SAN ANTONIO – UTSA emerged from the Battle of the Birds with a 48-27 win over North Texas in an old-school Texas shootout. The two teams combined for 1,161 yards and 48 first downs. 

The Roadrunners (5-5) are now one win away from bowl eligibility after a 2-4 start to the season. The Mean Green (5-5) remain one game away from bowl eligibility after a 5-1 start. Jeff Traylor is now 5-1 against North Texas since taking the UTSA job ahead of the 2020 season. 

Owen McCown was 29-of-43 for 379 yards and two touchdowns through the air with 88 yards on 10 carries as a runner. UTSA running back Robert Henry ran for 168 yards and two touchdowns on 20 carries. The Roadrunners gained 682 yards and picked up 29 first downs in the win. They ran 90 plays and entered the North Texas red zone six times, scoring on five of those drives. 

Red zone struggles hampered the Mean Green for the second consecutive week, only scoring on one of three possessions. They did manage to score three consecutive touchdowns in the second half to cut the UTSA lead to six points with 12:27 left in game, but North Texas couldn’t crawl any closer. UTSA leads the all-time series 8-5 after the victory. 

THREE THOUGHTS 

Culture win for the Roadrunners 

UTSA left Historic Rice Stadium in shambles. The Roadrunners allowed a last-second touchdown to lose the game and then were involved in a brawl on the sidelines. They were 2-4 and without the typical discipline and toughness associated with the 2-1-0 Triangle of Toughness instilled by Traylor since his arrival in the Alamo City. 
But that wasn’t even rock bottom. That was two weeks late at Tulsa when UTSA squandered a 42-17 third-quarter lead in a 46-45 loss to fall to 3-5. Culture isn’t tested in the good times, and there were plenty of those in Traylor’s first four seasons. His Roadrunners won all the coin flip games and were in the conference race for three straight years. Culture is tested through adversity, and the Roadrunners were in uncharted territory as the calendar turned to November.

The resurgence started with an eight-point win over Memphis – the program’s first over a ranked opponent. It continued Friday night with the 21-point win over North Texas. The second half started to provide PTSD to the UTSA fans who remembered the Tulsa collapse as the Roadrunners’ 27-7 halftime lead evaporated to 33-27 with 12:27 left in the game. 

UTSA didn’t fold this time, however. The Roadrunners bowed up, scoring the game’s next 15 points to cruise to a victory and pull within a Temple win of reaching a bowl game for the fourth consecutive year. Traylor has never suffered a losing season as a head coach, even in the high school ranks. It looked like that was a certainty a few weeks ago. Now, it feels like a distant memory. 

McCown is the future in San Antonio 

Frank Harris was the face of the UTSA football program since Traylor arrived in 2020. The thinking going into the 2024 season was that the run game and defense would need to carry the boats until the Roadrunners figured out the passing attack. Instead, McCown’s passing has been the bright spot of the season as the run game and defense struggled, somewhat due to key injuries. 

McCown was great again on Friday night as the UTSA offense set a school record with 681 yards of total offense. McCown, only a redshirt sophomore, accounted for 467 of those yards. He’s expected to stay put at UTSA despite the transfer portal era. His family and Traylor go back decades in East Texas. He’s the future of this program, and he’s proven that the future is bright. 

Slide continues for North Texas 

The Mean Green started the 2024 season with a 5-1 record and hopes of competing for an AAC crown. They Oct. 19 contest at Memphis began a four-game stretch that would define the season. The UTSA game was the last of that four-game stretch and North Texas finished it 0-4. Eric Morris’ squad lost by eight to Memphis and Tulane before a 14-3 defeat at home against Rice last week. A late rally fell short again Friday night in San Antonio. 

Over the last two games, North Texas has reached the red zone seven times and only scored 10 total points. Chandler Morris finished the game 21-of-36 for 241 yards, one touchdown, and two crucial interceptions. Surprisingly, it was the running game that kept the Mean Green in it until the fourth quarter as Shane Porter ran for 193 yards and three touchdowns on 13 carries. The team averaged 9.6 yards a carry on 25 attempts. 

The defense made a couple of key plays to keep the game close like a key fourth-down stop in the first half to prevent UTSA from building a 21-0 lead and an interception in the second quarter. The Mean Green entered the game 120th in total defense allowing 433.3 yards a game and 119th in scoring defense allowing 34.3 points per game. UTSA blew past both of those numbers in the win. 

A bowl game was the bare minimum expectation midway through season with five wins through six games. They’ve now lost four straight and must win at least one down the stretch to avoid missing a bowl game for the second straight year. Next up is a home game against East Carolina and a road contest at Temple.