The 10 Greatest Games: Honorable Mention
As the Roadrunners prepare to finish their 10th season of football we look back at the top 10 games in the first 10 seasons. These three games just missed the cut of the top 10 but were still memorable.
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EDITORS NOTE: This is the first in a series counting down the top 10 games of the first 10 seasons of Roadrunner football. The series will run between now and New Years Eve.
This Saturday the Roadrunners will finish their 10th season of football when they play in the First Responder Bowl in Dallas. Where the Roadrunners' second bowl game ranks on the list of great games remains to be seen.
Today in our series counting down the top 10 games in program history we begin with three that just missed the cut. All three were memorable to Roadrunner fans and at the time of their playing would have ranked high on the list of memorable games.
Time has a way of changing the order of great games and so it is with these three games that over the course of 10 seasons other games have taken their place in the top 10. These then are games that might not be among the 10 best but are still worthy of remembrance.
Honorable Mention Game Number 3: A close loss at BYU in 2020
2020 will likely go down as the wildest season ever, not just for UTSA but for all of college football. The COVID pandemic caused original schedules to be tossed out and teams had to schedule on the fly. Some games took shape just three days before they were played.
UTSA had originally scheduled games with LSU, Grambling, Memphis and ODU replaced with games against SFA, Middle Tennessee, Army and BYU. In the change games UTSA ended up going 2-2 with wins over SFA and Middle Tennessee and losses to Army and BYU.
The game at BYU turned out be a memorable afternoon for the Roadrunners. They didn't beat BYU but they gave the Cougars their toughest test in 2020 until BYU's visit to Coastal Carolina in December. It was also the Roadrunners' closest loss all-time against a ranked opponent.
Leading up to the game on October 10 in Provo, the Cougars had won their first three games by scores of 55-3, 48-7 and 45-14. BYU entered the game ranked #15 in both the AP Poll and the Coaches Poll
The Roadrunners entered the game with a 3-1 record. UTSA fell at UAB, 21-13, the week before.
UTSA took an early lead on the Cougars with a Hunter Duplessis field goal with 4:55 left in the first quarter. The Roadrunners would hold that 3-0 lead until the 13:41 mark of the second quarter when BYU got on the board with a touchdown. It was the first time in 2020 that BYU was unable to score in the first quarter. The only other time BYU didn't score in the first quarter in 2020 was against Coastal Carolina.
BYU added to their lead later in the second quarter with a touchdown at the 4:44 mark to go up 14-3.
Duplessis added another field goal in the third quarter to cut the deficit to 14-6. BYU answered to go up 21-6 just before the end of the third quarter. UTSA cut the deficit to 21-13 early in the fourth quarter when Lowell Narcisse threw a 32-yard touchdown pass to Zakhari Franklin with 14:26 left in regulation.
UTSA and BYU traded possession back and forth as neither team was unable to score. That changed when BYU scored with 2:18 left to play to go up 27-13. UTSA answered a minute later when Narcisse threw a 34-yard touchdown pass to Brennon Dingle with 1:17 left in the game. UTSA was unable to recover the onside kick and the clock ran out with UTSA on the short end of a 27-20 scoreline.
After beating UTSA by just seven points, BYU won their next five games by scores of 43-26, 52-14, 41-10, 51-17 and 66-14.
In coming years the memory of that close loss to BYU might fade. For now the Roadrunners can look back on that game and remember a game where they were heavy underdogs and went toe-to-toe with a top-15 team.
Someday UTSA will get its first win over a ranked opponent. For now the 2020 BYU game represents the closest UTSA has come to beating a ranked opponent.
Honorable Mention Game Number 2: "We'll go 99" against New Mexico in 2013
UTSA opened the third season of football on August 31, 2013 with a trip to Albuquerque where the New Mexico Lobos were waiting. The Lobos had gone 4-9 and 1-7 in the Mountain West in 2012. The only team worse than New Mexico in the Mountain West that season had been Hawaii at 3-9 and 1-7.
The Roadrunners were entering their first season as members of Conference USA with an upward trajectory. After going 4-6 in the first season, UTSA went 8-4 and 3-3 in their lone season in the WAC.
New Mexico jumped out to an early lead when they recovered an Evans Okotcha fumble and returned it 45 yards for a touchdown. Then, for reasons known only to then-head coach Bob Davie, the Lobos went for two. They didn't get the two-point conversion but still led 6-0 with 11:11 left in the first quarter.
The Lobos added to their lead early in the second quarter on a passing touchdown at the 11:42 mark. New Mexico decided to kick the extra point and led 13-0 against the Roadrunners. David Glasco II got the Roadrunners on the board before halftime when he scored on a one yard run with 3:10 remaining in the second quarter.
New Mexico would hold the 13-7 advantage until the Roadrunners first drive of the third quarter. UTSA opened the second half by going 75 yards in six plays. Eric Soza and Brandon Armstrong connected on the sixth play of the drive for a 38-yard touchdown pass to tie the score at 13-13. Sean Ianno kicked the extra point to give the Roadrunners their first lead of the day.
After that there was a whole lot of punting. At 7:05 to play in the fourth quarter the Lobos punted to UTSA and the ball was downed at the UTSA one yard line. It was then that Head Coach Larry Coker uttered the famous line "We'll go 99." The Roadrunners then proceeded to do just that. It took them eight plays to go 99 yards but it ended with an eight yard touchdown pass from Soza to Glasco II with 3:00 left in the game. Ianno added the extra point and UTSA then held on for the 21-13 win.
At the time the line "We'll go 99" became as close to a rallying cry as the Roadrunner fanbase had. It turned out that 2013 would be a good season for the Roadrunners. Despite starting 2-5 the Roadrunners rattled off five straight wins to end the season 7-5 and 6-2 in Conference USA. New Mexico ended up finishing 3-9 and 1--7 in the Mountain West.
Honorable Mention Game Number 1: Roadrunners unable to hold off Arizona State in 2016
UTSA entered 2016 with a new head coach as Frank Wilson took over as the second coach in program history. The Roadrunners opened 2016 with a win over Alabama State and a loss at Colorado State. In the third game of the season UTSA welcomed Arizona State to the Alamodome for a Friday night game being shown to America on ESPN2.
The Sun Devils entered the game 3-0 after having put up 68 points the week before in a win over Texas Tech. Arizona State was heavily favored against the Roadrunners.
Arizona State opened the game with a field goal to lead 3-0. UTSA answered with a touchdown pass from Dalton Sturm to JaBryce Taylor. The Roadrunners pushed their lead to 14-3 before the end of the first quarter when Sturm tossed a touchdown pass to Jalen Rhodes.
In the second quarter Arizona State added a field goal and a touchdown to get within two points of UTSA. The Sun Devils went for two after their touchdown pass but failed to convert and the Roadrunners held a 14-12 lead over their power-five foe from the Pac-12.
The Roadrunners added two touchdowns in the third quarter. Sturm scored both of the touchdowns, the first by running and the second on a pass to Shaq Williams. UTSA held a 28-12 lead with 8:20 left in the third quarter. The 29,035 in attendance began to believe that September 16, 2016 might be the night UTSA got a win over a power-five opponent for the first time ever.
Arizona State had other ideas. The Sun Devils chipped away at the Roadrunner lead. A field goal in the third quarter made it 28-15. Another field goal early in the fourth quarter made it 28-18. The Sun Devils then switched to scoring touchdowns. Soon the score was down to 28-25 and the Roadrunner crowd who had been so boisterous were suddenly nervous. Arizona State retook the lead with 3:15 left to play. The Roadrunners had one last chance, down 32-28 but only got to their own 46 before a pair of sacks doomed the drive.
UTSA would have to wait for another day to beat a power five opponent but at the time there was a sense that 2016 might turn out to be a good season. At the very least UTSA had put on a good show for the ESPN2 audience.
TOMORROW: Game Number 10: UTSA mounts a fourth quarter 14-point comeback
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