Tag: Texas-San Antonio

Nov 2, 2019; College Station, TX, USA; UTSA Roadrunners running back Sincere McCormick (23) tries to find a hole during the fourth quarter against the Texas A&M Aggies at Kyle Field. Mandatory Credit: John Glaser-USA TODAY Sports

Florida Atlantic faces battle-tested UTSA

Posted on | by Field Level Media

The Texas-San Antonio Roadrunners have played seven games already this football season, while the Florida Atlantic Owls have played two.

The two Conference USA rivals with vastly different experiences with COVID-19 — will meet on Saturday at FAU’s campus in Boca Raton, Fla.

“We’re blessed to have played as many games as we have,” said first-year UTSA coach Jeff Traylor, who inherited a 4-8 team and has already matched last year’s win total.

UTSA (4-3, 2-1) is led by sophomore running back Sincere McCormick, who leads the nation with 867 rushing yards. His 123.9 yards a game ranks sixth nationally.

McCormick, a 5-9, 200-pounder, rushed for 983 yards and eight touchdowns last season, earning C-USA Freshman of the Year honors.

Last week, in a 27-26 comeback win over Louisiana Tech, McCormick ran 37 times for 165 yards and three touchdowns. He also caught two passes for 12 yards, completing a grueling workload — not that he complained.

“He was in my office (Sunday) morning, bouncing around,” Traylor said. “He’s unbelievable. The kid is physically and mentally tough.”

It was McCormick’s fourth 100-yard game of the season. His 1,850 career yards already rank third in program history.

Roadrunners redshirt junior Frank Harris, who lost some playing time earlier this season due to injury, is 4-1 as UTSA’s starting quarterback this season.

The Roadrunners defense is led by senior safety Antonio Parks, who had an interception and forced a fumble against Louisiana Tech. That earned him C-USA Defensive Player of the Week honors, to go with the McCormick’s offensive star of the week award for the league.

UTSA’s defense also boasts sophomore safety Rashad Wisdom, who had 10 tackles against Louisiana Tech, and junior linebacker Trevor Harmanson (eight tackles).

UTSA held Louisiana Tech to just 35 yards in the second half, helping the Roadrunners dig out of a 13-point hole to snap a three-game losing streak.

Meanwhile, FAU (1-1, 1-1) — after winning two of the past three C-USA titles — has struggled to even get on the field in 2020.

Coach Willie Taggart, who took over the FAU program this season after he was fired by Florida State, led the Owls to a 21-17 season-opening win over Charlotte on Oct. 3.

After that game, the Owls had 20 players test positive for COVID-19, and 25 more athletes lost practice time while quarantining.

Those issues certainly contributed to last week’s 20-9 loss to Marshall, which was FAU’s first game in 21 days. FAU was hit with 11 penalties for 126 yards last week, which was another sign of a lack of sharpness.

FAU’s quarterback is redshirt junior Nick Tronti, a first-year starter who is completing 55.8 percent of his passes. His ranks last in the C-USA in passing yards per game (123.0).

Taggart hinted he may use other QBs on Saturday.

“There have been thoughts on getting guys ready other than Nick all year,” said Taggart, whose son, Willie Jr, is among three backup quarterbacks. “We have to be more efficient offensively.”

Indeed, FAU ranks last in C-USA scoring with 15.0 points per game. The Owls, who rank 91st out of 101 teams nationally in average yards per play, are hurting at running back, where Larry McCammon and BJ Emmons are likely out due to ankle injuries.

Junior Malcolm Davidson leads FAU in rushing, averaging 6.7 yards, but has carried just 12 times. He has totaled 80 yards with one touchdown.

–Field Level Media

Sep 26, 2020; Provo, UT, USA; BYU quarterback Zach Wilson (1) warms up before the start of their NCAA college football game against Troy Saturday, Sept. 26, 2020, in Provo, Utah. Mandatory Credit: Rick Bowmer/Pool Photo-USA TODAY Sports

No. 15 BYU looks to stay unbeaten vs. UTSA

Posted on | by Field Level Media

BYU has a chance to go to 4-0 on Saturday when the Cougars welcome Texas-San Antonio to Lavell Edwards Stadium in Provo, Utah.

The 15th-ranked Cougars have blown out their first three opponents by a combined 148-24. BYU’s ranking is the highest the program has been since 2009, when the Cougars rose to No. 7.

The Cougars and Roadrunners (3-1) will be playing each other for the first time in both schools’ history.

“Finding another way for us to try to be at our best, that’s the focus of this team,” BYU head coach Kalani Sitake said Monday. “I feel like we’ve done that three times and now we’re looking forward to doing it a fourth.”

BYU leads the nation in total offense and total defense. On offense, the Cougars average 585.7 yards per game and a whopping 8.1 yards per play. Defensively, the Cougars have held opponents to 214.3 yards of total offense per game.

“I think we really need to just stay humble as we keep finding that success. The mindset has to be let’s get better this week and find the things that we struggled with the last game,” BYU linebacker Isaiah Kaufusi said. “The target on our backs is definitely going to get bigger, but we can’t really focus on those things and what people are saying.”

Quarterback Zach Wilson — with as many touchdowns accounted for as incomplete passes, 11 — is drawing postseason award attention. Wilson is coming off a five-touchdown performance against Louisiana Tech in which he completed 24 of 26 passes, threw two touchdowns and rushed for three scores.

The Roadrunners were 3-0 until a 21-13 loss at UAB last Saturday in Birmingham, Ala. UTSA running back Sincere McCormick rushed for 150 yards on 22 carries and the Roadrunners had opportunities by forcing four UAB turnovers, but it wasn’t enough.

After using three quarterbacks in the UAB game, UTSA hopes to have junior Frank Harris back as the starter on Saturday. Harris left in the second quarter of the Roadrunners’ win over Middle Tennessee on Sept. 25 with an injury.

Harris leads the team in passing yards with 508 and is second in rushing yards with 162. UTSA builds its offense around the run game.

“We thought these first four games were going to be fall camp for us. Then we were going to play our last eight, and we were going to have our lineup set and hopefully have our offensive line set, just know our people,” head coach Jeff Traylor said. “We know our roster a little bit better now. That is all it is, us (coaches) trying to get to know our players and them trying to get to know us.”

Taylor knows his team is a big underdog, the spread up to 34 1/2 points in Tuesday’s odds.

“We are going to look at this as an opportunity,” he said. “We are going to go up there and find a way to scrap and see if we can hang in there with them and pull off a shocker.”

–Field Level Media