Staff Predictions: Troy
UTSA is in Orlando for the Duluth Cure Bowl looking for their first bowl win in program history. The staff gives you their picks.
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Jared Kalmus - Alamodome Audible - (13-0)
I firmly believe this game will live up to its billing as one of the most entertaining bowl matchups of the year. It's going to take a season high in catches from Zakhari Franklin, but the Roadrunners will string together some long drives and a big interception to earn their first ever bowl win in program history.
UTSA 31, Troy 28
Chase Otero - Photog - (12-1)
Last game of the 2022 season and it’s going to be the most intriguing matchup yet! Troy University will be battling it out with UTSA in a classic offensive versus defensive battle. Both will be playing each other for the first time, and lucky for everyone, it’s taking place in the happiest place on earth… Orlando!
My prediction for the game is a pretty tight score throughout. The main course for this matchup will be Frank Harris and company going at Troy’s notorious defense. Troy is able to put numbers up on the scoreboard so UTSA’s defense will need to be alert and ready for that action.
I’m taking the Runners in their first bowl win:
UTSA 31, Troy 24
Stephen Whitaker - Staff Writer - (13-0)
The greatest bowl game outside of the New Year's Six will take place Friday afternoon when UTSA and Troy get together in Orlando. Both teams are conference champions. Both teams are ranked in the top 25. Both teams are riding 10-game winning streak and both teams are hoping their dreams come true just down the road from Disney World. Alas, only one team will have a joyous ending to their Cure Bowl experience. That team will be UTSA because of the quarterback play of Frank Harris and some timely takeaways by the Roadrunner defense.
UTSA 35, Troy 24
Burk Frey - Photog - (11-2)
Through the spring and into the 2022 season, Coach Jeff Traylor and his UTSA Roadrunners have had a mantra: "bull don't care." The saying is meant as a reminder that all the fancy accolades, accomplishments, rankings, and buzz have no influence on the result of the next play or the next game.
Coach Jon Sumrall and Troy have a similar call-and-response refrain following good or bad outcomes alike: "So what? Now what?"
And that's what it's going to come down to for these two evenly-matched opponents — which team is going to more successfully handle the pomp and pressure of the bowl event and the 12-win season? That's your deciding factor. I give it to the team who has recently been there, by the slimmest of margins.
UTSA 28, Troy 27
Brandon Holland - Staff Writer - (12-1)
In a game between 2 conference champions, I believe when these 2 teams step on the field, UTSA will shine. Going against 24th-ranked Troy, one of the nation's best defenses, is a great way to end the season. The Roadrunners are tested, tried, and true. This is a veteran squad who have dealt with attrition and kept it truckin’. I look to Barnes to continue to run aggressively and Frank Harris to make timely and sound decisions with the football and put up big points for UTSA. The UTSA defense will stop Troy’s run game and force them into their lesser strength.
UTSA 41, Troy 20
Javi Cardenas - Publisher - (12-1)
The 2022 football season culminates tomorrow in Orlando for UTSA in the Cure Bowl. What a rollercoaster of a year this has been. But it is not over yet. UTSA still has something to prove to everyone, including themselves. Bowl games in the past have felt like an exhibition of sorts for the program. A celebration of overachievement, but this year seems different. The Roadrunners seem locked in, ready to get their first bowl win and first win over a ranked opponent. This team seems to learn from their mistakes. They avenge their bowl losses from 2020 and 2021 and end 2022 with a bowl win over a ranked Troy.
UTSA 30, Troy 24
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