Coming from their game against Rice, the Roadrunners rushed for a total of 199 yards. Quarterbacks Frank Harris and Owen McCown threw for a total of 182 yards to lead the team to their sixth conference win in a row.
Unlike a familiar opponent such as Rice, UTSA will be playing a new conference opponent, South Florida, on Friday at the Alamodome. This matchup will be the first time either team plays one another.
With their win over North Texas on Nov. 4, the Roadrunners (7-3, 6-0 AAC) officially became bowl eligible. With two weeks left in the season, the Bulls (5-5, 3-3) will give UTSA their best in hopes of locking up a postseason game.
The ‘Runners, alongside Memphis, SMU and Tulane, are the only teams from the American Athletic Conference eligible for a bowl game. While South Florida needs this win more than UTSA, it is still important for the Roadrunners to keep their winning streak alive.
“Their defensive roster is a good roster, you can tell they’ve gone out and done a really good job of bringing in some good players,” UTSA coach Jeff Traylor said of South Florida. “The quarterback – they struck gold. That guy is really good. The slot receivers are really good, running backs are really good. The culture starts getting changed and Alex [Golesh] has done a good job with getting those guys playing better.”
As the team prepares to take on their seventh conference opponent of the year, 21 seniors will play their final game in the Alamodome.
“It’s always tough. You know, I’m really close to those guys, as all of us are,” Traylor said. “It’s always an emotional night. It’s a tough night. We talked about how to make sure we’re in the moment, but yeah, it’ll be a special night for those guys.”
Players such as De’Corian Clark will be returning for the 2024 season. Clark recently underwent surgery to fix the muscles he tore in his hamstring which included tears to his ACL, MCL and LCL.
“It went very well,” Traylor said regarding Clark’s surgery. “I would say 10 months at the minimum, so praying for him and I’m rooting for him and encouraging him anytime we see him.”
While their game against the Owls may have had an anticlimactic start, the ‘Runners returned after the half and played much more aggressively in the third and fourth quarters.
“Our best football is still in front of us, we have not captured it yet,” Traylor said. I still feel strongly that the way we played in the third quarter Saturday night [shows] the potential of what we [can do] for four [quarters].”
UTSA will play South Florida at 8 p.m. Friday at the Alamodome.
