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For the first time in quite a while UTSA and UAB did not come down to the final play of the game. The Roadrunners jumped on the Blazers early and coasted to a 41-20 win in front of an Alamodome crowd of 23,808. The Roadrunners won their conference home opener in the American and kept their name near the top in the race for the conference.

The Roadrunners limited UAB to just 364 yards of offense and got three takeaways on defense. UTSA's offense got 14 points from those turnovers. On special teams UTSA had several returns on kickoffs and punts as well as a few field shifting punts from Lucas Dean and two field goals of 45 yards or more from Chase Allen.

UTSA improved to 3-3 on the season and 2-0 in American Conference play. The Roadrunners also evened up the all-time series with UAB at 4-4.

"It took us six games but we finally put together our first complete game of the entire season so that was good to see," UTSA Head Coach Jeff Traylor said. Offensively we were very efficient all night. We got to play on a short field most of the night because our defense was so good and our special teams was fantastic. So the triangle, after six games, it all kind of looked bright and that's a good feeling."

UTSA lost the opening coin toss for the first time this season when UAB successfully called tails. It turned out to be the best moment for the Blazers on Saturday night.

Frank Harris and the Roadrunners went 75 yards in eight plays on their first drive. The eighth play of the drive was a 19-yard touchdown run by Robert Henry with 12:05 left in the first quarter.

"It's just a blessing, just a credit to the offense, defense, special teams," Harris said. "We all went out there and handled all our business like we were supposed to and came out victorious."

It was the first time UTSA had scored first in a game since week two against Texas State.

UTSA's defense didn't wait long to make their presence known. They pushed the Blazers back 15 yards on UAB's first offensive possession before forcing the Blazers off the field when Trey Moore sacked Jacob Zeno, forced a fumble and then recovered the fumble at the UAB 10.

One play later Harris connected with Josh Cephus for a touchdown to put UTSA up 14-0 with 10:41 left in the first quarter.

Harris finished the night completing 19 of 30 passes for 171 yards and two touchdowns. Both of his touchdowns went to Cephus. The first touchdown allowed Cephus to move to the top of the school's career reception list with 263, one more than Zakhari Franklin.

"It means everything," Cephus said of setting the record. "My dad was in my ear about it. He let me know about it at the beginning of the week."

The second touchdown from Harris to Cephus came with 3:10 left in the first quarter and gave the Roadrunners a 21-7 lead.

Cephus led the Roadrunners with seven catches for 55 yards. Devin McCuin had four catches for 42 yards. Cephus has 269 catches for his career at UTSA.

The Roadrunners were also able to get their running game going on Saturday night against UAB. UTSA finished with 183 yards on 38 carries. Robert Henry led the Roadrunners with 99 yards on nine carries and a touchdown. Kevorian Barnes finished with 19 carries for 76 yards and two touchdowns.

Barnes first touchdown came with 5:54 left in the third quarter and gave the Roadrunners a 31-20 lead. Barnes first touchdown brought energy back to the Roadrunners and the crowd after UAB had scored on a 25-yard run on their first drive of the third quarter to cut UTSA's lead to 24-20.

Before Barnes scored his second touchdown, UTSA kicker Chase Allen wrote his name into the school record book with a 53-yard field goal at the 12:09 mark of the fourth quarter. Allen's kick tied the school record of 53-yards first set by Sean Ianno in September 2014 at Florida Atlantic.

Barnes second touchdown was the final score of the game and came on a one-yard run with 8:40 left in the fourth quarter to give the Roadrunners the 41-20 win.

UTSA played well in all three phases of the game on Saturday night. The Roadrunner defense, led by Trey Moore picked up three takeaways. Moore had a fumble recovery and Kam Alexander and Elliott Davison had interceptions. The first two interceptions of the season for UTSA.

Moore also came half a sack away from tying the school record for sacks in a game. Moore finished with 3.5 sacks on Saturday night.

"It was a complete game, as well as offense and special teams. But defense for sure, we were in the backfield a lot," Moore said. "Coach allowed us to play free for a lot of the game and let us do our thing, trusted in us. So it was good."

In his postgame comments Jeff Traylor mentioned how much better the team has been as the calendar turns to October and they are able to put September in the rearview.

"October is better than September," Traylor said. "I think there's a song about that by Earth, Wind and Fire or something. It's been a lot better in October.

October certainly has been good to the Roadrunners in recent years along with the switch to conference play.

The Roadrunners have won seven straight games played in the month of October going back to a loss at Florida Atlantic on Halloween 2020. UTSA pushed its conference win streak to 10 in a row going back to a loss at North Texas in 2021.

There is something about conference games that flips a switch for the Roadrunners. It should cause worry among the other teams in the conference that the Roadrunners still feel their best football is ahead of them.

"I don't think we've played at our highest level yet," Cephus said. "Today was just a little glimpse of what we could be. We just have to stay focused and continue to be detailed and execute."

The Roadrunners are still looking to keep their memorable October going. They will be on the road at Florida Atlantic next week before returning home for the homecoming game against East Carolina on October 28.

UTSA found its own version of Earth, Wind and Fire on Saturday night. That was an offense as steady as the earth, a defense that scorched the Blazers high flying offense and a windy special teams that helped lift the Roadrunners to the win.

If the Roadrunners can keep that going this streak might continue through October and into November. The Roadrunners are now two games into their conference season with six games to play.

The real season has begun for the Roadrunners. They are 2-0 in the games that count toward a conference title.

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