Fourth Time the charm?

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After winning their second straight Conference USA Championship the UTSA Roadrunners will now turn their attention to a third straight bowl trip and the fourth bowl game in program history. It will also be the last game played by UTSA as members of Conference USA.

This year the Roadrunners will leave the state of Texas for their bowl game for the first time since the 2016 New Mexico Bowl. UTSA is headed to the Duluth Trading Company Cure Bowl at Exploria Stadium in Orlando, Florida. It will be the second bowl of bowl season when it kicks off at 2 p.m. on Friday afternoon.

Joining the Roadrunners in Orlando are the Sun Belt Champions, the Troy Trojans. The Cure Bowl is the only bowl game this season that will have two conference champions playing each other. Both UTSA and Troy are entering on 10-game winning streaks, tied for the third longest in the country. UTSA is ranked 22nd in the AP and Coaches poll and 25th in the final College Football Playoff poll. Troy is ranked 23rd in the AP poll and 24th in the Coaches and College Football Playoff polls.

UTSA will be going for its first bowl win in program history and first win over a ranked opponent. The Roadrunners are also trying for their second straight 12-win season. Troy is going for a 12-win season for the first time since 1993 when they were at the Football Championship Subdivision.

Troy began in 1887 as the Troy State Normal School, a name it held until 1929 when it became Troy State Teachers College. In 1957 its name was changed to Troy State College. 10 years later in 1967 the school became Troy State University. It would keep that name until 2005 when it adopted its current name of Troy University. In its early years the school's teams were known as the Red Wave. In the 70s the students voted to change the name to the Trojans.

Football began at Troy in 1909. Between 1913 and 1920 Troy did not play football. There was also no football in 1929 and between 1943-45. Starting with 1946 Troy has fielded a football team every season. Troy won an NAIA national championship in 1968 and NCAA Division II national championships in 1984 and 1987.

Troy moved up to the FBS level in 2001 and joined the Sun Belt in 2004. This Friday will be the Trojans ninth bowl appearance since moving up to the FBS. Troy is in their first bowl since 2018 but enters with a four-game bowl winning streak. The Trojans last bowl loss came in the 2009 GMAC Bowl against then-number 25 ranked Central Michigan.

UTSA and Troy are both entering the bowl game on 10-game winning streaks after starting 1-2. While UTSA's two losses came in non-conference, one of Troy's losses came in the Sun Belt. Even with that loss the Trojans found a way to earn hosting duties for their conference championship game.

A day after UTSA captured their second straight Conference USA championship, Troy beat Coastal Carolina to win the Sun Belt outright for the first time since 2009 after being co-champions in 2010 and 2017.

This year UTSA has scored 500 points for the second straight season. The Roadrunners did in one fewer game this season, entering the bowl game with 503 points. A year ago UTSA didn't reach 500 points until the bowl game when their 24 points against San Diego State gave them 503 for the season.

The Roadrunners have averaged 38.69 points per game to their opponents 26.54 points per game. Troy is averaging 26.15 points per game and giving up 17.54 points per game.

On offense UTSA is averaging 486.1 yards per game. The Roadrunners are averaging 308.62 yards per game passing and 177.5 yards per game. Troy's defense is only allowing 324.9 yards per game. Opponents of the Trojans are averaging 207.54 yards per game passing and 117.4 yards rushing per game.

Troy's offense averages 374.5 yards per game. The Trojans have averaged 252.85 yards passing and 121.6 yards rushing. UTSA's defense allows 404.8 yards of offense per game. Opponents of UTSA have averaged 253.46 yards passing and 151.4 yards rushing per game.

NOTABLE PLAYERS

As it has most of this season the preview of UTSA's notable players start with Frank Harris. Harris will be back next season but he has one more game this season to add to his stats. Through the first 13 games this season Harris has completed 305 of his 429 pass attempts for 3,865 yards and 31 touchdowns. Harris is sixth in the country for passing yards and tied for ninth in the country for touchdowns. With 135 yards in the bowl game Harris will become the first Roadrunner quarterback to throw for 4,000 yards in a single season.

Troy's quarterback is Gunnar Watson. Watson has completed 193 of 312 pass attempts for 2,705 yards and 13 touchdowns.

UTSA's running back corps has become the Kevorian Barnes department after Brendan Brady was lost to injury. Barnes ran for 175 yards and a touchdown in the Conference championship game. On the season Barnes has 713 yards and six touchdowns on 114 carries.

Troy's running game is led by Kimani Vidal. Vidal has 1,059 yards and nine touchdowns on 209 carries this season.

In the receiving game UTSA is still led by Zakhari Franklin and Josh Cephus. Franklin has 86 catches for 1,100 yards and 14 touchdowns. Cephus has one more catch this season with 87 for 985 yards and six touchdowns. Cephus needs just 15 yards to become the second Roadrunner receiver to ever reach 1,000 yards in a season. Franklin became the first with his 1,027 yards last season.

The Trojans Tez Johnson leads the team with 52 catches and 823 yards. Johnson has four touchdowns this season. RaJae' Johnson leads the Trojans with six touchdowns to go with 672 yards on 34 catches.

Outside of the College Football Playoffs this might be the best bowl game of the season. It is what it is that it will be the second bowl played during bowl season but this is the kind of game that would have been perfect in that week between Christmas and New Years Day.

Both teams are entering the game boasting 10-game winning streaks and fresh off of winning their respective conferences championships. Troy also has won four straight bowl games although this is their first appearance in a Bowl since 2018. UTSA is looking to claim that first bowl win after coming up short in the last three bowl appearances.

Friday is a really good opportunity for UTSA to get that first bowl win. A win over Troy would also give the Roadrunners their first win over a ranked opponent. Last year the Roadrunners were running on fumes as the season came to an end. This year the Roadrunners started slow but have been firing on all cylinders and seem to be peaking at a good time of year.

In the city built by Disney, The Roadrunners dreams will come true. They will reach the peak of bowl victory.

My Pick: UTSA 35 Troy 24

FORUMS: UTSA Boulevard | Roadrunner Way