UTSA moved to 4-4 on the year with a home victory over North Texas. Here are some initial thoughts from the win.
- Give the defense credit. North Texas had scored over 30 points in its last two games, both wins. The Roadrunners held North Texas to 17 points by coming up with turnovers and timely stops. Negative plays were the key to the game. UTSA didn't make costly mistakes and North Texas did. Wilson asked his defense to go get some turnovers this week and that's exactly what UTSA did. It was a great bounce-back performance for Pete Golding's crew. Take away Fine's 80-yard touchdown run and it was a great effort by the run and pass defense.
- The offense wasn't dynamic but it didn't need to be. With a lead and the defense forcing mistakes, it was up to Dalton Sturm to take what was given. He had 142 yards on just 10 completions, but the most important stat is two touchdowns to zero interceptions.
- Jalen Rhodes is a difference maker. His absence was noticed early, but once he got some touches it was clear he was capable of moving the chains. Rhodes finished with the same amount of yards (74) as Jarveon Williams but on half the carries. He scored both second-half touchdowns for UTSA.
- Turnovers and special teams are spots coaches get graded. UTSA, for the most part, is incredibly sound in both areas. The talent isn't always there to play man-to-man with exotic blitzes on defense or to air it out on offense, but this team does the small things right and that's a great sign for Frank Wilson in Year 1. The Roadrunners can be accused of being conservative at times, but they can't be accused of not being prepared. UTSA executed what it set out to do, and that isn't something we've seen a lot of since 2014.
- Four sacks, five tackles for loss, two interceptions, two fumbles recovered and four pass breakups for UTSA's defense. North Texas' defense created more sacks and tackles for loss, but the UTSA offense avoided the interceptions and fumbles. Sometimes, football is that easy to dissect. Now, UTSA must execute on the road until the final game of the season.
