Texas State Bobcats football

The Texas State Bobcats football program is a college football team that represents Texas State University–San Marcos. The team became a member of the FBS Western Athletic Conference as of July 1, 2012. The program began in 1904 and has an overall winning record. The program has a total of fourteen conference titles, nine of them being all out conference titles. Since the 2011 season, the Bobcats have been coached by Dennis Franchione, and home games are played at Bobcat Stadium in San Marcos, Texas.

Given that the school has grown to become the fifth-largest university in Texas, and one of the 75 largest universities in the United States, it has now taken its football program to the Football Bowl Subdvision of NCAA football. The Western Athletic Conference (FBS) announced on Nov. 11, 2010 that Texas State was one of three schools to join the conference in 2012.

Championship history
In 2005, Texas State split the Southland Conference title with rival Nicholls State, and advanced to the Division I-AA football playoffs for the first time since the 1980s, losing in the semifinal to eventual national runner-up Northern Iowa, and finishing with an 11-3 record.

In 2008, Texas State overcame a 21-0 deficit to win the Southland Conference championship with a 48-45 overtime victory against Sam Houston State, its first outright league title since 1982.

Texas State joined the WAC effective July 1, 2012.

Conference championships
Only nine of Texas State's fourteen conference titles are outright titles. The other five are shared titles. † Denotes shared title. Reference: *

Conference affiliations
 * 1904–1924: Independent
 * 1925–1930: Texas Intercollegiate Athletic Association
 * 1931–1983: Lone Star Conference
 * 1984–1986: Gulf Star Conference
 * 1987–2010: Southland Conference
 * 2011: Independent
 * 2012: Western Athletic Conference
 * 2013-future: Sun Belt Conference

No Team: 1905–1908, 1917, 1942–1945

Rivalries
Texas State football maintains one current rivalry with the UTSA Roadrunners and have a number of defunct rivalries caused by conference realignment.

Current rivalries
I-35 Maroon/Orange Rivalry - UTSA Roadrunners

Texas State and UT-San Antonio faced off for the first time in the football continuation of the I-35 Maroon/Orange Rivalry between the two schools in the Alamodome November 24, 2012. The Bobcats lost the game to the UTSA Roadrunners by a score of 38 to 31 and, thus hold an 0 - 1 disadvantage to UTSA. The future of the rivalry is in question, as Texas State will be moving to the Sun Belt Conference in 2013 and UT-San Antonio will move to Conference USA. Texas State has proposed a home and home series between the two schools every year, while UTSA prefers to play in the Alamodome every year with the two teams alternating as the "home" team every year financially.

Defunct rivalries
Sam Houston State Bearkats

Texas State and Sam Houston State faced each other 89 times on the gridiron between 1919 and 2011, making the Bearkats the most familiar Bobcat rival in program history. Both programs have experienced long runs of success and failure throughout their histories, and the rivalry was strengthened further by geographical proximity, cultural differences, and being peer institutions in the same university system.

After Texas State's move to FBS and the WAC in 2012, the series was discontinued. Sam Houston State won the most recent tilt between the two teams in San Marcos on November 19, 2011 by a score of 36-14. It is unknown whether the two schools will schedule each other for future matchups.

Texas State currently holds a 48-36-4 series lead.

Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks

The Lumberjacks are Texas State's oldest continuous rival, as both schools have played each other every year since 1923. The rivalry has mostly been based on proximity and familiarity rather than parity and competitiveness between the two programs, as one program has generally been successful while the other has struggled.

Texas State won the latest tilt between the two foes in San Marcos, 41-37, on September 22, 2012. It is unknown whether the two schools will continue to schedule each other in the future, and Texas State's move to the FBS has all but ensured that the excitement to the rivalry will wane over time.

Texas State currently holds a 57-29-1 series lead.

Battle for the Paddle - Nicholls State Colonels

In fall 1998, just before the Bobcats were scheduled to take on the Nicholls State Colonels, rains flooded San Marcos and the field at Bobcat Stadium. Athletic directors and coaches from each school decided not to continue with the game and coined the annual contest named "Battle for the Paddle," joking that fans and athletes needed to use a boat and paddle to get to the game. The game eventually took place on November 28, 1998 with the Bobcats prevailing 28-27 to win the Paddle.

NSU Athletic Director Rob Bernardi brought controversy to the final chapter of the rivalry in 2011, when he refused to bring the Paddle to San Marcos due to Texas State having a scholarship advantage as an FCS transitional school. Texas State players and fans made their own paddles in response, and the Bobcats won 38-12. It is unknown whether the two schools will schedule each other in the future.

Nicholls State currently holds the series lead, 16-14.

SWT vs. A&I - Texas A&M-Kingsville Javelinas

The Bobcats and Javelinas were fierce rivals in the Lone Star Conference from the year of entry of TAMU-Kingsville (then Texas A&I University) into the LSC in 1954 to the year of departure of Texas State (then Southwest Texas State University) to the Gulf Star Conference in 1984. However, by the time of TAMU-Kingsville's entry into the LSC, both teams were already quite familiar with each other, having played continuously from 1939-1953 and six times from 1925-1938. Both teams were very competitive and generally successful during the time of their rivalry, as Texas State won nine Lone Star Conference titles and two (NCAA Division II) national titles and TAMU-Kingsville won twelve Lone Star Conference titles and nine (NAIA) national titles. The two schools continued to play each other after Texas State's departure from the Lone Star Conference with only one interruption (1986) from 1984-1995. Texas State won the last meeting, 28-21, in San Marcos on September 7, 2002. It is unlikely that the two schools will face each other in the future due to Texas State's move to the NCAA Division 1 Football Bowl Subdivision and TAMU-Kingsville's continued residence in the NCAA's Division 2.

The Javelinas currently hold the series lead, 33-25-2.

Other Rivalries

Other rivals from Texas State's years in the Lone Star, Gulf Star, and Southland Conferences include Angelo State, Texas A&M-Commerce (then East Texas State), Abilene Christian, and North Texas.