KNOXVILLE – UTSA football closed out its nonconference schedule, losing 45-14 to No. 23 Tennessee on Saturday evening at Neyland Stadium.
The Roadrunners (1-3) totaled 319 total yards of offense and allowed 512 total yards to the Volunteers (3-1).
Eddie Lee Marburger got the start at quarterback for UTSA in place of the injured Harris, though did not play the game in its entirety.
After trailing 31-0 at halftime, UTSA made a change at quarterback to start the third quarter, replacing Marburger with redshirt freshman Owen McCown. McCown led the Roadrunners to their longest drive of the game, running 15 plays which took nearly seven and a half minutes off of the clock. The redshirt freshman connected with receiver Joshua Cephus four times on the drive, including a 3-yard touchdown pass to put UTSA on the board.
On their next possession, McCowen found Tykee Ogle-Kellogg for a short pass. After shaking off a defender, Ogle-Kellogg turned the short gain into a 43-yard touchdown to pull UTSA within three scores.
“I wasn’t surprised, he does that all the time,” UTSA coach Jeff Traylor said of McCown’s debut. “We just couldn’t protect him or Eddie very well. We just thought we could’ve held up a little bit better up front.”
The Volunteers responded with a 1-yard touchdown rush from Small and a 41-yarder from Dylan Sampson to cap off the 45-14 victory.
The Volunteer defense forced four sacks on the UTSA quarterback while also rushing for 303 yards in Saturday evening’s loss. The Volunteers outrushed the ‘Runners by 215 yards.
“The biggest thing for us is that we got out to a slow start,” UTSA safety Rashad Wisdom said.
The first half went as rough as UTSA could have imagined.
On the first play of the game, Tennessee quarterback Joe Milton III faked a handoff and ran up the left sideline for an 81-yard touchdown run. The Volunteers scored again on their next possession, this time a 9-play drive ending in a 10-yard touchdown rush from Sampson.
The Roadrunners put together their longest drive of the first half after Kelechi Nwachuku recovered a muffed punt from Tennessee. The Volunteers blocked UTSA’s punt which was recovered by Tennessee’s Cameron Seldon. Seldon then lost control of the ball and was recovered by Nwachuku on the UTSA’s 45-yard line. The ‘Runner’s drive came to a close after Marburger’s end zone pass to Houston Thomas fell incomplete on fourth down.
Volunteers running back Jabari Small rushed up the middle for a 40-yard gain to set up an 18-yard touchdown pass from Milton III to Kaleb Webb. Milton III threw for his second touchdown off a deep-right 48-yard pass to Ramel Keyton in the end zone. Kicker Charles Campbell added a 29-yard field goal to give Tennessee the 31-0 lead at the half.
Despite the tough loss and disappointing start for the first month of the season, Traylor is confident in the remainder of the season.
“We’ll be fine,” Traylor said.
UTSA enters its bye week before returning to action against Temple on Oct. 7.
