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EDITORS NOTE: This is the seventh 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

The Roadrunners have now finished the 10th season of football. To celebrate the 10th season of football 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 fourth best game in UTSA history. It was the afternoon in December 2020 when the Roadrunners mounted a wild comeback against a ranked Louisiana team in the First Responder Bowl.

In the second bowl game in program history the Roadrunners made it just as memorable as the first one. They also showed a grittiness that will lead them to win games like the First Responder Bowl someday.

UTSA's 2020 bowl experience was like a microcosm of 2020 at large. The Roadrunners had to deal with a schedule change because of the pandemic. When UTSA got their seventh win in their 11th game of the season it was not known who the 12th opponent might be or even if there might be a 12th opponent.

There were a lot of options. There could be a makeup of the Rice game that was postponed when UTSA didn't have enough players to make the trip to Houston because of contact tracing. There was also the possibility of a trip to the conference championship game if UAB lost one more game.

When none of those things happened UTSA found its way into the Frisco Bowl against SMU, scheduled for December 19. Then, on December 15 SMU backed out of the Frisco Bowl and UTSA needed a new bowl. The Roadrunners didn't wait long for a bowl. The First Responder Bowl jumped at the chance to have the Roadrunners. Now the waiting came for who the opponent would be.

Enter the Louisiana Ragin Cajuns. Louisiana, like UTSA, dealt with schedule changes. The Cajuns were supposed to play Coastal Carolina in the Sun Belt Championship game on December 19. That game was cancelled. Louisiana had also had a game on December 12 cancelled which meant their last game had been on December 5. UTSA had an even longer layoff, having last played on November 28.

A few days before the game began UTSA Head Coach Jeff Traylor tested positive for COVID-19. The Roadrunners would be without their head coach and several players who also tested positive.

The Ragin Cajuns got off to a flying start. The Roadrunners didn't. Louisiana took the opening drive of the game down the field for a touchdown to lead 7-0 at the 10:43 mark of the first quarter. UTSA started at their own six yard line and drove down to the Louisiana 29 before Frank Harris threw an interception. Louisiana nearly turned the interception into points but were unsuccessful on a fake field goal attempt.

UTSA took the ball and got to the Louisiana 24 yard line before having to settle for a 42-yard Hunter Duplessis field goal attempt early in the second quarter. Duplessis missed the field goal. A game that to that point had a lack of points would see points scored by both teams on the next three drives.

Louisiana took possession of the ball and converted that drive into a field goal to lead 10-0 with 8:27 left in the second quarter. The Roadrunners got on the board on their next drive when Harris scored from 11 yards out with 4:33 on the clock. Duplessis added the extra point and UTSA trailed 10-7.

The Ragin Cajuns scored on their next drive to go ahead 17-7. They would take that lead into the halftime break.

For UTSA the third quarter would start out like a bad dream. The Roadrunners fumbled on their first drive of the second half. Louisiana took over at the UTSA three yard line and scored in one play to go up 24-7 just 41 seconds into the third quarter.

It appeared as though the rout might be on. UTSA had to punt on their next possession and Louisiana started their next drive at the UTSA 45 yard line. The Cajuns got to the UTSA 32 before Demarco Guidry forced a fumble and Trevor Harmanson recovered it and returned it six yards to the UTSA 38.

The Roadrunners had life. Harris and the offense took advantage of that lifeline. In four plays the Roadrunners went 62 yards and scored on a 29-yard pass from Harris to Zakhari Franklin.

Louisiana would have to punt on their next drive. The Roadrunners took advantage of the momentum. Harris and Franklin connected for a 52-yard pass to set up a 10-yard touchdown pass from Harris to Cephus that made the score 24-21 with 4:09 left in the third quarter.

UTSA added a field goal in the fourth quarter to tie the score at 24-24 and complete the 17-point comeback. The joy of the comeback was short lived. Louisiana drove down on their next drive to take a 31-24 lead. UTSA was unable to mount one last comeback and the Ragin Cajuns could escape with the seven-point win.

UTSA closed out the 2020 season with the hopes of San Antonio higher than they have been since the early 2010s. In the first year of the Traylor-era the Roadrunners nearly doubled their win total from the year before. Even with the loss in the First Responder Bowl the Roadrunners got their first seven win season since 2013.

Two of the Roadrunners five losses came by one touchdown to ranked opponents in BYU and Louisiana. With that experience and a young nucleus coming back, as well as a talented incoming class of recruits, the Roadrunners are set up for a good season in 2021.

Getting a spring practice with the Traylor staff in 2021 will also help out the Roadrunners in the future. Someday that might be a fun what if to think about. How might the 2020 season have turned out if not for the Pandemic causing so many changes on the fly.

If you had asked a Roadrunner fan at the 14:23 mark of the third quarter, when UTSA trailed 24-7, if they thought the First Responder Bowl would be one of the Roadrunners best games they would have told you to put down the bottle. In the span of a quarter of football though the Roadrunners erased a 17-point deficit.

If the Roadrunners had managed to pull out the victory this game would have moved higher on the list of the 10 greatest games by virtue of it being the first bowl win and first win over a ranked opponent. Even though the Roadrunners fell short, the First Responder Bowl will remain a memorable game.

The fact that the Roadrunners managed a 17-point comeback against a ranked opponent that seemed on their way to a blowout victory will keep this game in the memory of Roadrunner fans for a long time.

When the day comes that UTSA wins its first bowl game or beats a ranked opponent for the first time people will look back on the First Responder Bowl as a stepping stone to those feats.

TOMORROW: Game Number 3: UTSA beats a power-5 for the first time

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