Birds hold off Blue Raiders

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College football is a wild game. A week after the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders led wire-to-wire to beat a ranked Miami team on the road the UTSA Roadrunners showed the Blue Raiders what it feels like to be on the other side of that coin.

UTSA scored on its first two drives of the night in Murfreesboro and never trailed in a 45-30 win over the Blue Raiders.

"They are finally happy," UTSA Head Coach Jeff Traylor said of the Roadrunners after the game. "When you work as hard as our guys work, I'm just so happy its a happy locker room. There is real joy in there."

Frank Harris topped his record breaking performance from last week by becoming the first quarterback in UTSA history to throw for 400 yards in a game. Harris finished the night completing 27 of his 36 pass attempts for 414 yards passing. He also had nine yards receiving on one catch and 31 yards rushing on 12 carries. The nine yard catch came on a pass from Josh Cephus. The 423 yards passing between Harris and Cephus set a new school record for team yards through the air in a game.

Harris also threw three interceptions in the second half that turned a game teetering on the edge of a UTSA blowout into a much closer contest as the Blue Raiders scored 10 points off those interceptions.

"We have a lot to work on, including myself," Harris said. "Those turnovers can't happen. Aside from those picks offensively we had a great game. We did well running the ball and passing the ball."

UTSA's ground game accounted for 167 yards and four touchdowns. The 590 yards of total offense is one of the highest in program history and was just 34 yards away from tying the school record for total yards of offense in a game.

Brendan Brady led the Roadrunners ground attack with 98 yards on 19 carries. Brady also scored a touchdown on the ground. Brady's touchdown came with 1:42 left in the game after he broke through the Blue Raider defense when the Roadrunners lead had gone down to eight, 38-30. It was a tough decision for Brady, to take the points or take the chance to run some more clock. In the end he opted for the points.

"At the end of the game we have this thing where if we break a run and there is time left and we are up to go down," Brady said. "That was the first thing going through my mind but then I was like we're up eight, should I go (down) or not. My legs just kept moving."

Trelon Smith and Harris both ran the ball 12 times for 31 yards. Smith scored a touchdown on the ground, Harris scored two touchdowns on the ground.

It could easily have been a more lopsided score line for the Roadrunners. It also could have ended with the Blue Raiders celebrating and not the Roadrunners. In the end the Roadrunners were able to leave Murfreesboro--for the last time for the foreseeable future--with the victory over a Blue Raider team that was riding high off a big upset last week.

"They were coming off of Miami and we hadn't played well last week," Traylor said. "We've been working on (Middle Tennessee) for a while. They are a really good football team and this is a big win for the Roadrunners."

UTSA was able to do it because they had the offense going when they needed it and built a cushion that could withstand the Blue Raiders.

Even when the Blue Raiders got close to the Roadrunners on the scoreboard, UTSA seemed to be able to stay a step ahead. It was because of that ability to stay a step ahead and because they pushed their lead to 18 early in the third quarter that the Roadrunners were able to withstand the Blue Raiders onslaught late in the third quarter and early in the fourth quarter.

From the outset Frank Harris and the offense were flowing. Harris especially had an early connection with Zakhari Franklin who caught both of his touchdown passes, one in the first quarter and the other in the second quarter. Franklin finished the night with five catches for 98 yards.

De'Corian Clark led the Roadrunners with 139 yards on eight catches. Joshua Cephus had seven catches for 91 yards.

That passing attack coupled with the leg of Jared Sackett led to UTSA opening the game with a 10-0 lead before Chase Cunningham and the Blue Raiders got on the board.

Middle Tennessee cut the Roadrunner lead to 10-7 early in the second quarter as the teams traded touchdowns in the first part of the second quarter. By the time the touchdown trading had completed UTSA was up 24-14.

After Middle Tennessee cut the deficit to 24-17 the Roadrunners scored with 3:22 left in the second quarter to go up 31-17. The Blue Raiders got a field goal on the last play of the first half to cut UTSA's lead to 31-20 at the intermission.

The Roadrunners scored on their first drive of the third quarter to go up 38-20. Later in the third quarter UTSA was in the Blue Raiders red zone looking to push their lead to 45-20 but instead they were left empty handed when the Blue Raiders intercepted a Harris pass.

Middle Tennessee took advantage of that first turnover by getting a field goal to cut UTSA's lead to 38-23. On the Roadrunners next offensive possession the Blue Raiders defensive lineman Jordan Branch tipped a Harris pass up in the air and came down with it before running it back for a touchdown that cut UTSA's lead to 38-30.

That later set up the Brady conundrum of to score or to hit the deck and let the clock run. Brady chose to score and that gave the Roadrunners a final margin that looks better than it could have been.

UTSA's defense limited Middle Tennessee to just 84 yards rushing. The Blue Raiders did finish with 368 yards passing.

"That tough schedule had us ready for tonight," Traylor said. "We should get some kids back soon. This is going to be like a bye week for us as we get Saturday Sunday and Monday off before coming to work Tuesday for a very good Western Kentucky team."

UTSA will be home next Saturday to host the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers in a rematch of last season's conference championship game. Kickoff in the Alamodome will be at 5 p.m. It will be the Roadrunners next challenge on what they hope is a road to repeat as conference champions.

FORUMS: UTSA Boulevard | Roadrunner Way