SAN ANTONIO — David Glasco II rushed for 58 yards and two first-half touchdowns and UTSA built a big lead early in running its record to 2-0 with a 27-16 victory against Texas A&M-Commerce on Saturday afternoon in front of 30,416 fans at the Alamodome.
Glasco II helped the Roadrunners rush for 172 yards on the afternoon, giving them 355 through the first two games (177.5 ypg). Evans Okotcha added 46 and Eric Soza tacked on 34 while also throwing for 159 and a score on 12-of-22 passing attempts.
UTSA took a 10-0 lead after one quarter behind a 34-yard field goal from Sean Ianno and an 8-yard pass from Soza to Kenny Harrison, which capped a 13-play, 71-yard drive that chewed up 6:47 off the clock.
The Lions (0-2) got on the board when Jacob O’Neill connected on a 21-yard field goal to end a 14-play, 73-yard march.
The Roadrunners answered with Glasco’s pair of scoring jaunts in the final five minutes of the half, the second a 1-yard rush around the left end that helped UTSA convert a 17-yard interception return by Franky Anaya into points. That was the team’s fifth consecutive score off a turnover this season and it gave the Birds a 24-3 halftime advantage.
Ianno, who nailed the game-winning 51-yard field goal last Saturday at South Alabama, connected on a 46-yarder with 9:46 left in the third quarter to make him 6-for-6 on the year and push the lead to 24.
Texas A&M-Commerce scored its first touchdown of the afternoon when Deric Davis found Garrett Smith behind the UTSA secondary for a 61-yard pass with 7:14 left in the third. The two-point conversion pass attempt was no good, but the Lions added another TD on a 5-yard pass over the middle from Davis to Tevin Godfrey on the first play of the final stanza to cut the deficit to 27-16.
The Roadrunners’ defense held Texas A&M-Commerce to a pair of three-and-outs and Erik Brown picked off a Davis pass with 1:44 remaining to put the exclamation point on the victory.
“Well, none of these games are easy and Texas A&M-Commerce made us work for it," head coach Larry Coker said. "We kind of felt like they would come in here and play like it was their Super Bowl. I think offensively in the first half, we stepped up and did some good things. Defensively in the second half, we stepped up and did some good things. I think if we look at this, we’ll really learn from it and see a marked improvement. Certainly we’ll have to improve and I expect us to do that."
UTSA will hit the road again next weekend when it travels to Georgia State (0-2). Kickoff is scheduled for 5 p.m. (CT) on Saturday, Sept. 15, at the Georgia Dome. The Roadrunners rallied from a 14-point deficit and handed the Panthers a 17-14 overtime setback in last season’s Oct. 29 matchup, which was played at the Alamodome.