UTSA looks for their first conference win of the season this weekend versus Rice. As always the Keys to the Game are brought to you by Jackson Financial.
Go back to basics
Frank Wilson appears to have hit the reset button this week at practice. Players weren’t available for interviews, and it looks like the BirdCage drill seems to have made an appearance this at practice. The BirdCage, UTSA’s version of the Oklahoma drill has been a staple of the offseason for Frank Wilson and his staff, it returning in the middle of the season kinda tells you where the mindset of this team is at. These two losses have shacked everyone up a little bit, UTSA needs put it behind them and go back to being the team they were before the bye week.
Secondary must step up
This UTSA secondary is a liability right now. Miscommunication, missed tackles, blown assignments, they have done it all these past two weeks. They are one of the worst pass defenses in conference play allowing 283 yards through the air, They must get this fixed if they want to get out of this 0-2 hole they have dug themselves in.
Return of the running game
UTSA has been forced to throw the ball a lot more as the season has progressed, and believe me is not because Frank Wilson wants to. They are a below average rushing team in the conference play only averaging 138 yards on the ground these past two games. Rice has played two conference games and is only yielding a conference best 63 yards per game on the ground. Let’s see what UTSA can do here against what it appears to be an above average rushing defense. If they cannot establish the run against a 1-5 team, well, yeah.
Trust Dalton Sturm
This one is pretty simple. Trust your senior quarterback in pressure situations. Sturm has arguably been a top three quarterback in CUSA, they need to trust him to win them games. Sturm has the highest completion percentage and the best touchdown to interception ratio of all starting quarterbacks in the conference. Simple, let him win you games.
Have fun again
These past two weeks have been pretty terrible for everyone, fans, players, coaches included. This team needs to go back to having fun playing football. Nothing helps you get out of a funk like a homecoming game versus a 1-5 team with a redshirt freshman quarterback.
