SAN ANTONIO — Owen McCown passed for 280 yards and four touchdowns and Jamal Ligon became UTSA’s all-time leading tackler to help lead the Roadrunners to their first win over a ranked team with a 44-36 decision against No. 25 Memphis in American Athletic Conference action on Saturday afternoon at the Alamodome.
The Roadrunners broke through for their first ranked win in program history with their 27th home triumph over the last 30 games at the Alamodome under fifth-year head coach Jeff Traylor. UTSA ran its record to 4-5 overall and 2-3 in the league, also improving to 4-0 at home this year by extending that winning streak to eight. The Tigers, who were 25th in this week’s AFCA Coaches Poll and received 34 votes in the AP Top 25, fell to 7-2 and 3-2.
McCown completed 20 of 37 passes in notching his second consecutive four-touchdown outing, also rushing for 28 yards to put the redshirt sophomore quarterback over 300 yards of offense for the day. He completed passes to 10 different receivers, led by Houston Thomas’s six catches for 44 yards and two TDs. Chris Carpenter turned in his second straight 100-yard game with 108 yards on four receptions, while Dan Dishman added 55 yards and a score on three grabs.
Ligon logged six tackles, one tackle for loss and a pair of quarterback hurries while moving past Rashad Wisdom to become the program’s career leader in tackles with 317.
Martavius French led the defense with 10 stops including two of UTSA’s six behind the line of scrimmage. Elliott Davison and Syrus Dumas posted eight tackles apiece with Dumas adding a key forced fumble and recovery in the second half. UTSA held the Tigers to 62 rushing yards, marking the sixth opponent this season held to fewer than 100 yards on the ground.
Tate Sandell also made a pair of field goals, including drilling a school-record 54-yarder in the second quarter.
Memphis built a 10-point lead in the first half only to see the Roadrunners reel off 30 unanswered points to take a 44-24 lead in the final stanza. The Tigers staged a late rally on a 24-yard touchdown pass from Seth Henigan to Koby Drake, followed by a successful onside kick recovery and Henigan TD pass to Mario Anderson Jr. with 48 seconds left to play. Memphis’ next onside kick bounced out of bounds and UTSA ran out the clock to seal its second win in two tries against the Tigers.
Henigan threw for 454 yards and four scores with a pair of 100-yard receivers in Roc Taylor (8-111) and DeMeer Blankumsee (6-142), as Memphis tallied 516 yards of offense on the day.
Both teams scored on their opening possession. Memphis went 75 yards in six plays to strike first on a 16-yard dash around left end by Anderson.
The Roadrunners answered with a 75-yard march of their own that was capped by a 9-yard touchdown pass from McCown to Thomas.
The Tigers reclaimed the lead after Caden Costa drilled a 22-yard field goal at the 2:50 mark of the first quarter to make it 10-7.
UTSA took its first lead on the ensuing possession, as McCown hit Carpenter for a 60-yard pass down to the Memphis 6-yard line. Three plays later, McCown found Dishman open for a 5-yard TD pass.
Memphis went back in front, 17-14, early in the second stanza on a 21-yard pass from Henigan to Blankumsee.
After forcing a UTSA punt, the Tigers pushed their advantage to 24-14 on a 69-yard touchdown pass from Henigan to Blankumsee.
However, the Roadrunners erased the deficit on the strength of a pair of key fourth-down stops, a school-record kick and a late touchdown pass to close the half and knot the score at 24-all.
Sandell broke the school’s field-goal record by splitting the uprights from 54 yards out with 5:57 left to play in the half, eclipsing the previous standard of 53 set by Sean Ianno in 2014 and matched by Chase Allen last year.
McCown then tossed his third TD pass of the day to a tight end, this time hitting a wide-open Patrick Overmyer for a 4-yard score with 1:27 on the clock.
Thomas hauled in an 8-yard touchdown pass at the 10:02 mark of the third quarter to give UTSA a 31-24 edge. That scoring drive was set up by Carpenter’s 23-yard punt return and keyed with a 27-yard pass from David Amador II to Dishman after a lateral.
Sandell then booted a 32-yard field goal to push the lead to 10 with 5:06 left in the third.
Meanwhile, UTSA’s defense opened the second half with three consecutive three-and-outs and a pair of takeaways on an interception by Jermarius Lewis late in the third quarter and a forced fumble and recovery by Syrus Dumas.
UTSA’s lead ballooned to 20 after Brandon High Jr. found paydirt on a 2-yard rush and Sandell made his third field goal of the day on a 42-yarder with 2:43 remaining.
The Roadrunners are off next weekend before hosting North Texas on Friday, Nov 15. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at the Alamodome and the game will be televised nationally on ESPN2. Fans can purchase tickets online or by calling the UTSA Ticket Office at 210-458-UTSA (8872) from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday excluding holidays.
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