UTSA earned its first CUSA win under Frank Wilson and pulled to 2-3 on the season with the upset victory over Southern Miss. It was an inspired performance from the get-go for a Roadrunners squad coming off an open week. Here are five initial thoughts from the game.
- UTSA started out strong and finished. Those were the talking points of the coaching staff all week. The Roadrunners were close in games against Colorado State and Arizona State, and even entered the fourth quarter against Old Dominion within a possession. UTSA couldn't close and that had to be in the back of the players' mind after taking a 28-7 lead at home against a double-digit favorite. UTSA wasn't flawless, but the group didn't flinch. There are a lot of things to be proud of today, but the biggest might be the mental growth and maturity this team showed for 60 minutes.
- That is the offense UTSA wants to run. Dalton Sturm wasn't asked to do much and the continued success on the ground by Jarveon Williams and Jalen Rhodes allowed the wide receivers 1-on-1 matchups. Add in some miscommunication from the USM secondary and the Roadrunners were able to create big plays on offense in ways we haven't seen before against quality competition. This might be the single best offensive performance in UTSA history and it came against a good defense.
- The offensive line has taken its fair share of flack over the past few years, and most of it was deserved. It is necessary, then, to take time to highlight an excellent performance. Austin Pratt was great at center before leaving with an apparent stinger (shoulder/neck) type injury. The guards created holes and the tackles were strong off the edge on passing downs. The success on the ground made it hard for USM to blitz, which played exactly to the strengths of the group. It was a lot of fun to watch.
- The defensive line was equally as impressive. Kevin Strong played a career game and Marcus Davenport was the impact player he needs to be for this defense to be successful. Southern Miss had success, gained a lot of yards and ran a lot of plays, but the defense found a way to get stops early and created turnovers. It was an excellent formula and it all started with the defensive line playing its best game of the season.
- With Rice next, UTSA has a chance to move to .500 and restart some momentum towards a bowl berth. CUSA isn't very good, so it is doable to reach 6+ wins with Rice, UNT and UTEP still on the schedule. Maybe Old Dominion was a better football team than we thought?
