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Season number 11 for the UTSA Roadrunners will kickoff on Saturday evening when the Roadrunners take on another team sporting the color scheme of blue and orange.

The opponent de jeur will be the Illinois Fighting Illini. UTSA and Illinois will tussle on the field of Illinois Memorial Stadium in Champaign. Illinois plies their football trade in the Big 10 conference.

The University of Illinois (full name is University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign) began in 1867 as the Illinois Industrial University. In 1885 the school became known as the University of Illinois. 50 years later, in 1935 'Urbana-Champaign' was tacked on to the end of the name as the U of I system grew from just the one campus.

Illinois fielded their first football team in 1890. Six years later, in 1896, the Fighting Illini helped form the Western Conference (today known as the Big 10). Since their first season the Fighting Illini have an all-time record of 615-606-51. Illinois won national championships in 1914, 1919, 1923, 1927 and 1951.

Last week, Illinois beat Nebraska 30-22 in Champaign. It gave the Illini back-to-back wins over Nebraska for the first time in a long time. How long?

Before this year the last time Illinois had beaten Nebraska in back-to-back seasons was in 1923 and 1924 when there were 48 states in the union, Calvin Coolidge was president and you couldn't legally buy alcoholic beverages in the United States. Preston Smith, the governor of Texas who founded UTSA in 1969, was in junior high when Illinois last beat Nebraska in back-to-back seasons.

Granted, Illinois wasn't high on Nebraska's list of non-conference opponents for much of the 20th century. After Nebraska got its revenge in 1925 the two schools didn't play football against each other until 1985. Not until Nebraska joined the Big 10 in 2011 has it become a regular contest.

Now the Roadrunners are heading up to the Land of Lincoln hoping to make a little history of their own. Saturday marks the first time UTSA plays a member of the Big 10 conference. It will be the Roadrunners first game against a power-five opponent since they visited the Texas A&M Aggies in 2019.

UTSA has only beaten a power five opponent once, that was the season opener in 2017 when the Roadrunners knocked off Baylor on the north bank of the Brazos.

As has been mentioned this weekend is the Roadrunners first against a Big 10 opponent. That leaves the ACC as the only FBS conference that UTSA has not played against in football. It is also UTSA football's first foray into the midwestern states.

The Roadrunners will open year two of the Traylor era on Saturday evening. Traylor will look to improve to 2-0 in season openers at UTSA, something both Larry Coker and Frank Wilson did.

Both of the predecessor's wins were historic. Coker's season two opener was the road win over South Alabama in 2012. That was the first road win in program history. Wilson's season two opener was the aforementioned win at Baylor in 2017.

Traylor's year two opener is the toughest opponent faced by a UTSA coach in their second season opener. If the Roadrunners can knock off Illinois it would be another historic win for the program, a second win over a power-five opponent.

So how do the Roadrunners pull off the upset and pop the Illini bubble that is flying high after their win over Nebraska.

The easy answer would be to say control the time of possession. In 2017 when the Roadrunners defeated Baylor they held on to the ball for 38:52 of the game. Baylor's time of posession was 21:08. It will be tougher to accomplish that against Illinois than it was four years ago in Waco. For one thing that Baylor team was historically bad. For another this Illinois team has more confidence going into the game after knocking off a division rival.

That being said the Roadrunners will have a chance to pull off the upset. The best way to do that will be to take the crowd out of the game early, or at least get them nervous on the bleachers. If the Roadrunners can get Sincere McCormick going and possibly score first it could go a long way to enhancing their chances in the game.

Last week the Illini limited Nebraska to 160 yards rushing. If UTSA is able to put 160 or more yards on Illinois that could bode well for the Roadrunners. If McCormick replicates his opener from 2020 when he had over 200 yards against Texas State then it is likely UTSA will win. To burst that bubble here. I don't see McCormick breaking off 200 yards on the ground against Illinois.

On defense if the Roadrunners can keep the Illinois drives short and limit them to field goals or punts as opposed to touchdowns that will also check off a key box in terms of defeating their hosts. Illinois does have a strong kicking game and though the Big 10 network might cringe if it turns out this way, the game could become a field goal fest if both defenses are able to limit the touchdowns.

A low scoring game is probably the kind of game UTSA will want as it gives them a higher chance of pulling the upset. If Illinois hits 35 points it is likely they will win.

In the UTSA 2021 football preview last week I predicted Illinois would win 28-21. That was published before Illinois played Nebraska. I'm still sticking with my pick of Illinois but I also think UTSA will find a way to keep it close.

The season preview also made mention of the fact UTSA has never had a kickoff return for a touchdown and never shutout an opponent.

They obviously won't be shutting out Illinois but it would be quite a spark to the 2021 season if the Roadrunners ran a kick back against the Illini. I'm not holding my breath for that KO-Return touchdown this weekend. I do believe UTSA will be able to get some touchdowns against Illinois.

I also feel there will be several field goals booted by both teams. For the fun of it I will say that Illinois wins it on a late field goal after UTSA drives to take a lead.

My pick: Illinois 25 UTSA 23

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