 60 minutes, we owe it to each other,’” Keeler said. “And we’re not going to panic when things go against us.” 

It’s familiar territory for Keeler who led the Bearkats past Stephen F. Austin State University in 2021 and 2022 at NRG in similar fashion. In 2021, the team did not lead until 2:37 left in the game and in 2022, they didn’t lead until the :35 left in the game. Both games in the Battle of the Piney Woods series, decided by a single point. 

The win over the Bobcats marks the biggest win since the Spring 2021 FCS Championship when the Bearkats beat the South Dakota State Jackrabbits 23 - 21. 

The wheels seemed to come off for the Bobcats at probably the worst time possible. 

At the half, both teams went to the locker rooms with the score 32 - 21, Texas State leading. 

Texas State University President Kelly Damphousse would join Texas State’s radio announcers to discuss the ongoing talks between him and conference officials across the country. 

“I've talked to three conferences who are interested in us,” Damphousse said. 

Though the university president would not say exactly which conferences were in the hunt to lure away the Bobcats from the Sun Belt Conference, he said the situation remained fluid. 

As the third quarter began at NRG Stadium ESPN’s Pete Thamel would break the news that Texas State officials has received a verbal offer to join the Mountain West. 

According to Thamel, a decision is expected in the upcoming days as talks continue. 

Thamel reports that the PAC-12 has also expressed interest but talks between the conference and the school have not yet resulted in a similar offer. 

In all of that noise, CUSA’s Sam Houston managed to climb back into the  game, 39 – 37, with 9:19 to go in the game. The Bearkats would seal the game on a game winning field goal with six seconds left in the game. It was their only lead of the game. 

The Bearkats flipped the script on the Bobcats. According to Keeler, the team just adopted a next play mentality and worked on winning each play. 

“I mean they were getting us in all phases of the game,” Keeler said. “And you’re like, ‘is it going to keep on going this way?’ Well, that’s culture again, our kids aren’t thinking that way. They’re just saying, “let’s go play the next play.’ … it’s a culture win, it really is.”  

Texas State Head Coach G.J. Kinne said looking ahead, his team and his staff must be more disciplined. 

“It’s just frustrating when you lose a game like that,” Kinne said. “We played well at times, just penalties and turnover are going to get you… we gotta come together, coach better, gotta be more disciplined, that’s the bottom line. You gotta be more disciplined if you’re going to win those games.”

Right now, it’s unclear if another ‘H-Town Showdown’ rivalry matchup is in the cards for the Bobcats and Bearkats in 2025, but NRG Stadium reported the game attendance drew in 27,225 fans. 

Both teams now look ahead toward conference play, The Bearkats look ahead to UTEP while the Bobcats look toward Troy.