UTSA Roadrunners (1-3, 0-0)
at
Temple Owls (2-3, 0-1)
1 p.m. CT | Saturday, Oct. 7
Lincoln Financial Field | Philadelphia, Pa.
TV: ESPN+
Radio: UTSA Sports Media Network / Ticket 760 AM
Live Stats: goUTSA.com/FBStats
Series History: First meeting
OPENING DRIVE
• UTSA will play its inaugural American Athletic Conference game on Saturday afternoon against Temple.
• This will mark the first meeting between the Roadrunners and Owls.
• The game will be played at Lincoln Financial Field, home of the Philadelphia Eagles, marking the Roadrunners’ second visit to an NFL stadium (Georgia Dome vs. Georgia State in 2012).
• UTSA boasts a 20-3 (.870) record in conference games under head coach Jeff Traylor.
• The Roadrunners are 7-4 all-time in conference openers, including 3-0 in the Jeff Traylor era.
• UTSA has won its two previous conference debuts, beating New Mexico State 35-14 in the WAC opener on Sept. 29, 2012, and defeating UTEP 32-13 in its first Conference USA game on Sept. 21, 2013.
• This will mark the second straight and eighth time overall that the Roadrunners have opened league play on the road.
• UTSA is 5-8 all-time in games played in the Eastern time zone.
• The Roadrunners are 31-13 (.705) under Jeff Traylor, the most wins and best winning percentage by a UTSA head coach.
SETTING THE SCENE
UTSA will play its inaugural American Athletic Conference game on Saturday, Oct. 7, against Temple. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. CT at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia and the game will air on ESPN+ and Ticket 760. This will mark the first meeting between the Roadrunners (1-3, 0-0) and Owls (2-3, 0-1) and UTSA’s second straight game played in the Eastern time zone following a 45-14 setback to No. 20 Tennessee on Sept. 23 in Knoxville. The Roadrunners are 7-4 all-time in conference openers, including a perfect 3-0 mark under head coach Jeff Traylor.
TUNING IN
Saturday’s game will air on ESPN+. Noah Reed (play-by-play) and Barrett Brooks (analyst) will call the action. The game will air live in the San Antonio area on Ticket 760, online at Ticket760.com, via the free iHeartRadio app. Andy Everett (play-by-play), Jay Riley (analyst) and Pat Evans (reporter) have the call. There will be a two-hour pregame and 45-minute postgame show.
UTSA IN CONFERENCE OPENERS
UTSA is 7-4 all-time in conference openers, including a perfect 3-0 under head coach Jeff Traylor. The Roadrunners beat Middle Tennessee in each of the last three league lid-lifters, scoring a 45-30 triumph last year in Murfreesboro after back-to-back home victories in 2020 (37-35) and 2021 (27-13). UTSA has won each of its previous two league debuts, beating New Mexico State 35-14 in the Western Athletic Conference opener on Sept. 29, 2012, in Las Cruces, and defeating UTEP 32-13, in its first Conference USA game on Sept. 21, 2013, in El Paso. This will mark the second straight and eighth time overall that the Roadrunners have opened the league slate on the road.
UTSA’s Conference Openers (7-4)
|
Date |
Opponent |
Result |
|
9/29/12 |
at New Mexico State |
W, 35-14 |
|
9/21/13 |
at UTEP |
W, 32-13 |
|
9/27/14 |
at Florida Atlantic |
L, 37-41 |
|
10/3/15 |
at UTEP |
W, 25-6 |
|
9/24/16 |
at Old Dominion |
L, 19-33 |
|
10/7/17 |
Southern Miss |
L, 29-31 |
|
9/29/18 |
UTEP |
W, 30-21 |
|
9/21/19 |
at North Texas |
L, 3-45 |
|
9/25/20 |
Middle Tennessee |
W, 37-35 |
|
9/18/21 |
Middle Tennessee |
W, 27-13 |
|
9/30/22 |
at Middle Tennessee |
W, 45-30 |
ROADRUNNERS IN NFL STADIUMS
UTSA will face Temple on Saturday at Lincoln Financial Field, home of the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles. This will mark the second time the Roadrunners have played at an NFL stadium, as they beat Georgia State, 38-14, on Sept. 15, 2012, at the Georgia Dome, the former home of the Atlanta Falcons.
SCOUTING TEMPLE
The Owls dropped to 2-3 overall and 0-1 in American Athletic Conference play with a 48-26 defeat at the hands of Tulsa on Thursday night. Temple opened the campaign with a 24-21 home win over Akron and its other victory was a 41-9 decision against Norfolk State. The Owls’ other losses were to Rutgers (36-7) and Miami (41-7). Temple is averaging 21.0 points and 355.0 yards of offense per game while allowing 31.0 points and 409.4 yards per outing. E.J. Warner, son of former NFL quarterback Kurt Warner, has completed 111 of 206 passes for 1,269 yards and seven touchdowns against five interceptions. Joquez Smith is the top rusher with 217 yards on 41 attempts, while Amad Anderson Jr. paces the team in receptions with 25 for 372 yards. Tywan Francis has a team-high 37 tackles with three for a loss to go with an interception and two pass breakups. Jordan Magee has posted 33 stops with six TFLs and a sack. Head coach Stan Drayton is 5-12 in his second season at the helm.
SERIES HISTORY
Saturday will mark the first meeting on the gridiron between UTSA and Temple, a member of the American Athletic Conference since 2013.
WHO’S COUNTING
Now in their 13th season of play, the Roadrunners will play the 151st game in program history on Saturday when they face Temple. UTSA is 76-74 all-time and 44-31 on the road. By comparison, Temple has been playing football since 1894 and owns an all-time record of 486-617-52.
NFL BLOODLINES
UTSA and Temple boast quarterbacks whose fathers played the same position in the NFL. UTSA redshirt freshman Owen McCown is the son of Josh McCown, a third-round draft pick in 2002 who went on to play for 12 teams over a near-two-decade career. McCown, who was mentored by UTSA head coach Jeff Traylor at Jacksonville High School, spent three seasons at SMU before transferring to Sam Houston. Meanwhile, Temple sophomore E.J. Warner is the son of Kurt Warner, who played 12 seasons for four different NFL franchises following his collegiate career at Northern Iowa. The elder McCown and Warner were teammates with the Arizona Cardinals in 2005. McCown currently serves as the quarterbacks coach for the Carolina Panthers while Warner is a studio analyst for NFL Network.
ON EASTERN TIME
The Roadrunners will play a game in the Eastern time zone for the second straight game and 14th time in program history when they face Temple on Saturday in Philadelphia. UTSA is 5-8 all-time in games played in the Eastern time zone with road wins against Georgia State in 2012 in Atlanta, Charlotte in 2015, Old Dominion in 2019, Army West Point in 2022 and FIU in 2022.
UTSA in the Eastern Time Zone (5-8)
|
Date |
Result |
Location |
|
9/15/12 |
UTSA 38, Georgia State 14 |
Atlanta, Ga. |
|
10/5/13 |
Marshall 34, UTSA 10 |
Huntington, W.Va. |
|
9/27/14 |
Florida Atlantic 41, UTSA 37 |
Boca Raton, Fla. |
|
11/14/15 |
UTSA 30, Charlotte 27 (OT) |
Charlotte, N.C. |
|
9/24/16 |
Old Dominion 33, UTSA 19 |
Norfolk, Va. |
|
11/4/17 |
FIU 14, UTSA 7 |
Miami, Fla. |
|
11/17/18 |
Marshall 23, UTSA 0 |
Huntington, W.Va. |
|
11/9/19 |
UTSA 24, Old Dominion 23 |
Norfolk, Va. |
|
10/31/20 |
Florida Atlantic 24, UTSA 3 |
Boca Raton, Fla. |
|
9/10/22 |
UTSA 41, Army 38 |
West Point, N.Y. |
|
10/14/22 |
UTSA 30, FIU 10 |
Miami, Fla. |
|
12/16/22 |
Troy 18, UTSA 12 |
Orlando, Fla. |
|
9/23/23 |
Tennessee 45, UTSA 14 |
Knoxville, Tenn. |
LAST TIME OUT
UTSA redshirt freshman quarterback Owen McCown broke the program record for completion percentage, but No. 20 Tennessee stormed out to an early lead and never looked back in a 45-14 decision on Sept. 23 in front of 101,915 fans at Neyland Stadium. The Volunteers built a 31-0 halftime advantage and withstood a third-quarter push from the Roadrunners in the first meeting between the two schools on the gridiron. McCown came off the bench and completed 18 of 20 passes for 170 yards and two touchdowns, all in the second half. He completed his first 10 attempts to spark the offense and cut the deficit to 31-14 with a little more than five minutes remaining in the third quarter. His .900 completion percentage eclipsed Frank Harris' school standard of .866 (13-15) posted against Lamar in 2021.
DOWN TO THE WIRE
UTSA is no stranger to close contests in the Jeff Traylor era, as 28 of the 44 have been one-score ballgames in the fourth quarter. The Roadrunners own a 19-9 record in those games. Dating back to the 2021 campaign, UTSA has seen 15 of the last 23 contests decided in the fourth quarter or later. Additionally, the Roadrunners are 12-4 in games decided by eight points or less since 2021.
TRAYLOR TAKING ROADRUNNERS TO NEW HEIGHTS
Head coach Jeff Traylor has taken UTSA to new heights since taking over the program prior to the 2020 campaign. The Gilmer, Texas, native has turned around the program by instilling his 210 Triangle of Toughness culture, producing results on and off the field. Taking over a team that won a combined seven games in the two seasons prior to his arrival, he has led the Roadrunners to a 31-13 record, the most wins all-time and best winning percentage (.705) by a UTSA head football coach. Additionally, the Roadrunners own a 20-3 (.870) record in conference games in the Traylor era. Under Traylor’s direction, UTSA has won back-to-back conference championships, been nationally ranked in all three major polls in 2021 and 2022 and made three straight bowl appearances. The two-time conference coach of the year has coached six All-Americans, three national award finalists, 12 national award semifinalists, six conference superlative award recipients, 67 all-conference selections, two academic All-Americans and a pair of NFL Draft picks during his UTSA tenure. He was the 2021 AFCA Region 4 Coach of the Year and he has been a finalist for the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year twice in addition to being a finalist for the 2022 Paul “Bear” Bryant Awards Coach of the Year, 2021 AFCA National Coach of the Year and the 2021 George Munger College Coach of the Year.
SEASON 13
One of the newest FBS programs and now in its first year as a member of the American Athletic Conference, UTSA is playing its 13th season of football in 2023. The Roadrunners started their program from scratch and, following a practice year in 2010, played their first season as an FCS Independent in 2011 before joining the Western Athletic Conference for the 2012 campaign. UTSA moved into Conference USA in 2013 and became a full-fledged FBS member starting with the 2014 season. The Roadrunners set NCAA modern startup program records in 2011 by drawing 56,743 fans to their inaugural game against Northeastern State and by averaging 35,521 fans for their six home contests that season. UTSA made its first postseason appearance at the 2016 New Mexico Bowl in its sixth season of play and registered its first win against a team from the Big 12 Conference the following season with a 17-10 victory over Baylor. The Roadrunners made history in 2021, opening the fall with a road win against Illinois of the Big Ten Conference, capturing their first conference championship with a 49-42 decision against WKU and capping a 12-2 ledger with their third bowl game. They repeated as league champions with a 48-27 win over North Texas in 2022 and made their third straight and fourth overall bowl appearance, ending the year with an 11-3 mark. UTSA has posted at least six wins in seven of the 12 complete seasons in program history and it has reached the seven-win plateau five times, including in each of the first three years of the Jeff Traylor era. The Roadrunners reached double-digit wins in back-to-back seasons (2021-22), joining Baylor and TCU as the only Texas-based FBS teams since 2012 to notch at least 10 wins in consecutive years.
PRO ‘RUNNERS
UTSA currently has five players on NFL active rosters and a pair on practice squads. Marcus Davenport became the first Roadrunner to be selected in the first round of the NFL Draft when the Saints picked him 14th overall in 2018. The sixth-year veteran defensive end is in his first season as a starting outside linebacker for the Vikings. Tariq Woolen was selected by the Seahawks in the fifth round of the 2022 NFL Draft. Now in his second year as a starter at cornerback, he led the league with six interceptions and was a Pro Bowl selection as a rookie. Spencer Burford was a fourth-round pick by the 49ers in 2022 and is in his second year as a starter at offensive guard in San Francisco. Kevin Strong Jr. is in his fifth year in the NFL and first season as a starting defensive lineman for the Arizona Cardinals. Defensive lineman Eric Banks was just moved up from the practice squad to the Cardinals’ active roster on Sept. 30. Additionally, Sincere McCormick (Raiders) and Leroy Watson (49ers) are on practice squads.
UP NEXT
The Roadrunners will return home to host UAB on Saturday, Oct 14. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at the Alamodome and the game will be televised nationally on ESPNU.
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