Great Conference Games: Honorable Mention
UTSA has played 77 conference games as well as a conference championship game in its football history. Some games have been better than others. These two games were great at one time but have since dropped from the top 10 conference games in UTSA history
Free 30-Days | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | Instagram
Honorable Mention Game: UTSA at Old Dominion, Nov. 9, 2019
Prior to their trip to Norfolk on the ninth of November in 2019 for a game against Old Dominion, the Roadrunner football team had only come back from being down by two touchdowns once before in their history. That had been in October 2011 when they beat Georgia State 17-14 in overtime after being down 14-0.
The 2019 Roadrunners went into Norfolk with a 3-5 record overall and 2-2 in conference play. A week before UTSA had gone on the road to College Station and lost 45-14 against Texas A&M.
Old Dominion took the field with a 1-8 record and 0-5 in conference play. Few people before the game would have guessed that UTSA would mount what was at the time the second largest comeback in program history against the Monarchs.
UTSA opened the game with a five play, 71-yard scoring drive. The Roadrunners took a 7-0 lead with 13:04 left in the first quarter when Sincere McCormick scored on a 46-yard run.
Old Dominion scored on their second drive of the game with a 29-yard field goal at the 6:22 mark of the first quarter. The Monarchs were fortunate to get the field goal, they had fumbled on the UTSA one the play before but were able to recover.
The Roadrunners next drive also resulted in a field goal. Hunter Duplessis kicked a 22-yard field goal with 4:12 left in the first quarter. The three points from Duplessis were the last points scored by UTSA until the fourth quarter.
UTSA's 10-3 lead lasted for 3:01 until Old Dominion tied the score at 10 with a 42-yard touchdown pass.
That Monarchs touchdown was the first of 20 unanswered points scored by Old Dominion against UTSA. ODU scored 10 points in the second quarter and a field goal in the third quarter to take a 23-10 lead into the fourth quarter.
THE ROADRUNNERS SCORE 14 UNANSWERED
The drive that began the comeback for UTSA started with 2:50 left in the third quarter. It ended with 12:54 left in the fourth quarter when McCormick scored his second touchdown of the day with a two-yard touchdown.
UTSA retook the lead on their next drive with an 11-yard touchdown pass from Lowell Narcisse to Carlos Strickland at the 2:41 mark of the fourth quarter. Duplessis added the extra point to give UTSA the 24-23 lead.
A fumble by Old Dominion on their next drive allowed UTSA to hold on for their fourth win of the season. As it turned out the comeback against ODU was the last win for UTSA in 2019 as the Roadrunners finished 4-8. The win over Old Dominion was the last win by the Roadrunners in the Frank Wilson era.
If UTSA had not beaten ODU, the Wilson era might have ended three weeks before it actually did. The Roadrunners coaching search might have ended up with a completely different head coach in 2020.
Honorable Mention: UTSA at Rice, Oct. 15, 2016
When UTSA traveled to Rice for their sixth game of the 2016 season the Roadrunners were 2-3 through the first five games of the Frank Wilson era. UTSA was 1-1 in conference play after losing to Old Dominion in the opener before beating Southern Miss the week before.
Rice entered the game 0-5 overall and 0-3 in conference play. It was the fifth meeting all-time between UTSA and Rice and the third time the two schools faced each other at Rice Stadium. UTSA had lost each of their previous trips to Rice Stadium, 34-14 in 2012 and 17-7 in 2014. The Roadrunners first win in the series came in 2015, 34-24, in the Alamodome.
UTSA won the opening coin toss and deferred their option to the second half. Rice received the opening kickoff and scored on their first drive. The Owls went up 6-0 with 10:17 left in the first quarter on a 13-yard run. Rice was unable to collect the extra point as the kick bounced off the upright.
The Roadrunners got on the board on their second drive of the night. It came with the Roadrunners faced with a first-down-and-15 from their own 25 yard line. Dalton Sturm took the snap and threw to an open Josh Stewart who quickly covered the 75 yards between the Roadrunners and the endzone. Victor Falcon added the extra point and UTSA led 7-6 with 1:27 left in the first quarter.
Falcon's extra point gave UTSA their first ever lead against Rice at Rice Stadium. In both previous games in Houston, Rice had led from wire to wire.
Early in the second quarter the Roadrunners took advantage of a Rice turnover. The Owls muffed a punt at their own 28 and UTSA's JaColbie Butler recovered the fumble. On the very next play Sturm connected with Stewart for a 28-yard touchdown pass that gave UTSA a 14-6 lead--after the Falcon extra point--with 13:29 left in the second quarter.
NEARLY A HEARTBREAKER AT RICE STADIUM
Nobody knew it at the time but those were the last points UTSA would score that night at Rice Stadium. The Roadrunners came close to scoring another touchdown 10 minutes into the fourth quarter but the Owls made a goal-line stand to keep UTSA off the board with five minutes left in the game.
By the time UTSA was stopped at the goal line, the score was 14-13. Rice scored a touchdown with 7:49 left in the third quarter and opted to try the extra point instead of a two-point try that would have possibly tied the score. This time the extra point was good and UTSA's lead was back down to one.
After the Owls made the goal line stand their offense took over. Rice drove down and got to within field goal range with 1:27 left in the game. Once again UTSA was fortunate as the Owls kicker's 42-yard field goal attempt went wide right. The Roadrunners took over and were able to run 1:07 off the clock. The 20 seconds left were not enough for Rice as the game ended with them at the UTSA 28.
The win over Rice allowed UTSA to improve to 3-3 halfway through the 2016 season. A week later the Roadrunners would play a five-overtime game against UTEP and over the course of the second half of 2016 go 3-3 to finish 6-6.
It is possible that if the Rice kicker had connected on the 42-yard field goal or the extra point in the first quarter the Roadrunners might not have made it to the New Mexico Bowl. A 5-7 UTSA might have been able to make a bowl in 2016 as there were not enough teams at 6-6 or better. The loss to Rice might have snowballed to a point where UTSA finished 4-8 or worse in 2016.
Instead the Roadrunners took their win at Rice as one of the six they needed to earn that trip to Albuquerque in December 2016.
NEXT WEEK: The number 10 greatest conference game in UTSA football history
FORUMS: UTSA Boulevard | Roadrunner Way