UTSA travels outside the state of Texas for the first time in 2017 in search for their third conference win in a row. The Keys to the Game as always are brought to you by Jackson Financial.

Keep pounding the ball

UTSA did a pretty solid job running the ball versus UTEP. Between Rhodes, Clay, and Sturm the Roadrunners combined for 205 yards and 2 touchdowns. If UTSA can stick around their average for the year (220 yards/per) they will have a great chance of controlling the clock and winning this game. FIU is letting up around 171 yards per game, so the 200 yard mark is a real possibility.

One thing to note. Jalen Rhodes is not healthy right now. He really hasn’t been for a few games. In September Rhodes rushed for 338 yards and 3 touchdowns on 45 carries, that comes out to an average of 7.51 yards per carry. Now look at his numbers in October. He has 224 yards on 59 carries and 2 touchdowns for an average of 3.8 yards per carry. His cuts do not look the same. He cannot stay out there for long periods of time before Tyrell Clay is subbed in. UTSA needs him to get healthy and by his performance versus UTEP he might be almost there.

Secondary must play better

Very hard to criticize a secondary that is only allowing 172 yards per game, but here we are. In conference play UTSA has struggled with long pass plays as evident by the drastic increase in yards per pass attempt. During their non-conference games UTSA averaged 4.5 yards per attempt, fastforward to CUSA play and that has jumped to 8.5 yards per pass attempt. Not bad, but Rice and UTEP kind of skews those numbers. In the two games versus UNT and USM the Roadrunners allowed 10 yard per attempt, 6 touchdowns and only 1 interception.

FIU is not UTEP/Rice. They have a solid offense and one of the better quarterbacks in CUSA. The 283 pass yards per game UTSA averaged against UNT and USM is a recipe for disaster this weekend.

Finish the game

Fans are not the only ones that have heard or read that UTSA has not beaten a team with a winning record. Frank Wilson and his players know this and they will like nothing more than to rectify this versus FIU. At the same time they have to show they can finish games against good teams. They couldn’t complete the comeback versus USM and we all know what happened against UNT. If there was a theme this week it has to be finish.

UTSA brings in the best scoring defense in CUSA in search for their 6th win of the season.