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EDITORS NOTE: This is the 11th in a series counting down the top 10 games of the first 10 seasons of Roadrunner football. The series will run between now and the New Year

Previously in the Top 10 Greatest Games Series: Honorable Mention Games | Greatest Game #10 | Greatest Game #9 | Greatest Game #8 | Greatest Game #7 | Greatest Game #6 | Greatest Game #5 | Greatest Game #4 | Greatest Game #3 | Greatest Game #2

The Roadrunners have now finished the 10th season of football. To celebrate we have been looking back at the 10 best games in the first decade of UTSA football.

Today in our series counting down the top 10 games in program history we look at the greatest game in UTSA history so far. It was the afternoon in November 2020 when the Roadrunners set records on offense in a win over North Texas.

After the way UTSA had been crushed in Denton in 2019 there was a sense in 2020 that the Roadrunners were out to avenge that lopsided defeat. Nobody could have guessed that the Roadrunners would beat North Texas by breaking a pair of school records.

In September of 2019 the Roadrunners lost to North Texas 45-3 in Denton. UTSA had to wait 14 months to get another chance at the Mean Green. By November 2020 the two rivals were experiencing different seasons.

UTSA entered with a 6-4 record. The Roadrunners were coming off a road victory at Southern Miss. In the previous home game UTSA had set a school record for total yards with 600 in a win over UTEP.

North Texas came to the Alamodome with a 3-3 record. The Mean Green had beaten Rice the week before. While UTSA was entering its final week of the regular season, North Texas still had two games to play in December due to postponements.

UTSA had not beaten North Texas since 2016. The Mean Green's three game win streak had begun with their miracle comeback in 2017 and included a close victory in 2018 and the clobbering in 2019. The Roadrunners were out to snap that losing streak.

The game started out slowly for both offenses. Punters shined on the opening drive for both UTSA and North Texas. The Roadrunners had a chance at points on their second drive of the afternoon but Hunter Duplessis missed from 52 yards out.

Things started to pick up for UTSA on the Mean Green's second drive. Rashad Wisdom intercepted a Jason Bean pass in the end zone to prevent North Texas from scoring and set up the Roadrunner offense at the 5:25 mark of the first quarter.

Frank Harris and the Roadrunner offense took advantage of the takeaway. The Roadrunners went 80 yards in nine plays and took 2:47 off the clock. Harris gave the Roadrunners their first lead over North Texas since 2017 when he scored from 19 yards out with 2:38 left in the first quarter.

The score remained 7-0 at the end of the first quarter. In the first frame the Roadrunners had racked up 140 yards of offense, 73 on the ground and 67 through the air.

UTSA opened the second quarter with a scoring drive that ended in an eight yard touchdown pass from Harris to Josh Cephus at the 11:10 mark. The drive had been helped by a 38 yard run by Sincere McCormick.

North Texas only needed one play to cut the deficit in half. The Mean Green scored on a 75 yard touchdown pass with 10:58 left in the second quarter.

Harris and the Roadrunner answered the North Texas touchdown with one of their own. It only took two plays. McCormick ran for six yards on the first play of the drive and then broke free for a 65 yard touchdown on the second play to push UTSA ahead 21-7 at 10:26 in the second quarter.

UTSA scored another touchdown right before halftime when Harris and De'Corian Clark connected on a 15 yard pass. The Roadrunners would take the 28-7 lead into the locker room. In the first half the Roadrunner offense had picked up 352 yards, 218 of those coming on the ground.

The second half began like the first half with both teams having to punt on their opening drives. North Texas tacked on a field goal on their second drive of the half to cut the deficit to 28-10.

It didn't get any better for the green-clad guests from Denton. UTSA went 74 yards in three plays and scored a touchdown with a four yard run by Brendan Brady.

UTSA held the 35-10 lead from the 4:55 mark of the third quarter until the 14:02 mark of the fourth quarter. That was when the Roadrunners went ahead 42-10 with an 18-yard touchdown run by McCormick.

Seven minutes later the Roadrunners added their final touchdown of the afternoon when BJ Daniels scored on a nine-yard run with 7:12 left to play. The Roadrunners lead of 49-10 lasted until North Texas scored a late touchdown in garbage time to give the game its final score of 49-17.

When the clock struck zero in the Alamodome the results of the game were apparent. The Roadrunners had set a new school record with 624 yards of offense. Sincere McCormick had broken his own record for individual rushing yards in a game with 251.

McCormick also became the first Roadrunner to reach 200 yards on the ground in a single game. Harris accounted for 113 yards on the ground and 144 through the air. It was the first time UTSA had a pair of 100-yard rushers in the same game since October 5, 2019 against UTEP.

The Roadrunner defense had two interceptions on the afternoon which led to 14 points for the Roadrunner offense.

North Texas returned to Denton to close out their season with a loss to Louisiana Tech and a win over UTEP. The Mean Green were then doubled-up, 56-28 by Appalachian State in their bowl game.

It was quite the regular season finale for the Roadrunners. After a fast start to the season followed by a sluggish middle, UTSA finished the regular season on a three-game winning streak. Two of those final three games in November saw the Roadrunner offense hit the rarified air of 600 yards. The Roadrunners nearly capped off their 2020 with a bowl win but even with the loss in the bowl their last performance in the Alamodome set the bar high for 2021.

After not being able to beat North Texas in three straight games the Roadrunners snapped the streak in style. UTSA set a new mark for total yards and individual rushing yards. The Roadrunners also took the fight out of the Mean Green early.

Were it not for a late touchdown by North Texas it would have been an even more lopsided result in favor of the Roadrunners. Even with the late touchdown, the 49 points put up by the Roadrunners are the most by any team in the series and one of the biggest point totals by a Roadrunner team in any game ever.

Between the high flying offense, the bucket load of points and the snapping of a losing streak to a rival there is a lot to keep this game in the top 10 for a while to come.

As the Roadrunners embark on the second decade of football they have experienced quite a lot in the first decade. The win over North Texas in November 2020 will continue to hold a special place in the history of the program until a Roadrunner team gets to 625 yards of offense or a running back goes beyond 251 yards in a game. It might be a while before the Roadrunners drop 49 points on the Mean Green again.

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