Longhorns Film Room: How Texas State's Offense Works & Why It Poses a Threat To Texas

Texas State's offense was one of college football's best-kept secrets last season. The Bobcats quietly scored the 12th-most points per game, 36.5, and put up the fifth-most yards per game, 472.8, in the FBS.

First-year offensive coordinator Landon Keopple kept the "Veer-and-Shoot" system from previous play-caller Mack Leftwich, but added changes that make the Bobcats even trickier to deal with.

For one, he funneled the ball to his playmakers, as Texas State's two most productive pass catchers went from accounting for 43% of Bobcat receiving yards in 2024 to 68% in 2025. Its top three rushers went from contributing 71% of the ground yards to 88%.

Quarterback Brad Jackson is returning after putting up nearly 4,000 total yards last season and will get to throw to returning wide receivers Beau Sparks and Chris Dawn Jr., who are coming off of 1,200- and 1,007-yard seasons, respectively. Much of their success this season hinges on the other key change in Keopple's scheme: a heavy dosage of pre-snap motion.

Here is how that motion stresses defenses and helps the Bobcats wrack up such gaudy numbers.

How the Bobcats Operate

Texas State Bobcats quarterback Brad Jackson looks to pass against the Southern Miss Golden Eagles | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Keopple has said that there are seven main reasons he uses motion: to add or remove numbers in the run game, to give the quarterback pre-snap answers, to disguise his base plays, to get a coverage indicator, to generate mismatches, to make defenses communicate quickly and to hide their receiver's alignments.

How do they do that? Here are some examples from their 2025 matchup against the James Madison Dukes.

Texas State Football Offensive Scheme — Carter Long

On this play, the Bobcats are going to come out in a 2x2 set with wide splits. Before the ball is snapped, they motion their tight end behind the right tackle, while the Dukes' free safety lightly trails him.

This adds the tight end to the box, tells the passer that the defense is probably in a man or match coverage, and creates a mismatch by bringing a pass-first player, the free safety, into the run-fit.

Texas State calls a B-gap insert run play with a slot fade and in-route to the frontside. Since Brad Jackson is anticipating a man or match coverage and knows that the defense is out-manned in the box, he decides against throwing the ball and just hands it off.

Texas State's blockers execute their concept beautifully, as the guards open a massive hole in the middle while the center and tight end climb to the second-level, leaving the safety as the only man able to make the play.

The back does questionably decide to bounce outside; however, he is still able to break off a five-yard gain because he was singled up with the safety.

Motion also makes life easier for the passer.

This time, Texas State starts off with a condensed quasi-bunch out of a 3x1 set, then sends the boundary No. 1 across the formation to create a wide stack out of 2x2. The nickel back follows the motion-man all the way across the field, making it clear that the Dukes are playing man-to-man.

Keopple calls a variation of a zone-beating 'spot' concept to the boundary and a man-beating go and slant combination to the field.

The motion allows Jackson to ignore the boundary, gives the Bobcats another way to run a basic concept, forces a nickel back to cover in space and causes commotion as the defense struggles to communicate.

Knowing the defense is in man, Jackson waits for his slot receiver beats the coverage on a slant route and hits him for a solid gain.

Pre-snap motion also improves wide receiver screens, which are a key facet of the Veer-and-Shoot.

Texas State starts with a 2x2 set and James Madison sets up in a double-mug look, placing six people on the line, in front of a two-high shell. The Bobcats motion their running back to the boundary flat, with the strong safety eventually following him across the field.

The fact that none of the box defenders follow the back all but confirms that the Dukes are using all six, one more than Texas State can block, on a 'zero-blitz.' This tells Jackson that he needs to immediately hit the 'now' screen on the boundary, which turns into a nice gain.

The motion told the quarterback what he needed to do, disguised one of Keopple's staple plays and caused the defense to be late to the ball.

Pre-snap motion creates many problems for the defense; however, experienced coordinators, like Texas' Will Muschamp, have a variety of ways to combat the tactic. Still, Muschamp will be coaching the first game of his new stint as the Longhorns' defensive coordinator on Saturday, and if his unit is caught off-balance, it could put Texas' promising season well behind the eight-ball.

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