Nearly a dazzling debut for Tarleton as a Division I program

Courtesy of Tarleton Football

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Nearly a dazzling debut

It was a night of firsts in Stephenville, Texas on Saturday when Tarleton played the first Division I spring football game in over a century which coupled as the Texans FCS debut.

It was nearly the first Division I win for the Texans before McNeese overcame a 14-point deficit late in the fourth quarter to earn a 40-37 win in double overtime.

First game jitters were evident for Tarleton with the Cowboys jumping out to a quick 10-0 lead after recovering a fumbled punt at the Texans’ 15-yard line. 

Tarleton settled down and reeled off the next 24 points in the game highlighted by dominant play along the offensive and defensive line.

However, it was the mistakes that left Texans coach Todd Whitten lamenting about what could have been after the game.

"We had some spurts where we played really well and we had a nice lead,” Whitten said. We had them in third and long and made an unfortunate mistake roughing their passer. They went down and scored on that drive and then recovered the onside kick. They really out-executed us down the stretch and took the game from us."

The Texans left feeling disappointed which is a testament to where the program stands in their first year transitioning to FCS.

"We have to learn from this. We've been talking to our guys about there not being very much room for error (at this level),” Whitten said. It's disappointing, we had a chance to open up with a win and we weren't able to close it out."

A solid foundation

The prevailing feeling of disappointment following the game is a positive sign Tarleton can and will compete at the Division I level. Another positive sign was the play of two freshmen.

Former Klein Collins running back Braelon Bridges displayed his skills that led to a 2,000 yard and 24 touchdowns his final season in high school.

Bridges was spectacular Saturday gaining a game-high 112 yards rushing and two touchdowns on 15 carries. A 7.5 yards per carry average is particularly impressive for his first collegiate contest.

Another freshman who stood out was kicker Adrian Guzman. The freshman from Temple High School made 3 of his 4 attempts in the game. He made kicks from 37, 38, and 45 yards and narrowly missed a 50-yard attempt in the third quarter wide left.

Two of his field goals came during the pressure-packed overtime periods, but that was not what stood out to me the most.

Guzman has an amazing leg. The game-time temperature was 28 degrees and was falling throughout the contest.

A football does not travel well in the cold air and add in the ball had to feel like kicking a rock, I cannot wait to see how far he can kick the ball when the temperatures rise.

Whitten was happy, but not surprised, with what he saw from his two young players.

"We feel like we signed a good freshman class and those two young men stepped up and did well,” Whitten said. “They've been doing that all through spring camp, so their play didn't surprise us. We can expect more good things from those guys."

If Bridges and Guzman are any indication of the talent in the Texans’ last two recruiting classes, Tarleton will be prepared to make real noise when they are finished with their four-year transition.

"Last year's class had 27 freshmen and we think it was a good class and we signed another 16 high school guys a couple of weeks ago,” Whitten said. “I think we have a good foundation laid."

Surprisingly competitive

Raise your hand if you thought Tarleton would have a two-touchdown lead and a chance to defeat a tradition-rich FCS program in its first Division I game. Now put your hand down because I cannot see it anyway.

I certainly did not have the Texans nearly pulling off the upset in the preview last week and I should have known better.

Besides being a guy who covers small college sports for a living, I have followed the Lone Star Conference religiously for many years and know the high level of play inside the conference.

I am also a numbers guy and failed to remember the LSC is 3-2 against FCS competition in the last two seasons.

Yes, that is a small sample size, but combine those recent results with Texas A&M-Commerce winning the 2017 national title and the multiple playoff runs in the last few years, and it is apparent some LSC teams are closer to FCS level than many people realize.

Make no mistake, there is still a gap especially when you consider FCS schools have 63 scholarships compared to a maximum of 36 in Division II, but it does not seem out of the realm of possibility to see LSC schools able to compete sooner rather than later if they choose to jump to the Southland Conference or the WAC.

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