Top 10 UTSA football moments, part I
Counting down the Roadrunners top football moments. Part 1 of 2
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The Roadrunners are off this weekend. In two weeks they will play the 100th game in program history when UAB visits the Alamodome. In honor of that we are looking back at the Top 10 moments in UTSA football history. Today we count down number 10 to number 6. On Saturday number 5 to number 1 will be revealed.
Honorable Mention: First Road Win (Sept. 1, 2012 at South Alabama)
There were a lot of firsts for UTSA in their inaugural 2011 season. One first they were unable to attain that season was the first road win. In 2011 the Roadrunners were 0-4 on the road. Fast forward to 2012 and the Roadrunners opened the season on the road to face the South Alabama Jaguars. South Alabama had stolen a 30-27 double-overtime win from the Roadrunners in the Alamodome in 2011.
The Roadrunners stole the return game in Mobile with a 33-31 win. The difference in the game was a then-career-long 51 yard field goal by Sean Ianno with 16 seconds left. Not only was it the Roadrunners first win on the road in program history, it was also the first win over an FBS opponent, home or away.
No. 10: The I-35 Rivalry hits the gridiron (UTSA vs. Texas State, November 24, 2012)
For one season the Roadrunners and their I-35 rivals, the Texas State Bobcats were members of the same conference in football. Both were competing in the final season of the Western Athletic Conference.
As it turned out the conference scheduled the inaugural I-35 rivalry football showdown to be part of the traditional rivalry week held on Thanksgiving Weekend. On November 24, 2012 a crowd of 39,032 filed into the Alamodome. UTSA entered with a 7-4 record and 3-2 in conference. Texas State was 3-7 and 1-3 in conference.
The crowd on hand were witness to a command performance from Eric Soza. Soza threw for three touchdowns and ran for another. Sean Ianno added a field goal and UTSA held off a late Texas State charge to win 38-31 over the San Marcos Felines.
In 2013 the Roadrunners went to Conference USA and Texas State joined the Sun Belt. The two faced off as non-conference opponents in San Marcos in 2017 and again in San Antonio in 2018. UTSA won both of those contests as well.
No. 9: Five-Overtimes (UTSA v. UTEP October 22, 2016)
Since their first meeting in 2013 the UTSA Roadrunners and UTEP Miners have had a wild rivalry series. Between 2013 and 2017 the road team won every game in the series. UTSA became the first home team to win in the series when the won 31-20 last season.
The wildest game of the series has to be the one played at the Alamodome on the fourth Saturday in October, 2016. None of the 23,633 who attended that game will ever forget it. It seemed to go on and on and on.
It was the night the Roadrunners and Miners set a Conference USA record for most overtimes in a game. It took five overtimes before UTEP came away with a 52-49 win over the Roadrunners.
UTEP entered the game 1-5 overall and 0-3 in conference. UTSA was 3-3 overall and 2-1 in conference.
The game was back and forth. UTSA led 14-7 after one quarter and 21-14 at halftime. The Roadrunners went up 28-14 early in the third quarter before UTEP scored two touchdowns to tie the score at 28-28. Neither team scored in the fourth quarter and so the fans settled in for overtime.
In the first overtime the teams traded field goals to put the score at 31-31 heading into the second overtime. In the second overtime both teams scored touchdowns to make the sore 38-38. The third overtime meant both teams would have to go for two after touchdowns. UTSA was first to score in the third overtime and converted their two-point conversion to lead 46-38. All the Roadrunners had to do was keep the Miners out of the endzone and they would win. They couldn't do it. UTEP scored and then converted the two-pont conversion to tie the score at 46.
Neither team scored in the fourth overtime. UTSA had the ball first in the fifth overtime and tacked on a Victor Falcon field goal to lead 49-46. UTEP scored the game winning touchdown four plays later to end the game 4 hours and 21 minutes after it had started.
No. 8: UTSA goes from FCS independent to WAC to Conference USA in three seasons (2011-2013)
UTSA football began in 2011 when conference realignment was creating domino effects across the country. Even before they had played a down the Roadrunners knew they would only spend one year as an Football Championship Subdivision Independent. On November 11, 2010 The Roadrunners joined the Western Athletic Conference, along with Texas State, and non-football playing UT-Arlington, Seattle, Denver and Dallas Baptist.
UTSA and Texas State especially were seen as replacements for Boise State, Fresno State and Nevada who left the WAC between 2010-2012 to join the Mountain West. It quickly became apparent that the WAC would fall victim to all the dominos of conference realignment. Even before they had played a down of WAC football the Roadrunners announced they'd be one year members. In April 2012 UTSA was invited to join Conference USA in 2013.
In 2013 the Roadrunners arrived in Conference USA. For now it seems they have found a conference home but there was a lot of movement by the Roadrunners in their first three years of football.
No. 7: Roadrunners crash Cougars' stadium opening party on national TV (UTSA at Houston, August 29, 2014)
UTSA opened its fourth season of football with a highly touted game. The Roadrunners were the honored guests of the Houston Cougars as the Bayou City Cats opened their new stadium, known as TDECU Stadium. The stadium was opening before a national-TV audience as ESPN2 showed the game on a humid Friday night in Houston.
The Roadrunners made themselves feel right at home in the Cougars new digs. UTSA scored the first 27 points of the game and quieted the mostly red-and-white clad crowd of 40,755. The Cougars added a touchdown late to the subdued joy of the few Cougars still in the stadium.
It was sweet revenge for the Roadrunners who had lost to Houston in San Antonio the year before by a score of 59-28. It remains the last time the Roadrunners and Cougars have met on the football field. They were due to meet in San Antonio to start the 2017 season but that game was cancelled because of Hurricane Harvey.
Regardless, UTSA will hold a place in the history of the Cougars for as long as TDECU (or TDEC-UTSA as some called it) Stadium is in existence.
It could also be seen as a pivotal moment for the Cougar football program as by the end of 2014 their head coach Tony Levine had been fired and Houston nabbed Tom Herman to lead their program.
No. 6: Fox Sports profiles UTSA's early days in "Birth of a Program" (Summer-Fall 2011)
Between May and October 2011 Fox Sports aired a six-part series that followed the UTSA Roadrunner football team's early days. It showed the program go from a dream to having a head coach with one helmet and one football to a season where no games were played while the team built up its numbers and practiced out at Dub Farris Stadium.
The series concluded with an episode showing the inaugural game on September 3, 2011. The show was aired by Fox Sports in its Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma and New Mexico, allowing millions of people to learn about UTSA. It made the list of top-10 UTSA football moments because it gave UTSA a platform to share its story before it even played a down.
FORUMS: UTSA Boulevard | Roadrunner Way