UTSA gets out to fast start and coasts to 41-7 win over Rice
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UTSA fans of a certain age will remember a time when Rice Stadium was a house of horrors for UTSA and the Rice Owls were the measuring stick for UTSA's football program. Those days seem to have ended after the 2014 season. Since losing the first three against Rice between 2012-14, the Roadrunners had won six in a row entering their contest on Saturday afternoon.
On Saturday afternoon UTSA made it seven wins in a row against Rice and three wins in a row at Rice Stadium with a 41-7 win. A Rice touchdown in the fourth quarter was the only thing keeping UTSA from pitching a second straight shutout against Rice. Last year the Roadrunners beat Rice 45-0 in the Alamodome.
The Roadrunners of this year were able to win in cold and rainy conditions in Houston a year after those conditions derailed their undefeated season in Denton. This year the Roadrunners warmed up in different clothes before changing into their jerseys right before the game. UTSA players also went mostly sleeveless but there were warming areas on the bench.
"We tried to make our defense understand if they would get them off the field quickly they could get back under those tents and get hot chocolate and chicken broth," UTSA Head Coach Jeff Traylor said. "I don't know if any of that mattered but we attacked everything we could."
UTSA's defense set the tone early. Dadrian Taylor took the field for pregame warmups shirtless despite a temperature of 45 degrees and a feel-like temperature of 39 degrees.
"I feel like I'm the energy guy so when they see me going crazy, everybody just knows its going to be that kind of day," Taylor said. "When I took my shirt off about four or five people took their shirts off and I knew we were ready to go. I knew it was going to be a great day for us."
The shirtless Taylor certainly made an impact on the Roadrunners in the leadup to the game.
"Once he took his shirt off I thought, it's really not that cold out here," UTSA safety Kelechi Nwachuku said. "It made you go back to playing football back in the day. It makes it cool and fun."
The Roadrunners defense finished with three takeaways and limited Rice to 230 yards of offense. For most of the game Rice was in negative yardage on the ground and UTSA looked like they might push the school record for fewest yards given up in a game.
That record of negative-26, set in 2014 at Houston, will stand for another week as Rice was able to break out of the negative and finish the game with five yards rushing.
UTSA's offense fell just short of 400 yards, finishing with 394 yards. For the first time this season the Roadrunners had more rushing yards than passing yards. On the ground UTSA racked up 262 yards. The Roadrunners threw for 132 yards.
"Compared to last year I think we handled it excellent(ly)," Taylor said. "That was a big thing for us this week. It was the same conditions. It was a big mental win for us."
Roadrunners win the right to host conference championship game
For the second straight week the Roadrunners got off to a fast start. UTSA had to punt on its first possession but then scored touchdowns on the next three possessions to take a 21-0 lead before the first quarter came to an end.
The game became the Frank Harris show pretty early in the proceedings. On the third play of the Roadrunners second drive Harris tucked the ball, found an opening in the Owls defense and ran 63 yards for a touchdown.
Rice gave up their first turnover on the next drive when Nwachuku got a strip sack against Owls quarterback Wiley Green. Donyai Taylor recovered the fumble at the Rice 23 and returned it to the Rice 15.
On the very first play of drive, Harris kept and ran in for the Roadrunners second touchdown. UTSA led 14-0 with 5:41 left in the first quarter.
The Owls weren't long in coughing up the football again on their next drive. On the third play of the drive Jamal Ligon forced the Owls receiver to fumble the ball at the Owls 38 and Dadrian Taylor recovered it and returned it to the Owls 35 yard line.
Seven plays later Harris threw a five yard touchdown pass to Zakhari Franklin to put the Roadrunners up 21-0 with 0:57 left in the first quarter.
"We are going to enjoy this victory but we still have things to work on," Harris said. "It means a lot getting back-to-back (conference championship games). We don't take it lightly."
Harris threw his second touchdown pass of the afternoon near the end of the second quarter. It was a 16-yard pass to Oscar Cardenas that gave UTSA a 28-0 lead.
Rice had a chance at points in the second quarter as they got to the UTSA four yard line before the drive ended in a turnover on downs. The Owls kicker Christian Van Sickle who entered the game 10-for-10 on field goals for the season missed two field goals in the second quarter.
"For a couple of weeks it was the offense would play great and the defense would play ok. Or the offense would play ok and the defense played great," Taylor said. "I feel like we're at a point where everybody is coming together, everybody is starting to play the same. I feel that is really starting to show."
In the third quarter the Roadrunners scored on their first three drives. On the first drive Jared Sackett kicked a 30-yard field goal. The second drive ended with a 16-yard touchdown run by Harris. Sackett then kicked a 36-yard field goal with 3:32 left in the third quarter to give UTSA a 41-0 lead.
Rice scored their only points of the day when fourth-string quarterback AJ Padgett threw a 43-yard touchdown to Bradley Rozner with 14:48 left in the fourth quarter to cut UTSA's lead to 41-7.
By then the Roadrunners had swapped out the starters for the younger players on both sides of the ball. It was apparent by the fourth quarter that both teams were trying to get the game finished to get back into warmth.
When the clock struck zero UTSA had notched a 5-1 road record for the second year in a row. The Roadrunners chased Traylor into the end zone trying to honor him with a Gatorade bath. They eventually got to him but he pivoted so the Gatorade landed on his shoes.
The regular season champion trophy was then presented to the Roadrunners and for the ninth time this season there was celebration in the UTSA locker room after a win.
"Coach Traylor always reminds us 'I don't want y'all to feel how y'all felt against Texas and Houston'," Nwachuku said. "That's true, it's not a good feeling. We want to have happy rides home on the road. That's what we go out there and try to do."
By beating Rice on Saturday, UTSA got a chance for two more home games in the Alamodome. Next Saturday the Roadrunners will host the UTEP Miners at 2:30 p.m. Six days after that, on December 2, the Conference USA Championship Game will be played in the Alamodome.
Both the Roadrunners and fans of the Roadrunners will be hoping UTSA is lifting a second trophy on that first Friday in December. In the mean time there is the quest to finish 8-0 in conference for the first time in school history and get to 10 wins for the second season in a row.
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