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EDITORS NOTE: This is the second story in a series of stories counting down the best games in the Jeff Traylor era at UTSA

Previously in the Series: HONORABLE MENTION GAMES

The Countdown of the 10 best games of the Jeff Traylor era begins officially with the Roadrunners regular-season finale in 2020. It was a game that saw UTSA set new team records for total offense and rushing yards. Running back Sincere McCormick also set a school record for rushing yards in a game.

UTSA went into its final game of the first season under Traylor looking to continue the first annual November to remember, a slogan Traylor had coined earlier in the month when the Roadrunners sat with a 4-4 record and a season that could go either way.

After their game against Rice in the first week of November was canceled because of a COVID outbreak among both teams, UTSA blew out UTEP 52-21 in the Alamodome and then won in Hattiesburg for the first time with a 23-20 win over Southern Miss.

With North Texas looming in the regular season finale the Roadrunners sat at 6-4, their first time reaching six wins since the 2017 season. UTSA was looking for their seventh win, a mark not reached at that point since the 2013 season. A win over North Texas would also be the fifth conference win of the season for UTSA, something no Roadrunner team had done since 2017.

Going into the game with North Texas the rivalry series had shifted. UTSA had won the first three of four in the series, but it had been since 2016 that the Roadrunners had knocked off their rivals from Denton. North Texas came into the 2020 visit to the Alamodome having won three in a row against the Roadrunners including a 45-3 clobbering of UTSA in Denton in 2019.

That loss lingered for the Roadrunners who came into the 2020 game looking to snap the losing streak against North Texas and make a little statement of their own.

After missing a field goal on its second possession UTSA got into the end zone on its third drive when Frank Harris scored on a 19-yard run late in the first quarter. The Roadrunners took the 7-0 lead into the second quarter and quickly added to it with an eight-yard touchdown pass from Harris to Josh Cephus with 11:10 left in the quarter.

North Texas cut the UTSA deficit in half with a 75-yard touchdown pass 12 seconds later at the 10:58 mark of the second quarter. UTSA's Sincere McCormick had the Roadrunners answer on the next drive as he tore through the Mean Green defense for a 65-yard touchdown run. McCormick's run gave UTSA a 21-7 lead with 10:26 left in the second quarter.

The defenses caught their breaths. It was nine minutes before any more points were scored. UTSA was the next to score when Frank Harris threw a 15-yard touchdown to De'Corian Clark with 1:22 left before halftime to give the Roadrunners a 28-7 lead.

North Texas got a field goal midway through the third quarter to cut UTSA's lead to 28-10 but the Roadrunners answered with a four-yard scoring run by Brendan Brady on the next drive. McCormick scored his second touchdown of the afternoon 58 seconds into the fourth quarter to put UTSA up 42-10.

McCormick became the first Roadrunner to run for 200 yards in a game, breaking his school record of 197 yards set in the 2020 season opener. McCormick finished the day with a school-record 251 yards.

As an offense UTSA set a school record for total yards (624) and rushing yards (443) in a game. That record was set on the Roadrunners second to last drive which ended with a nine-yard BJ Daniels touchdown with 7:12 on the clock. North Texas added a late touchdown to make the final score look more respectable than the game was.

The records set in the win against North Texas in 2020 still stand in the school's record book. Though the Roadrunners lost the bowl game in 2020 the win over North Texas was important for the growth of the program and provided a springboard to the 2021 season.

Next Week: Top Traylor Game Number 9

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