SAN ANTONIO — UTEP's Warren Redix caught a 6-yard touchdown pass from Ryan Metz just inside the front corner pylon to help lift the Miners to a 52-49 victory against UTSA in five overtimes on Saturday night in Conference USA action at the Alamodome.
The five-overtime game was the longest in league history and is tied for the fifth-longest in NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision annals.
The Roadrunners (3-4, 2-2 C-USA) took a 49-46 lead in the final extra period when Victor Falcon connected on a 33-yard field goal.
Needing at least a field goal to force a sixth overtime, the Miners (2-5, 1-3 C-USA) used rushing plays of eight, six and five yards to move down to the UTSA six. Metz then rolled out to his right and found Redix on the sideline with the game-winning pass to put the visiting team on top for the fourth time and even the all-time series at 2-2.
UTSA took a 28-14 lead midway through the third quarter when Jalen Rhodes dashed off left tackle for 28 yards to paydirt.
However, UTEP battled back to knot the score at 28 on a 27-yard pass from Metz to Aaron Jones and a 74-yard touchdown connection from Kavika Johnson to Walter Dawn late in the third stanza.
A scoreless fourth quarter sent the Roadrunners into their fourth all-time overtime game.
The two teams traded field goals in the first extra period.
UTEP scored first in the second overtime on a 25-yard pass from Metz to Jones, who rushed for a game-high 113 yards on 21 carries and added four receptions for 56 yards and a pair of scores.
The Roadrunners answered to tie it at 38 with their own 25-yard TD pass from Dalton Sturm to Brady Jones.
Sturm and Kerry Thomas Jr. connected for the second time for paydirt in the third overtime. Forced to go for two by overtime rules, UTSA converted on a pass from Sturm to Jones to put the home side up, 46-38.
The Miners responded when Dawn took an end-around 12 yards for a score. Metz then found Hayden Plinke alone in the end zone for two to tie the score once again at 46.
Sturm finished with 214 yards and three touchdowns on 18-of-34 passing and added 74 yards on the ground to help UTSA post 525 yards of offense. Jarveon Williams led the ground game with 104 yards, his sixth 100-yard game as a Roadrunner, while Rhodes added 84. Thomas Jr. hauled in five catches for 89 yards and a pair of scores en route to becoming the school's career TD receptions leader with 10.
Trick plays were the theme of the night.
Midway through the first quarter, the Roadrunners successfully executed the program's first-ever fake field goal when Yannis Routsas hit Jarrod McLin with a 30-yard pass down to the UTEP 3-yard line. That set up another trick play when Williams took a direct snap and executed a jump pass to Shaq Williams in the back of the end zone for the first score of the night.
The Roadrunners built the lead out to 14-0 when Thomas Jr. caught his first TD pass of the night, a 53-yarder from Sturm with a little less than three minutes remaining in the opening stanza.
UTEP tied the score after a 41-yard scoring scamper by Jones on the final play of the first quarter and an 8-yard scoring run by Dawn with 6:54 left in the half.
Sturm then capped a 16-play, 75-yard drive that ate 6:49 off the clock with a 1-yard quarterback sneak to help push the Roadrunners to a 21-14 halftime advantage.
The Roadrunners will host North Texas (4-3, 2-1 C-USA) at 6 p.m. next Saturday, Oct 29, at the Alamodome.
