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| Kin Man Hui/SA Express News |
As the age old cliche goes, it was truly a tale of two halves in the Alamodome this afternoon. The Roadrunners flew out of the gate, jumping out to a 24-3 halftime lead over the Texas A&M Commerce Lions. From there, UTSA seemed to go blank, scoring just three points in the second half against a miserable Division II squad. Though the 30,000+ in the Runnerdome certainly would have like to see a bit more separation in the score, UTSA came out ahead 27-16.
The victory pushed the Roadrunners to the .500 mark, the program's best since the infamous loss to McMurry. Dating back to last season, UTSA is currently on a three-game winning streak and have rushed for over 170 yards in all three affairs. Rushing the ball has continued to be a huge point of contention for the Roadrunners as they took every opportunity they could to keep the ball on the ground. As Commerce coach Guy Morris put it, "I think they felt they could run the ball on will and they pretty much did it." While UTSA's recent emphasis on rushing the ball may not be as sexy as Soza hitting Brandon Freeman in stride, the rushing game has been extremely efficient. Each ball carrier averaged over 4.0 yards per carry, outside Aaron Grubb who had one carry-- a busted jet sweep. Another promising factoid: The Runners have yet to fumble the ball on a designed running play in 2012.
While UTSA did a fantastic job toting the pill, Commerce was miserable at it. UTSA's defensive line and linebackers held the Lions to 16 rushing yards and a cool average of .7 yards per carry. Wow. The front six also brought constant heat to the Commerce backfield, racking up nine tackles for losses, five sacks, and four quarterback hurries. Jaron Harris and Cody Rogers were particularly outstanding on the pass rush. This is the way bigger schools are supposed to knock smaller schools silly. Domination in the trenches.
Now to the miscellaneous thoughts department. Going bullet style cause I'm feeling lazy.
- UTSA experienced what was likely their worst kick returning performance in program history. Kenny Harrison and Kenny Bias both lined up as the return man throughout the game, averaging just 6.3 yards per return. I feel like coaches across the NCAA landscape are experimenting with their return game following the rule changes that we saw in the offseason. It didn't work at all, but Blake Terry and Lekenwic Haynes were lined up in front of the return man on kickoffs. Being two of the team's hardest hitters, I guess the coaching staff wanted them to land a big block or two and hopefully spring the Kennys for a big return. Things got pretty awkward when middle linebacker Blake Terry caught a directional kick though...
- Eric Soza's offense went 4-4 in the redzone this afternoon to come to 6-6 on the season. I think that's a huge testament to the improved and enlarged offensive line who can actually get a surge at the line of scrimmage now. Most of the credit should go to Sean Ianno, who I heard once kicked a 73 yarder in practice (without a defense to kick over, but impressive nonetheless).
- Not sure what his injury was, but Darrien Starling became the second Roadrunner cornerback to miss a game this season. Crosby Adams started in his wake and did a fairly admirable job. That should be a good confidence boost for the young CB who has struggled to solidify his playing time despite flashes of great potential. Adams delivered a forceful (illegal) blow to a Lion receiver and sent the Dome into a frenzy.
- Kevin Brown's infatuation with running the option to the short side of the field is starting to drive me nuts. The offense's speed becomes underserved when placed within a shallow boundary and it becomes much, much easier for safeties and cornerbacks to come up to help stop the run on a short field. Just feels like overcoaching to me, unless there's something I'm missing.
- Commerce's quarterback Deric Davis performed admirably under great pressure. His offensive line really let him down, but the 220 pound, lefthanded signal caller did his damned best to keep the ball moving up the field. He had some pretty wildly errant throws but placed the ball decently enough on the short stuff to keep the Lions in the game. I doubt many people cared but myself, but I was immensely impressed with the moxy, determination, and strength he showed on his own half yard line. With a physically imposing defensive line to his front, and a drunk and loud student section to his back, Davis made sure that the defense would not be coming off the field with a safety. At one point Davis had about three or four Runners piled up on him, but Davis kept his feet moving to get out of the endzone.
I think that's a decent enough amount on a sort of tune-up game for the Runners. Next up we rematch with the Georgia State Panthers who just fell to 0-2 on the year after being smoked by Tennessee 51-13. I'm gonna try to take a bus out to Hotlanta for the game, so keep your eyes peeled on the forum for more info on that, as well as an eye on the blog for more info on the Georgia State Panthers.
