Looking forward to the 2020 season

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This past Saturday, the UTSA Roadrunners were originally scheduled to play the defending national champion LSU Tigers in Baton Rouge. The Jeff Traylor era at UTSA would have begun with perhaps the stiffest test in program history. The food alone would have been worth the trip.

2020 had other ideas. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has thrown wrenches into the plans of everybody, not just college football teams. For a while it looked like UTSA might still get to open at LSU but with no fans in attendance. Then the SEC went to a conference-only schedule.

LSU wasn't the first game UTSA lost in its original 2020 schedule. Grambling State cancelled its season in hopes of moving it to the spring with the rest of the Southwest Athletic Conference (SWAC). Then Old Dominion, the easternmost Conference USA member, decided to take 2020 off as a precaution against the pandemic. With that, UTSA had lost three games, including a conference game. That UTSA is scheduled to play any games this season— but especially a full schedule of 12 — is a testament to the administration's hard work.

Now the Traylor era will begin with what was originally the second game of the season, a road trip to San Marcos to face Texas State in the I-35 Showdown. The Grambling game, the original home opener, has been replaced by a home game against Stephen F. Austin, Traylor's alma mater. UTSA added a road game at BYU and a home game against Army in October to round out the 12-game schedule.

UTSA and the other members of Conference USA are fortunate to have the chance to play football in 2020. How much they get to play in 2020 is to be revealed over the coming weeks and months. There are things to look forward to, whether the season lasts one month or all three.

From the day UTSA hired Jeff Traylor last December, there was excitement building in the city of San Antonio. Traylor helped his cause by embracing the culture of San Antonio.

One of Coach Traylor's additions to fall camp, which many hope becomes a yearly tradition at UTSA, is the "2-1-0" jersey numbers making up the "Triangle of Toughness." The toughest players are honored with the chance to wear single-digit numbers, especially the numbers representing the 210 area code of San Antonio, by a team and staff vote.

This potential new tradition was enabled, in part, by an NCAA rule change this season allowing players to wear number 0. And in fact, the Roadrunners will have two players wearing 0: quarterback Frank Harris and safety Rashad Wisdom. Defensive lineman Jaylon Haynes will wear number one and wide receiver Sheldon "Sticks" Jones will wear number two.

The remaining single digits were announced over the last week or so. The other single digit wearers this season will be running back Sincere McCormick (3), tight end Leroy Watson (4), running back Brendan Brady (5), wide receiver Brennon Dingle (6), defensive back Dadrian Taylor (7), linebacker Solomon Wise (8), and linebacker Clarence Hicks (9).

Like nearly everything about 2020, COVID-19 has put a damper on the excitement as UTSA will limit attendance to 17% of the 65,000 capacity in the Alamodome. It will be interesting to see how loud the "Traylor Park" can get with just 17% attendance. By a weird twist of fate, the Traylor era will begin with fans in all three levels of the Alamodome after the third deck had been closed the last few years.

One thing for sure taken away in 2020 will be Alamodome tailgating. There won't be any tailgating allowed in any of the stadium parking lots. It will be a sacrifice for some, but it just means the 2021 tailgates will go even harder.

Assuming fans are able to attend all of the games this season they will be treated to interesting opponents in the home games. Among the road teams playing in the Alamodome this season are SFA, Memphis and Army. UTSA first battled Army in 2019, and will face both SFA and Memphis for the first time. The conference home games will feature Louisiana Tech, UTEP and North Texas.

The big road trip might have changed, but BYU is practically as big a road game for UTSA as LSU would have been. It will also mark just the second time in program history that the Roadrunners play a football game in the state of Utah. The only other road trip to the Beehive State was back in 2011 when UTSA played its first road game in program history at Southern Utah. UTSA has never beaten a team from Utah, losing to Southern Utah in 2011 and at home against Utah State in 2012.

With Old Dominion opting out of the 2020 season, UTSA has replaced that game with the home contest against Army. The five non-conference games are the most for UTSA in a season since 2012 when the Roadrunners had six non-conference games. (UTSA was 5-1 in non-conference in 2012).

Something else of note about the 2020 schedule: the September 12 season opener against Texas State will mark the latest start date for a UTSA season, bumping the September 9, 2017 game against Baylor to second latest start date.

On the field, the Roadrunners have a lot of young talent, and many fans will be interested to see how that talent shapes up in a new system. Among the questions to be answered in 2020: How does the Roadrunner football team handle a season under a new coach with no spring practice? Will Sincere McCormick and Zakhari Franklin build on their breakout 2019 seasons? Who will be the starting quarterback? How does the defense adjust to a change in formation? Do any of the highly touted newcomers rise up to become breakout stars? Can the Roadrunners as a whole improve on 2019?

Those answers will come in time, if the Roadrunners are able to complete the 2020 season.

In previous seasons, I tried to predict the results of each game. I've been wrong more than I've been right. With the original 2020 schedule I had UTSA at four wins (Texas State, Grambling, UTEP, ODU). With this new schedule, I'll say it is more likely to be three wins, but there is every possibility that it goes up to four or five if things gel quickly for the Roadrunners.

The first game against Texas State will be a toss-up, but I think the maroons from the teacher's college in outlet city will pull out a close game and finally get their first win in four tries against UTSA.

I feel that UTSA's first win will come in the home opener against Stephen F. Austin, and there will be euphoria in the hills of oak and cedar again. That euphoria won't last long as UTSA will drop their next three to Memphis, UAB, and BYU.

Army could be a winnable game for UTSA if they can contain the Black Knights triple option and could be the start of the turn around. So for fun, let us say UTSA wins that one to move to 2-4. The Roadrunners fall to Louisiana Tech and Florida Atlantic to end October at 2-6. Though it will feel like a different 2-6 as they will be competitive in every game.

By November the Roadrunners will begin playing for 2021, but there are some pride games on the line. First will be a trip to face Rice. The Roadrunners have had the Owls' number in recent years, but this could be Rice's best team in a number of years. I think the Owls get their first win over the Roadrunners since 2014. UTSA bounces back to keep the streak against UTEP alive and move to 3-7. I don't see them beating Southern Miss but they might sneak the upset on North Texas in the finale. I'll stick to three wins for the time being, but I won't be surprised if it is closer to four or five wins. I also won't be surprised if UTSA is unable to play all 12 games because of the pandemic.

(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).

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