Holding on for 3-0

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There were a lot of firsts for UTSA against Middle Tennessee on Friday night. There was the first action of the season for Zakhari Franklin. Josh Adkins stepped in for his first action in the second quarter after Frank Harris went down with an injury. There was almost the first kick return for a touchdown in school history.

Perhaps the biggest first for UTSA was getting win number one in conference play and moving to 3-0 for the third time in program history with a 37-35 win over the Blue Raiders in front of a crowd of 6,182 in the Alamodome. The win allowed UTSA to become the first team in all of college football to improve to 3-0 in 2020.

"We are thrilled to come out with a win," UTSA Head Coach Jeff Traylor said. "Our kids just keep finding a way."

The Roadrunners needed every point they could get and a little bit of luck to hold off a late charge by the Blue Raiders. It came down to a two-point conversion attempt for Middle Tennessee that would have tied the score with a minute left. The pass was incomplete and UTSA recovered the ensuing onside kick to finally be able to run out the clock.

There were many bright spots for UTSA on Friday night. Sincere McCormick ran for 82 yards and two touchdowns on 19 carries. Adkins flung the ball around, completing 16 of 28 passes for 233 yards and a touchdown. The Roadrunners were only penalized three times for 29 yards.

A not so bright spot was that for the first time this season UTSA's offense was held under 495 yards, finishing with 391 yards.

"It's a lot of fun back there," Adkins said. "I trusted my preparation and trusted the guys around me. I tried to make plays and get the win."

In his first game back from injury Zakhari Franklin was the favored receiver on Friday night. Franklin had six catches for 119 yards and one touchdown.

"It felt good to get back out there," Franklin said. "It was good to be able to make an impact. I was happy to score that first touchdown."

On the defensive side of the ball UTSA was led by true freshman Jamal Ligon. The Tyler native set a school record with 19 tackles including 1.5 sacks and 1.5 tackles for loss.

"We were trying to stop their quarterback," Ligon said. "He's their pillar of light. We could have done better but we did a good job putting some hits in."

The Roadrunner defense also intercepted two passes thrown by Middle Tennessee quarterback Asher O'Hara.

Middle Tennessee was able to rack up the yards. The Blue Raiders finished with 563 yards. 372 of those yards were passing yards and 191 were rushing yards.

"They're quarterback was a playmaker for sure," UTSA safety Rashad Wisdom said. "It was a good offense. Respect to those guys. They came to play for sure."

For the first time this season UTSA did not score on their first drive of the game. After Middle Tennessee punted on their opening drive the Roadrunners were driving into Blue Raider territory on their first drive. On 2nd and 10 from the Blue Raider 41 UTSA tried some trickeration. Frank Harris lateraled to Sheldon Jones who then threw it deep down field intending for Joshua Cephus to catch it. Instead Middle Tennessee's Gregory Grate intercepted it.

The Blue Raiders scored on their ensuing drive but fortunately for UTSA it was just a field goal with 8:20 left in the first quarter. Middle Tennessee held that 3-0 advantage the rest of the quarter as both teams traded punts. UTSA's Lucas Dean finished the night with 295 yards on six punts.

UTSA got on the board on their second drive of the second quarter when Harris found Franklin for a 25-yard touchdown at the 11:11 mark of the quarter. Hunter Duplessis added the extra point and UTSA led 7-3.

Donyai Taylor would intercept an O'Hara pass on Middle's next possession to set UTSA up with a short field. The Roadrunners took advantage, going 14 yards in three plays to take a 14-3 lead with 7:38 left before halftime.

Middle Tennessee cut the deficit to 14-10 with a touchdown at the 1:08 mark of the second quarter. That set up what could be considered a season altering drive for UTSA. On the fifth play of the drive Harris rolled to the left under pressure from DQ Thomas. Harris's pass was incomplete but he came out of the play hobbling and went over to the sideline. Adkins came in and finished the drive. UTSA added a field goal as time expired to take a 17-10 lead into the locker room.

"I feel terrible for a young man (like Frank) who's worked his tail off to come back," Traylor said. "We'll get an MRI in the morning and we'll know more then."

Harris's night finished with him having completed seven of 13 passes for 70 yards and a touchdown. Harris also had four carries for seven yards before his injury.

The second half started for UTSA the way the first half had ended. Adkins led the Roadrunners down the field and Hunter Duplessis notched a field goal to put UTSA up 20-10 with 11:25 left in the third quarter.

Middle Tennessee scored on their next possession but the extra point was blocked by Peter Gray and UTSA held a slight 20-16 edge at the 8:30 mark of the quarter.

The Blue Raiders retook the lead on their next drive as they went 96 yards in three plays and scored on a 24 yard run by Chaton Mobley. Blue Raider kicker Holt Crews made the extra point and the visitors held a 23-20 lead with 6:40 left in the third quarter.

On the ensuing kickoff UTSA almost notched a program first. Brennon Dingle took the kick from his own six and had only the kicker to beat by the time he reached midfield. Alas Holt Crews pushed Dingle out at the Blue Raider 49 and the Roadrunners were that far from their first ever kick return.

It meant little in the grand scheme of things. On the second play of the drive Adkins found Franklin open for a 48 yard pass that put UTSA on the doorstep of the Blue Raiders' end zone. It appeared Franklin had gotten into the endzone but he was ruled down at the one. On the very next play McCormick helped his teammate out by running the ball in from one yard out to put UTSA back in front 27-23 with 6:01 left in the third.

"He didn't say anything before," Franklin said of the huddle between his catch and the touchdown run. "But I congratulated him after."

UTSA never gave up the lead but things got touch-and-go in the fourth quarter. The Roadrunners entered the final frame with a 34-23 lead after Adkins had tossed a touchdown pass to Cephus at the 2:12 mark of the third quarter.

Just 14 seconds into the fourth quarter Middle Tennessee scored a touchdown to cut the deficit down to 34-29. The Blue Raiders went for two but were unable to convert.

UTSA added a Duplessis field goal on their next possession to go up 37-29 with 11:39 left in the fourth. It was the 15th consecutive make for Duplessis dating back to last season.

After the Blue Raiders had to punt on their next possession UTSA got the ball with 10:07 left to play and a chance to burn some clock. The Roadrunners were unable to do so and had to punt the ball after just 51 seconds. UTSA forced Middle Tennessee into a turnover on downs on the next drive and got the ball with 6:42 left to play. Once again the Roadrunners could only take 0:55 seconds off the clock.

Middle Tennessee took over with 5:47 left to play and the ball at their own 28. O'Hara led his troops down the field and carved 4:43 off the clock before finding Yusuf Ali open for a six yard touchdown. The Blue Raiders called timeout to set up their two point conversion attempt. It didn't work for them as the two point pass attempt went incomplete thanks to the defense of Wisdom.

UTSA recovered the onside kick and ran out the remaining 1:04 of the clock to improve to 3-0 on the season and 1-0 in conference.

"It was a good team win," Wisdom said. "I felt we were ready to play from walkthroughs to now."

Traylor had already made history as the first UTSA coach to go 2-0 in his first two games leading the Roadrunners. Now he's the first to go 3-0. Traylor also joined Coker on the list of Roadrunner coaches getting a win in their first conference game at the helm.

"I'd be lying to you if I didn't say it was special," Traylor said. "I don't think my kids would have flinched if we'd have lost. They believe in the program and the coaches. I have a strong feeling about that. I'm thrilled for our kids.

UTSA will travel to Birmingham next Saturday to face the UAB Blazers at Legion field.

"It's fixing to get rough. UAB is going to be our toughest opponent by far. No one's going to give us a chance," Traylor said. "We'll be a double digit underdog but our guys are going to go play. We're going to give perfect effort and let the chips fly. We're not going to blink."

Kickoff in Birmingham is scheduled for 11:30 next Saturday morning. The game will be streamed on Stadium.

NEXT WEEK: UTSA (3-0, 1-0 Conference USA) at UAB (2-1, 0-0 Conference USA). Saturday October 3. 11:30 a.m.

FORUMS: UTSA Boulevard | Roadrunner Way