UTSA falls behind early and gets clobbered by Tennessee, 45-14
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UTSA went into Knoxville, Tennessee on Saturday looking to see how they would fair against an SEC opponent in the Tennessee Volunteers.
Both teams came into Saturday off of losses last week. UTSA lost at home to Army a day before Tennessee lost at Florida. The Roadrunners also came into Knoxville without some key contributors. Frank Harris got another week to rest up his toe and De'Corian Clark was left in San Antonio to get another week of rest on his knee.
"He's gotten a lot better. He could've played (today)," UTSA head coach Jeff Traylor said of Frank Harris's turf toe injury. "It's just a matter of what it’s going to do for a nagging injury the rest of the year. We are trying to get that thing healed up all the way, so when he comes back it's not something everyone is holding their breath about the entire year.”
Even if Harris and Clark had been with the team it likely wouldn't have changed things in Knoxville. The Volunteers were too much for the Roadrunners and coasted to a 45-14 win before a crowd of 101,915.
Tennessee scored on the first play from scrimmage when quarterback Joe Milton III broke off an 81 yard touchdown run 20 seconds into the game.
"They ran a zone read, we misfit it. He's really fast. That’s how it started," Traylor said.
Tennessee got the ball first by virtue of UTSA winning the coin toss and deferring their choice to the second half. As it turned out the coin toss was the only thing won by the Roadrunners in Knoxville on Saturday afternoon.
The Roadrunner offense struggled to get going in the first half. Tennessee had no problems with their offense as they took a 14-0 lead just four minutes after their first touchdown. The Volunteers second touchdown came with 10:03 left in the first quarter on a 10 yard run by Dylan Sampson.
"we weren’t able to execute the way we wanted to. It’s just part of it," UTSA safety Rashad Wisdom said. "You get a couple bumps here and there, but you have to keep rolling with the punches."
UTSA was able to contain the Volunteers the rest of the first quarter but Tennessee went scored two touchdowns in the first four minutes of the second quarter to go up 28-0. The Volunteers added a field goal before halftime to take a 31-0 lead into the break.
At halftime UTSA made a change at quarterback. Eddie Lee Marburger finished his day with 12 completions on his 21 attempts for 61 yards and an interception. Owen McCown came on for the third quarter and gave the Roadrunners hope for part of the afternoon and a strong showing for more reps going forward.
"We had planned on playing both quarterbacks in both games, but we couldn’t get the ball back against Army. We never got to see both quarterbacks," Traylor said. "When I realized Frank (Harris) wasn’t going to be able to go, our intention was to make sure we played a lot of our roster so we could make an honest evaluation of what we have before we go to Temple."
McCown led the Roadrunners to two touchdown drives in the third quarter while completing his first 10 pass attempts. The first touchdown came on a three-yard pass to Joshua Cephus with 7:32 left in the third quarter. The second touchdown was a 43-yard pass to Tykee Ogle-Kellogg just two minutes later at the 5:16 mark of the third quarter.
It was a special moment for Ogle-Kellogg to be able to score a touchdown in Knoxville, just 16 miles away from his hometown of Alcoa, Tennessee.
"It was amazing. It felt great. It was a great pass from Owen (McCown)," Ogle-Kellogg said. "Everyone did their job, and I just got the ball and did a move with it.”
McCown finished his day completing 18 of 20 passes for 170 yards and the two touchdowns. McCown also threw an interception in the fourth quarter. That interception came after Tennessee had scored two touchdowns in the fourth to go up 45-14.
A much needed bye week ahead before conference play
UTSA departed Knoxville with a 1-3 record for the first time since the 2019 season. The Roadrunners fell behind early against Tennessee and made the game close in the third quarter but never felt like they would cut the lead down further.
McCown's two touchdown passes did allow UTSA to avoid being shutout for the first time since the 2018 season. The Roadrunners finished Saturday with 319 yards of offense but Tennessee had 512 yards of offense.
There was some positive on Saturday as the Roadrunner's got their first takeaway when Tennessee touched the ball on a punt in the second quarter and UTSA recovered. Even with that takeaway the Roadrunners offense had three turnovers, a lost fumble and two interceptions.
UTSA is 1-3 through the non-conference portion of the season but they could easily be 2-2 if not for the missed opportunities in week one against Houston. The Roadrunners won't face a team as good as Tennessee again this season and in the last two weeks both Eddie Lee Marburger and Owen McCown have shown they can step in at quarterback when they are needed.
The bye week comes at a good time for UTSA and their goal of a conference championship remains intact. Any hopes of a third straight 10-win season are on the verge of disappearance. UTSA would need to go 8-0 in conference and win the conference championship game or a bowl game to reach 10 wins this season.
It is possible the Roadrunners can make it three seasons of 10 wins in a row but they have dug themselves a hole deep enough to remove their margin for error. To reach their goals of a conference championship the Roadrunners will need to find consistency on offense that has been tough to find in the non-conference schedule and flip their turnover margin from where it is now.
UTSA will have two weeks to learn from the non-conference and find the things that work best to try and start their run in American conference play. It won't be long before the Roadrunners are back on the field for the conference opener at Temple.
FORUMS: UTSA Boulevard | Roadrunner Way
