High hopes for UTSA in 2021

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A week from today UTSA football will open the 2021 season when they travel to the twin cities of Champaign-Urbana, Illinois for a tussle with the University of Illinois Fighting Illini.

It will be the Roadrunners first game against a Big 10 opponent. After next Saturday the Atlantic Coast Conference will be the only conference that hasn't had a member play UTSA in football.

I'll go more in depth on Illinois as part of the game preview later this week. For now lets look ahead at the season as a whole.

The Roadrunners enter 2021 with perhaps the highest expectations they have ever had. A lot of media outlets have them winning between seven to 10 games and possibly threatening for a berth in the Conference USA championship game.

It is not hard to see why people are buying in on the Roadrunners in 2021. They return nearly every contributor from the 2020 club that won seven games and went toe-to-toe with a few ranked opponents.

Leading the way for the Roadrunners is a group of local boys who are writing their names in stone on the pantheon of UTSA football. Perhaps nobody has done more chiseling than running back Sincere McCormick.

McCormick enters 2021 either leading or close to leading in most of the school's rushing records. His tenure at UTSA has left opposing defenses in the dust, or coughing up rubber pellets, depending on surface of field.

In the leadup to this season McCormick has also been collecting preseason award watchlist notifications like they are Whataburger coupons. In fact, in the time it takes a person to read this preview he will probably be added to another watchlist.

When not handing the ball off to Sincere McCormick, UTSA quarterback Frank Harris has also put himself in the running for placement on UTSA's quarterback Mount Rushmore. When he is healthy (A common refrain in the history of UTSA QBs) Harris is one of the better quarterbacks in Conference USA. A healthy Harris and a healthy McCormick will be key for the Roadrunners to succeed in 2021.

On defense the Roadrunners are loaded with veterans. Rashad Wisdom anchors the defensive backfield. His pick six against Texas State last season is just one of many plays he has made that makes him feared by offenses.

Speaking of feared by offenses, the Roadrunner defensive front will have a rotating door of talent that plays on the line or as linebacker. Jamal Ligon is the one who first comes to mind when people picture the Roadrunner defensive front. Last season as a freshman Ligon made his presence known and set a school record for tackles in a game.

On special teams the Roadrunners return both their punter and their kicker. The punter is Lucas Dean, the pride of Dunsborough, Australia. When the offense stalls and the field needs to be flipped there are few better in this country than the punter from down under at booting the ball deep into the opposing teams half of the field.

UTSA has had a better history than most programs when it comes to kickers. Hunter Duplessis is adding his name to that history one kick at a time. Last season Duplessis opened the season by continuing a streak of makes that began in 2019. In 2020 Duplessis made 17 of 20 field goal attempts. Inside of 40 yards he was automatic, going 12-for-12.

The grizzled veterans are joined by talented newcomers who will probably be called upon in different situations this season. UTSA looks deeper than it has been in recent years. On the wild road of a football season that depth will be important if the Roadrunners hope to accomplish more history in the 11th season of football.

A year ago the Roadrunners, like all of college football, navigated a chaotic jumble of a schedule that by the end looked different from what it had been expected to be at the beginning.

Somehow, the Roadrunners were able to weather the storm and become one of a handful of teams that played 12 games last season. That experience will be invaluable for the Roadrunners this season.

It all starts with the man leading the program. Jeff Traylor will enter his second season leading the Roadrunners with a more stable team than he had a year ago.

A year ago Traylor only had fall camp to prepare the Roadrunners for the season after the COVID Pandemic wiped away spring practices across the country. Somehow Traylor took a team that had gone 3-9 in 2019 and turned them around to a 7-5 record in 2020.

Traylor also set a record for best start by a UTSA football coach in their first year when the Roadrunners opened 2020 with a 3-0 record. By comparison, both Larry Coker and Frank Wilson started their tenures at UTSA with 1-2 records through their first three games.

If there were an award for coach of the year limited to the 12 FBS schools in Texas, Traylor no doubt would have won it in 2020.

A lot of that success can be attributed to the change of culture. Traylor arrived at UTSA and embraced the culture of San Antonio. From his motto of "Draw the Line" harkening back to the legend of Travis at the Alamo to the 210 triangle of toughness where the players vote on who wears the numbers that make up the San Antonio area code, Traylor has built UTSA into a brand that San Antonio can be proud of.

All through last season it was apparent that the players and fanbase had bought into the culture of Traylor and the triangle of toughness. That energy likely helped the Roadrunners in a few of the close games, whether UTSA won them or lost them.

This season Traylor and the Roadrunners enter with higher expectations. The challenge they face is (to borrow a Traylorism) not eating the cheese. The Roadrunners will have to avoid buying too much into their own hype. If they can do that then it is possible that UTSA can have back-to-back seven win seasons for the first time since 2012 and 2013.

In past years I have tried to predict how the Roadrunners would do. Last year I picked UTSA to win four games but I finished my preview last year by saying:

(It's 2020 so UTSA will probably prove me wrong by either (a) beating either of Louisiana Tech or North Texas or (b) having their best season in three years under Traylor, because it has just been that kind of year.)

It turned out last season that UTSA did all of the above.

So now I jump into my predictions for this year (score by score can be found in the table below) and hope that UTSA has another good surprise for us this season.

UTSA has a tougher opening this season than they did last year. Illinois will not be an easy out but it is possible that UTSA makes the Fighting Illini the second power-five victory in school history. I think it will be close and UTSA will see signs of progress but I'm going with Illinois.

The Roadrunners then have back-to-back home games in September. The home opener is against Lamar. UTSA fans of a certain vintage will remember Lamar from heated basketball battles earlier this century and last when UTSA was a member of the Southland Conference. On the gridiron it likely won't be so heated. UTSA should be able to move to 1-1.

I should take this time to point out that UTSA has never shutout an opponent. The closest they've ever come was in September 2011 during the inaugural game and the inaugural football homecoming. It's possible the first ever shutout comes against Lamar this season.

After facing Lamar, UTSA will take on schools from the Volunteer State in back to back weeks. Middle Tennessee comes into the Alamodome on September 18 before UTSA travels to Memphis on September 25. Last season Memphis was supposed to visit the Alamodome but had to cancel due to a COVID outbreak on their team. Middle stepped in and filled that gap.

This season I think UTSA is able to beat Middle Tennessee and it will be a close game in Memphis but the Roadrunners will leave singing the blues.

In October I think the Roadrunners can go 3-1. UNLV, Rice and Western Kentucky are all winnable games for the Roadrunners. I wouldn't be surprised at a 4-0 October but that trip to Ruston looms. The Roadrunners have never won on Louisiana Tech's home field. It's possible they change that this year but as of right now I'm leaning toward another tough day for UTSA in northwestern Louisiana.

A year ago Traylor said the Roadrunners were hoping for a November to remember. It certainly was as the Roadrunners went 3-0 in November 2020 with blowout wins over UTEP and North Texas as well as beating Southern Miss in Hattiesburg for the first time to set up a bowl berth. UTSA lost the chance to play Rice when the Roadrunners had too many positive tests in the leadup to their trip to Houston on November 7. If not for that UTSA might have gone 4-0 in November 2020 and possibly gotten into a different bowl.

This year, if UTSA has another undefeated November it is likely they will be playing for a conference championship. This year the Roadrunners open November with a trip to El Paso for the UT-system brother bowl with UTEP. UTSA has never lost in El Paso and hasn't lost to UTEP since a 5-OT game in 2016. I'm thinking the Roadrunners continue that win streak.

In the middle of November UTSA closes out the home portion of the schedule. On November 13 UTSA welcomes Southern Miss to the Alamodome. The Golden Eagles beat UTSA in the Alamodome in 2019 but these aren't those Roadrunners. A win over Southern Miss would set up the November 20 home game against UAB as the battle for the west division.

Assuming both enter the game undefeated in conference, it would be winner take all for the west division. UTSA hasn't beaten UAB since the boys from Birmingham resurrected their program in 2017. Two years ago the game between UTSA and UAB in San Antonio was the 100th game in UTSA football history. It is possible that UTSA gets their first win over the Blazers since 2013 but I had to flip a coin on that one and the coin picked UAB.

UTSA closes out the regular season with the rivalry game the state of Texas didn't know it needed. Two days after Thanksgiving the Roadrunners will run up I-35 to Denton to face North Texas.

As of now I have UTSA entering that game with a 7-4 record but I wouldn't be surprised if UTSA is sporting a shinier record than that when they visit the place where I-35E and I-35W come back together to form one interstate before venturing into the great unknown up north of the Red River.

Last season the Roadrunners steamrolled the Mean Green in San Antonio. Two years ago the Mean Green steamrolled UTSA in Denton. I think it will be a close game and I also think UTSA will get their first win in Denton since the magically cold day of November 23, 2013 when Eric Soza led the Roadrunners to the upset of the Mean Green. I also think the 27th of November 2021 will be cold in Denton. Thus concludes the meteorological portion of this preview.

So I have the Roadrunners going 8-4. That means a bowl game. My prediction for UTSA's bowl in 2021 is that they will end up in the New Orleans Bowl against Appalachian State. I also think third time is the charm for UTSA when it comes to winning a bowl game. One more prediction. If UTSA does make the New Orleans Bowl it will be fun to see a sea of blue and orange in the French Quarter.

The 2021 season is about to begin. However it ends, it will be another wild ride for the UTSA Roadrunners and their fanbase.

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