Road Trip: UTSA travels to El Paso this weekend

The Roadrunners have cleared their midseason gauntlet against the other bird teams in conference. Next up is a trip to face UTEP, their UT-System brothers in El Paso.

To call this series between UTSA and UTEP interesting is an understatement. There have been four meetings between the schools since UTSA entered Conference USA in 2013. In that time the two schools have managed to fit in more lightning delays and overtimes than some rivalries have in a century.

In all four meetings the road team has come away victorious, including last year when UTEP rolled into San Antonio and staggered out with a win after five overtimes.

Like Bigfoot, a home team winning a game in this series remains elusive.

“I don’t know why the home team has never won in the series,” UTSA Head Coach Frank Wilson said. “I thought it was a folklore when I heard it last year and I thought, it won’t happen this year but it came to fruition. Hopefully this year we can keep that trend going.”

On paper it would seem the Roadrunners are likely not to be challenged by the 0-for-the-season Miners but football isn’t played on paper. Even if it were the Roadrunners wouldn’t be taking the Miners lightly.

“They're going to start out with a bunch of intensity. We have to go out there and match it or surpass it. UTSA quarterback Dalton Sturm said. “There's always been good games between us. We're going to have to go out there and play hard.”

The Miners haven’t had very many close games this season and are on their second coach of the season with the return of Mike Price. They did give Western Kentucky a challenge earlier this month before falling 15-14.

“UTEP is a strong team,” UTSA defensive end Marcus Davenport said. “They have good offensive linemen. It's going to be a competitive game like always.”

That offensive line will have to deal with Davenport who has been haunting opposing quarterbacks for several weeks this season. In the last game he recorded 11 tackles, six solo tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, two sacks, a pass breakup, a hurry, a forced fumble and fumble returned for a touchdown. If the Miners are able to limit Davenport they will be forced to reckon with Kevin Strong or Baylen Baker on the front line before they even reach the linebackers or defensive backs.

On the other side of the ball the Miners defense has given up an average of 459 yards per game. They have been equally giving in the ground game (231.4 YPG) and passing game (227.7 YPG) this season.

A year ago the Miners snuck out of San Antonio with a win but it was a costly one, taking a full 60-minute game and five overtimes after that to accomplish. Though they didn’t admit it the UTSA players are likely looking to return the favor this season and they’re hoping to do it in regulation.

UTEP this season isn’t as good as the Miners from last year and UTSA is much improved. It will be a fight early but in the end the Roadrunners should have the horses to outrun the Miners.

Prediction: UTSA 33 UTEP 16