While much has been made about the youth and inexperience of Texas State’s roster, head coach Everett Withers said at his weekly press conference on Monday that it’s the upper classmen that need to play better in order to snap the Bobcats’ recent skid.

“We did not play well enough on defense to win and a lot of that is missed assignments and technique and fundamental errors that were really uncharacteristic of some of our older guys,” Withers said. “That was kind of a theme throughout offense, defense and even special teams.

“I’m not sure why that happened but I hope it helps with a short week. We’ve got some older players that need to play better. I see growth from our young guys but some of our older guys they’ve got to play better or they are going to be over there with me and the young guys are going to play for them.”

Sophomore defensive end Kumonde Hines has been ruled out this week after dislocating his right shoulder against the Warhawks. With senior Jeff Banks also out this week — missing his second consecutive game with a concussion – and sophomore Ishmael Davis and freshman Nick Wilkins having season-ending injuries, the Bobcats will be shorthanded on the defensive line against Louisiana-Lafayette.

“We’re really down to like our third defensive end,” Withers said. “We’ll have to make some adjustments there on a short week.”

Sophomores Jordan Mittie and Dean Taylor are listed as the starters at defensive end and defensive tackle, respectively. While junior Grant Lanza is listed as the backup defensive tackle, Hines is the only other end listed with Mittie despite being ruled out by Withers.

This leaves the Bobcats with one backup end on roster eligible to play this Thursday – Emmanuel Galvin-Vazquez, a freshman walk-on from Hays high school.

i felt pretty confident about winning this game earlier in the season. Having 0 depth and all of these injuries pretty much kills my hope. Hope they snap this streak soon.

I bet literally half the people here seriously don't know we play today.

I bet literally half the people here seriously don't know we play today.

When bowl eligibility is stripped from your program after week 4 it tends to make the rest of the season more or less relevant... regardless of us ever having the chance of making a post season game it just sucks when the hypothetical possibility of even being eligible for one is ruled out with 8 games left in the season and that really couldn't be any more crushing