UTSA's improved rushing attack

Coming in to the 2012 season, it was no secret that UTSA's number one offensive goal for the season was to run the ball more efficiently. We're one game through the sophomore season and it looks like the Roadrunners have already made serious progress towards that goal. In 2011, the Roadrunners were only able to average over 4.5 yards per carry against a Division I opponent once, with their best statistical performance coming against Southern Alabama (176 net rushing yards, 4.6 average). UTSA rushed for 183 yards on Saturday, while averaging a very respectable 5.9 yards per carry.

New offensive coordinator Kevin Brown utilized many different looks to achieve these numbers. Soza lead many option plays with Okotcha, Armstrong, and Glasco all taking snaps at his side. Walk-on brothers Aaron and Seth Grubb were both used from wide out-- Aaron on a jet sweep and Seth on a four wide reverse. David "El Magnifico" Glasco was the day's leading rusher, seeing 70 yards on just nine carries (7.8). While Okotcha's and Armstrong's stats were mediocre, they did a great job of taking more than simply what the defense gave them with hard running and wise cuts. Similar to last season, UTSA was extremely efficient rushing from the wide receiver position. The Grubb bros combined for 34 yards on two carries, and Kam Jones brought in 15 yards on his sole carry.

Let's break down the day's biggest carry to see where UTSA found success:

All screenshots via ESPN3

Following a William Ritter fumble recovery of a botched snap to C.J. Bennett and an ill-advised pass attempt to a covered Brandon Freeman, the Roadrunners come out of the huddle with split backs out of a spread shotgun look-- Okotcha acts as the halfback, making the Runners strong on the left side, while Glasco becomes the tailback on the backside.


As Soza reads the defense before the snap, we see the Jaguars run up in their typical 3-3-5 look with the free safety shaded to the strong left side where UTSA has two receivers and a blocking threat in Okotcha. The defensive line looks normal --7 and 1 techniques-- with the weak side linebacker shaded out and up a little bit more than usual.

As Soza receives the snap from Leonard, the defensive line attempts to fire up the field while all three linebackers begin to read their keys. Slot receiver Kam Jones looks in for a screen, causing South's nickleback to sprint up to cover him. If Kevin Brown is as good of an OC as I think he is, Jones should be a legit option for a screen pass if South Alabama threatens with a blitz here. Fortunately for Glasco, they do not. Hoog seals off the strongside end with a perfect hook block. Leonard and Harris combo block the noseguard while Walker leaves the weakside end for Soza to read off of. Okotcha releases in front of Soza and Glasco to take out the weakside linebacker. No decoy or fake necessary. Thankfully Hoog has blocked off the strongside end so well that Soza has two good options on the play (again, three being a screen to Kam if Brown is smart).

Here's where the Roadrunner's luck on the play begins to turn. Both the middle linebacker and weak side linebacker play up to the line of scrimmage after seeing the end left open. At this point in the play, Glasco already has the ball and a half yard of separation from Soza, yet the two Jaguar defenders are looking and standing elsewhere. Afraid of the play action threat, the Jaguar secondary is slow to react.

Oh baby. South Alabama's defense has totally taken themselves out of this play to the point where poor Cody Harris doesn't even have anyone to hit, nor does Josh Walker have anyone to kick out on. Leonard manages to pancake the noseguard after receiving an assist from Harris. Soza does a great job of faking a keep, which leads to the linebackers biting away from the ball. Hoog has his defensive end three steps away from Glasco and Inskeep makes sure to seal off the strongside backer on his right shoulder, ensuring he won't be able to sneak by to blow the play up. Weakside end Romelle Jones tries to chase after David, but 275 pound guys aren't very good at that.

And with that, it's off to the races. USA's free safety takes a horrible, lazy angle on Glasco, who wisely cuts away. The Jaguars will finally catch up to El Magnifico 51 yards later.



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33 Big Blowout Spectacular Season Preview

This week on the show we have WackJack, aka Jack Hopkins of Bobcat Report fame and WacJack blog, Darrell of RowdyReport and of course, Adam, Shafer, and Jared.

We cover the schedule, the depth chart, Soza/Carter, expectations, attendance and much more. Get in contact with us at podcast@cokerchronicles.com or @cokerchronicles.


You can find the links to the episode on the iTunes on Stitcher or just subscribe directly to the podcast.

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Bennett Okotcha to UTSA

While UTSA failed (or chose not to pursue, depending who you ask) four-star defensive talent Donald Hopkins, the Roadrunners have managed to land a potential defensive star with familial ties to the program.

Bennett Okotcha, the brother of running back Evil Evans Okotcha, has left the Oklahoma Sooners football program, and will reportedly be joining his brother in San Antonio. Bennett was a highly recruited cornerback at Coppell High, gaining offers from many high-profile programs. Originally committed to Notre Dame, Okotcha flipped to Oklahoma near his signing day.

Bennett did in fact redshirt his freshman year at OU, so bearing any unforseen waivers, Okotcha will have to burn a year of eligibility this season. Surely a price he is willing to pay to reunite with his brother. His time off will also help him adjust to his new setting and learn the 4-2-5 Neathery Defense. At 6'0", 176 pounds, Okotcha is FBS ready at the cornerback position. Once he is eligible to begin playing, he will also reunite with a former Coppell defensive teammate in Nic Johnston.

Bennett Okotcha recruiting rankings (per soonersports.com)
No. 42 cornerback (Scout.com)
No. 50 cornerback (ESPN.com)
No. 64 cornerback (Rivals.com)
No. 98 player in Texas (Rivals.com)

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The Bizarre Power of Social Media

By all means, I am a child of the Internet. Graced with a high reading and writing capability at a young age, I grew up lounging in AOL chat rooms via a 56k modem and a Netscape Navigator browser. As I entered adolescence, Netscape turned to Firefox, dial-up turned to broadband, and I continued to learn about the world through the communal power of the Internet. By challenging my morals and convictions throughout my young life, the Internet has certainly been a large factor in my life. That being said, I still don't understand it sometimes, and I was heavily reminded of the fact this week. A YouTube user named MrHurriicane uploads live streams of himself playing video games while providing commentary for his audience. Lately MrHurriicane has been streaming his latest project-- an NCAA Dynasty of the UTSA Roadrunners. By all accounts, it has been his most successful video series yet, with over a thousand viewers at the series' peak.

In his dynasty, Eric Soza, Evans Okotcha, and Kam Jones are some of the team's stars. The passionate followers of the UTSA Dynasty took to Twitter to see if any of the UTSA players they loved watching in virtual form were on Twitter. From there, things got weird.

I was watching Evans retweet all of his many, many mentions in real time, so when this tweet rolled through, I lost it. A couple of days later, Evans saw his followers count grow by over 700. His shoutouts to his teammates such as Darrien Starling and David Glasco also gave them hundreds of followers. Hell, Evans even had some fan Twitter accounts show up. Celebrity status?

MrHurriicane put up a video detailing how the Twitter blow up happened

And Okotcha and the rest of the "Big 3" put up a video thanking MrHurriicane and his followers

How cool is it that people from all over the world are now following these guys and rooting for UTSA? Stories like these are why the NCAA franchise is so important to relatively small-time football programs like UTSA. The exposure is priceless.

Picking and Choosing: Spring Practice Report

We certainly can make up any kind of storyline from a single scrimmage in March. The easy one is to call for Eric Soza’s benching after a slightly pedestrian performance at scrimmage number 2.

His stats: 5/11 79 yards and a score.

Tucker Carter: 9/16 for 152 and a score.

Ryan Polite: 7/14 for 142 and a score.

Hurm. The second-year returning starter had the least-impressive outing statistically speaking??! Yes. There are certainly mitigating circumstances that no doubt played a part in the ...

... you know what? It is spring. I can’t be angry, now. The sun is shining, the birds are chirping and there are ducks chilling out at the pool. This isn’t the time to get angry and start yelling. What are we? Bostonites?

No.

It isn’t something to ignore, either. File this away under Things To Remember. We now have some evidence that the backup guys can play a little bit. At worst, it will be kindling for a firestorm of internet yelling. At best, it means we might have a couple of decent quarterbacks on the roster.


In other news: David Glasco, El Magnifico himself, tore off a 75-yard scamper. Evans looked good catching and running. Apparently the line was decent. Sweet.

Spring Game is April 15th.

Dan McCarney Reports

UTSA website reports

Another Take on the Offense

Quarterback

I am not as high on Soza’s performance as either Dan McCarney, or Jared. It isn’t that I don’t recognize the the situation that Eric was in an expected something outstanding when an average performance would be satisfactory. No, I had no problems with his accuracy. Leadership and the ability to manage fellow freshman doesn’t have much to do with not throwing the ball into the ground. In fact -- just to be the a-hole here -- it can be argued that leading a team of peers is not as mammoth of an ordeal as commanding the respect of guys who have been to Rose Bowls and National Championships a la Colt McCoy or something. Granted, this is a totally different scenario but so is the situation in Akron and Louisiana Tech.

I don’t want to diminish the guy’s season but merely put look at it for what it was. He did an commendable job considering he had an unsettled line. Both he and the running backs would have benefited from more experience up front. That must be considered. Also, I have to give weight to Travis Bush’s comments. He knows what demands are placed on the quarterback in this system and how Eric Soza should run it. He knows what plays were called and the progressions he may or may not have missed.

Both Jared and I have been guilty of tossing out some easy Soza hate when he throws a terrible pass or coughs up a fumble at a most inopportune time. Afterwards we are both more levelheaded. That said, his turnovers were still pretty bad. I don’t have a problem with inconsistency in general as much as the timing and nature of his turnovers. I am not even talking about early season stuff against the likes of Southern Utah. The terrible throws in the Georgia State on? Those are what stand out.

Hitting the ground on a slant, swing, and screen --especially wide-open stuff is scary. That is what holds me back from giving all gold stars here. I’m hoping the wideouts and newness of the system and lack of confidence in the line is what made him short his throws but I can’t help but feel that is a bit too generous. It doesn’t matter too much, now though. Everyone has plenty of time to improve on all that stuff. Hopefully Soza isn’t so entrenched that he feels overconfident and Simmons, Polite, and Conque give him a run for his position. It’ll do everyone some good.

Running Back

I was looking forward to some magic from these guys. We did get some, but not from Chris Johnson, David Glasco, nor the other guys. Instead it was Evil Evans Okotcha. This isn’t terribly unusual in college ball. You hear about a heralded class and think you have a stable of studs when only one or two do anything if at all. There are many reasons for this ranging from guys not fitting in with the system, not adjusting, mis-evaluation of talent, or bad luck. Hell, sometimes it just takes time.

I like what we have here at the end though. This position is fickle and a handful of guys similarly talented isn’t a bad thing especially in this offense. The multiplicity means you don’t need a workhorse nor a feature guy (though Bush seems to want one). Having a two-back system a a Cadillac Williams and Ronnie Brown or a Reggie Bush and Lendale White. I like Evans as a power guy and Brandon Armstrong as a speedy changeup. Brandon was an awesome threat on swings and out of the spread. Oklahoma used to kill teams with those passes to Demarco Murray (among other things). I can live with Glasco, Johnson, Williams and any other guy spelling them until they figure out whatever they need to figure out in and out of the Alamodome.

I figure Bush wants a feature back so he can do everything he wants to do on offense. That means a guy that motion out to the slot and also blow someone up on a blitz. Every team in the nation wants that, too.

Wide Receiver and TEs

There isn’t much to add here. Kam Jones was beastly. Some guys had drops and there were a couple bright spots. Wideout is so dependent on the line and quarterback that it is hard to rate them objectively. As much as I like Kam, I’d like to see the ball spread around more organically than via formations and swapping roles. That is more a philosophical question that I’ll get to later.

Also, David Morgan made some nice catches.


Offensive Line

Really, we should have started with these guys as the entire operation’s success is tied to them. As mentioned, this was gigantic question mark entering the year. Travis Bush (admittedly) played it close to the vest early in the year. Short passes and safe runs saved everyone. The big guys did good and might have prevented disaster on a number of occasions. The running game struggled as they all do when manned by young, smallish lines. A better line (as these guys improve and we bring in those JUCO guys) will “solve” a lot of offensive problems. We aren’t going to find a bunch of road-pavers at this level so we need to find diamonds in the the rough, to use another terrible cliche. We need diamonds and dudes with smarts and cleverness akin to the service academies and Hawaii that PreSnapRead mentions here:

One thing that’s important to consider: Hawaii has to play things differently. The Warriors can’t play things straight, in other words, but must approach football in a similar way to the three service academies, each of which runs an offense that works on technique and precision, not speed and athleticism.

We probably don’t need to quirk it up as much but “technique and precision” are the keys to winning with less.

That brings me to the Offensive Coordinator.

He can call a really good game. He found ways to work with his personnel and got the football to Kam in a myriad of ways when it became clear that he was and is our biggest home run threat. He has gotten raves from opposing coaches and looks to go on to bigger and better things eventually.

The only thing that I wonder about is the complexity of the offense. With so many young players and especially on the offensive line, it seems odd to throw so many formations and sets at a team. It is making his quarterback look bad. It may not be totally deserved, but he has to know that no one cares.

Philosophically, I lean more toward the Air Raid stuff for a number of reasons, but also because it makes experts out of players in the tiny amount of teaching time available at this level. It also is very good at spreading the ball around. Each guy learns his position and only his position. Air Raid guys like Dana Holgorsen say “the ball finds the playmakers.” You don’t need to move them around.

Again, that is a philosophical quibble I have. Bush has brought some excitement and for whatever this program means for this town, it still is ultimately entertainment.

I can’t wait for the spring game.

Offensive Post-Season analysis

Our man Dan McCarney is doing a post-season series with the UTSA coaches, getting a little bit of insight into how the coaches felt each unit performed, while also giving his own thoughts. I felt like this was a good opportunity for me to type out my two cents. It's nice to have quotes from coaches to peer into as well. Before we hop in, I need you all to click on this link to read Dan's entire post. It's several thousand words on UTSA football that's NOT about recruiting. And it'll make you a smarter fan. Hallelujah.

Quarterback

DM:

Consistency was the biggest shortcoming, not just from game to game but throw to throw. But considering he was starting for the first time, with a supporting cast that had even less experience, Soza’s rookie year has to be considered a success.

Couldn't agree more. Statistically, Soza was pretty great this year. A 124 QB rating is upstanding  for a first-year starter in Division 1 football in my book. Compare that to Louisiana Tech's freshman starter Nick Isham at 112.8 and no-experience sophomore starter Clayton Moore at Akron with a 96.3 rating (ouch!). Eric also made his presence felt with his feet, scampering for three touchdowns and rushed for 409 yards before sacks are applied. Soza struggled with the easy stuff: wide-open screen passes, swing routes, holding on to the ball. Soza excelled at the hard stuff: managing a team primarily made of freshmen, navigating a vast and deep playbook, identifying defenses, and avoiding pocket pressure. Give me that in a rookie year and I'll have a damn good quarterback after a few years of coaching. Bush went on record as penciling in Soza as the 2012 starter, a move that I'm in favor of. Conque will be redshirted, and neither Simmons nor Polite have shown enough to be able to put up a serious contest to a position that Soza handled quite well in the inaugural campaign.

Running Back

DM:

Perhaps the biggest disappointment on the entire team, let alone the offense, was the inability to establish a clear-cut starter here. Granted, dominant tailbacks are hard to find, and it wasn’t easy to operate behind a set of young and undersized blockers that rarely controlled the line of scrimmage.

The running back position was indeed a huge disappointment, and just goes to show that Rivals and Scout ratings do not mean a damn thing once a recruit steps onto the college gridiron. When he wasn't stricken to the sideline due to suspensions, assumed featureback Chris Johnson failed to get anything going in the backfield. In fact, Johnson didn't reach the endzone until his last game of the season against Georgia State. While the talent is still there, Chris struggled to adopt to the college game. Hopefully in 2012 we'll see a return to his hard-hitting, nose-down style. A beefed-up offensive line will go a long ways to help.

Likewise, heralded recruit Tevin Williams was nearly a no-show this season despite a solid showing against Southern Utah (49 yards, 1 TD). Tevin's last touch of the year was a two yard loss against Sam Houston. I hope I'm wrong, but I think #6 has a ways to go before he's reclaiming his Euless Trinity glory. 2011 should have been a redshirt year for Williams.

On to the more positive notes; Evans Okotcha was a godsend for UTSA in Year One. Okotcha laid some brutal blocks on defenders, broke a million tackles, and was generally the only sure thing in Soza's backfield. David Glasco fell off a bit towards the latter half of the season, but five touchdowns for a freshman is nothing to scoff at. One thing I'm looking forward to seeing next year is how Bush continues to use Brandon Armstrong. Armstrong did some big things this year when he got his paws on the ball and tore up a slow Minot defense for a 100+ yard game. I'm a fan of undersized running backs (did you know LaMichael James is just 5'8? A friend of a friend met him at a party and said he was the smallest dude in the room) and the way they can slip through the trees for big gains. While many will push for a recruiting effort to shore up the running back position, I'm confident that there is an internal solution waiting to happen. Remember that these kids are just that-- 18 and 19 year olds. An extra year of development could lead to a big break out from this talent pool.

Wide Receiver

DM:

Tabbed as the deepest and best all-around position for the Roadrunners, the group largely followed through on that promise. A run of injuries made almost no dent as Freeman and especially Jones established themselves as perhaps the two most consistent playmakers.
Beyond that duo, Harrison was a versatile threat, and Bush regrets not creating more opportunities for Monroe. He said he was also pleased with Holmes and Wanamaker, whose seasons were marred by injuries. The Roadrunners hope redshirts Sean Hesler and Kenny Bias, both of whom have speed to burn, can make an immediate impact.

I agree to a certain extent. Sure the receivers corps was deep and talented, but there was also areas to draw concern. Drops were a constant moderate hindrance to the offense (how much of that befalls Soza remains to be seen) and the 'Runners failed to develop a legitimate deep threat. Again, Soza may share some blame in that. The receivers unit boasted my personal offensive MVP, Kam Jones. With 881 all-purpose yards, Jones contributed at least 88 yards of production to each game. Kam was used in a variety of roles, from deep routes to slip screens and wildcat quarterback duties. Just pure explosiveness and speed. Kam had only three touchdowns, but was tackled within the three yard line several times. He also had a touchdown called back due to a penalty in the McNeese game. I suspect Jones will be every bit as large of a factor against WAC defenses. Kenny Harrison and Brandon Freeman were huge surprises to me this year with Harrison bring sheer speed to the offense via wide receiver options and kick returns. Freeman turned out to have some of the best hands on the team and was a season-long favorite target for Soza. Redshirted receivers Sean Hesler and Kenny Bias are both sleepers that could play a role next year, as Bush points out in Dan's article. My question is how is Bush going to distribute the ball to this many playmakers?

Tight End

DM:

With three players, only one on scholarship, there isn’t much room for analysis here. The two main figures are Moeller and Morgan. Combined, they’d be a hell of a player. But as it stands today, Moeller is more of a blocker/dirty worker, while the sure-handed Morgan is a good receiver who is still learning how to mix things up in the trenches.

As Dan said, there's not much to discuss here. Morgan gave a nice boost to the offense with his ability to get up and grab the high ball. If he manages to put on about 40 pounds by the time he graduates I can see the kid having a shot at playing on Sundays. There were a lot of complaints about Bush not getting the ball to Morgan enough, but I didn't see a problem. UTSA doesn't run the type of offense where you hit your tight end with ten touches a game.

Offensive Line

TB:

I was pleased with all of them, knowing obviously we aren’t the strongest or the biggest right now. For who we were up against, and what we asked them to do, they exceeded my expectations. There were times we got outweighed, there were times we got outquicked (SP), but they fought their tails off on every play.

I for one was extremely impressed with the offensive line collective. To field an offensive line with five freshmen is a monumental task and the outside observer would have no idea that this was the case. While UTSA never blew their opponents off the line of scrimmage for four yards and a cloud of dust, Soza was generally free from defensive linemens' grasps, running backs weren't being hammered in the backfield, and (to my eye) there were very few blown assignments. In this case, simply being average is something to take great pride in. Major credit goes to offensive line coach Jim Marshall. With the infusion of some true FBS size and the full-time addition of Patrick Hoog and Chance Vernon, the offensive line may very well be a strong point of the offense next season in the WAC, a conference that features some undersized linemen here and there.

Kicker

DM:

Ianno wasn’t perfect. (See: South Alabama.) But for the most part he was a revelation, a walk-on who ably filled a position that has caused an incalculable amount of heartache to any number of teams over the years. (See: Boise State.)
In addition to being relatively consistent on field goals, he also did a solid job on kickoffs, perhaps the least glamorous job in the game but one that has a critical, if subtle, impact.

When you go back and compare today's UTSA team with the one that lost to McMurry, Sean Ianno is the principal improvement. With a young team that can afford no margin of error to win ball games, it is crucial that the special teams play be excellent. After Ianno was granted sole possession of the kicking game, opponents started to become pinned within their own twenty and the Roadrunners were able to drill some fairly lengthy kicks. I am extremely comfortable with Ianno moving forward and hope he is rewarded for his effort with a scholarship.

Whew. Thanks for sticking with me. Be back soon with defense.

How Sweet It Is - Bacone College Recap

Eric Soza shows love after the win. Pic via mysa.com

Sandwiched between two road games against nationally-ranked FCS opponents, 2011's Homecoming game was an opportunity for UTSA to bolster their confidence before making the three hour trek to Huntsville next week to face a very salty opponent. A 54-7 romp of NAIA opponent Bacone College (hopefully) provided a renewed sense of confidence and swagger for a team that had been severely lacking in composure in several facets of the game the past two weeks. 

Defensive pass coverage and special teams play were improved ten-fold; a monumental step up from weeks Two and Three, even if this showing came against lesser talent. Today's win proved the answer for a crucial question in UTSA's first year of football: This team full of inexperienced freshmen showed that they can in fact correct deficiencies in their game, perhaps a response to strong coaching. Bacone only picked up one yard from UTSA’s three punts, and 101 yards on eight (!) kick offs for an average of 12.6 yards per kickoff return. UTSA also blocked a punt near the Warriors’ end zone and recovered a muffed punt to set up the Roadrunners’ first of many touchdowns of the day. Sean Ianno did a magnificent job, going 4 for 4 on field goals (21, 25, 42, 45 yards) and averaging 67.1 yards on kickoffs, resulting in three touchbacks and horrible field position for the Warriors for the duration of the game.

UTSA’s defense terrorized Bacone for four quarters, forcing the Warrriors to punt ten times, netting Bacone a mere 260 yards of offensive production. Coach Neathery’s staff was only one play away from pitching a shutout, as a brain-fart in coverage allowed the Warriors to get on the board with a wide-open 71 yard touchdown pass. If you were to negate that play, Bacone would have only amassed 118 yards through the air in their spread offense, a telling statistic for the UTSA D. Most importantly, Bacone converted only three of their 15 third down attempts. As I’m sure all of our astute readers are well aware, the Roadrunners have had a very tough time containing opposing offenses on third down this season with McMurry and Southern Utah both racking up third and fourth down conversions with ease.

We’re starting to see a sense of stability in the secondary with the addition of Erik Brown at cornerback. Starling and Brown give the defense two guys that they can trust to make plays on the corners. Starling had yet another great performance with four tackles and two pass break ups. Darrien was crashing in on receivers hard, jarring the ball out of the opponents’ hands with strong licks. Starling did make one big mental mistake when he released off of his coverage in an attempt to come down with an interception that he narrowly missed. His coverage assignment ended up catching the ball instead and picked up a first down. That’s a play I’m willing to let fly since it’s an easy six points if Starling can snag the ball. While we’re on the subject of the secondary, Nic Johnston had a monster game with **deep breath** two tackles, one forced fumble, two fumble recoveries, lock-down pass coverage, and an interception that he returned 12 yards up the field. Triston Wade also had somewhat of a breakout game on the heels of his ejection from the Southern Utah game. Wade provided strong coverage and brought down an interception for 29 yards. Triston racked up six tackles (four solo), forced a fumble, had a tackle for a loss of one yard, and broke up a pass. That’s called putting in the WORK right there. Another freshman safety, this time Joseph Lizcano, also threw in a strong contribution by blocking a punt and pulling down a 23 yard sack.

Looking at 54 points on the scoreboard, one would assume that the Roadrunner offense was firing on all cylinders. In reality that was not necessarily the case. While Bush’s offense didn’t have a huge problem moving the ball, there was plenty to be discouraged by. In general, Soza looked frazzled and off-kilter, throwing balls into the turf, rushing throws, hitting receivers on the wrong shoulder, and focusing too much on a sole receiver. Soza was not able to establish his running game, losing a total of 17 yards while gaining 12. I feel like Soza gets in certain zones when he’s playing, either “pick up first downs with my feet if nothing’s open”, “try to create a big play however it comes”, or “work methodically up the field by using check downs and short route audibles”. Once Soza gets into one of these zones he tends to stick to those guns, often to fault. Obviously Soza is going to be at his best when he learns to incorporate all three of his different styles into his repertoire.

Today’s offensive player of the game is without a doubt “Evil Evans” Okotcha. Okotcha needed only eight carries to move the ball 106 yards, willing his way through defenders while toting the rock. The sturdy Roadrunner halfback finished with one touchdown and became UTSA’s first running back to ever surpass 100 rushing yards in a single game.

The receiving corps was very inconsistent in this game. There was many a drop, including three in a row as the Roadrunners were marching towards a touchdown right before half time. Kenny Harrison continued to show his speed and agility, while Brandon Freeman reeled in any pass sent his way. Bush played around with the Wild Runner formation yet again, this time using Kam Jones as the lone upback with a motioned jet sweep.

For the most part, Soza enjoyed great protection in the pocket. While Bacone recorded four sacks, I still felt like the offensive line did a great job. At least two of the sacks came when Soza panicked upon finding none of his receivers open, then attempted to scramble forward only to be met by Warrior defensive linemen. Can’t blame Soza for not trusting in his pocket security given previous performances from the big boys up front. This offensive line is growing steadily. Let’s see how they do against more D1 competition in the next couple of weeks.

All in all, a good win for the Runners. It’s great to get a truly dominative victory under your belt, demoralizing your opponent in the process. The crowd was terrific, coming in at 2,000 higher than the McMurry game. I personally can’t wait to play some D1 talent in the Alamodome.

Oddities: Southern Utah smashed UNLV tonight. Told you guys they were good. UTSA gave Southern Utah a much better game than what they saw out of Mountain West member UNLV.

Southern Alabama lost to Kent State and Georgia State got demolished by Case Keenum and the Houston Cougars. This week’s opponent, Sam Houston State, upset FBS opponent New Mexico in overtime during their homecoming. SHSU's stud sophomore running back Tim Flanders had five touchdowns. After the game New Mexico's program pretty much fell to dust. Much more coming on Sammy State later in the week. Be sure to check out our podcast on Tuesday/Wednesday for good times.

Southern Utah Game Recap

Evans Okotcha runs behind a block in the first quarter- Ashwer Swan/University Journal

A mini third quarter comeback wasn't enough to thwart Brad Sorensen and the Southern Utah Thunderbirds. While the Roadrunners fell on the losing side of a 22-45 affair, the young UTSA team showed admirable resilience and flashes of brilliance against one of the best FCS teams in the nation. Similar to last week's loss to McMurry, this game exposed more areas of needed improvement for UTSA, while simultaneously allowing certain players to establish themselves as players to be called upon during crunch time. The first drive of the game had "upset" written all over it as Eric Soza led the Runners to a near-flawless opening, endcapped by a 10 yard touchdown pass to David Morgan. UTSA's first drive consisted of 12 productive plays and ate up 6:17 on the clock. Evans Okotcha made big contributions early with a completion for seven, followed by carries for nine and five yards. I'm quickly becoming a big fan of Okotcha, he puts his head down when necessary and runs hard, while also showing good speed on the end and terrific blocking skills.

Following UTSA's impressive start, Southern Utah wasted no time establishing their superior size and aggression as running back Deckar Alexander took it 50 yards up the field on the Thunderbirds' first play from scrimmage. Southern Utah's offensive line opened up a gaping hole for Alexander to rush through, showing the dominance they would maintain through four quarters. Whether it be manhandling the pass rush to give Sorensen all the time he could ever dream of, or pounding Marlon Smith into the ground every other play, the Thunderbirds' line showed little struggle outside of some linebacker blitzes and a couple of great rushes from Jason Neill. I will be very surprised if UTSA faces an offensive line as big and physical as this at any point throughout the remainder of the season, maybe even next year in the WAC.

SUU would rattle off consecutive scores on the strength of Sorensen's arm and nice rushes from Alexander and Minefee to bring it to 38-7 before UTSA would score again on an eight yard rush from David Glasco on an option. As Southern Utah continued to rack up points, UTSA's weakness on special teams was exposed yet again. Brady Measom totaled 102 yards on punt returns, ensuring strong field positions on almost every Southern Utah possession. Thankfully Josh Ward's punts were improved from last week and his wind up was a bit shorter. Unfortunately the coverage on punts were this week's glaring weakness. Poor tackles and bad spacing made it easy for Measom as he sliced his way up the field on four returns. Sean Ianno seems to have usurped Ward's kick off duties from him, sending his first kickoff of the game into orbit with a kick that escaped the back of SUU's end zone through the air.

One could easily fixate on the negatives of this game-- poor zone coverage in the secondary, dumb penalties (again), lack of a pass rush on Sorensen, some bad decisions from Soza... but I took away a good chunk of positives from this performance. It's approaching midnight and I'm getting a bit lazy, so let's step away from paragraph format and break it down:

UTSA Offensive Line- Some break downs, but a net win for the OL tonight. Zero sacks and two QB hurries for Southern Utah, although I'm pretty sure Soza was forced to scramble more often than that. SUU has a quick defensive line so I was quite impressed to see the OL biding some time for Soza and relatively shutting Tyler Osborne down (2 tackles, 1 QBH). Better blocking tonight than against McMurry. The OL opened up some holes for Tevin Williams to produce his most successful game of his collegiate career thus far.

UTSA Defensive Line- Faced a tough task in lining up against SUU's offensive line and didn't look ready for the challenge. Sorensen had time to bake a cake in the pocket on most downs, and that's taking the high elevation into account (har har). After a career game against McMurry, Marlon Smith reminded us that's he's only 225 pounds in this outing. Over 80 pounds outpaced, Smith saw many a pancake block and spent a multitude of plays running in place while being stood up by beefy Thunderbird linemen. Smith still has some work to do on his technique. A more athletic three point stance will allow him to fire off the ball and utilize his speed and athleticism to get into the backfield before an offensive tackle can lay a hand on him. Easily fixable and I'd be willing to bet Roark has already made a note of it. True freshman Jason Neill stood his ground well today, collapsing Sorensen's passing pocket on a few plays and pulling down a tackle for loss that he wasn't credited with. Richard Burge had a few nice plays at the beginning of the second half, breaking off his block for a TFL then knocking down a pass on consecutive plays.

Eric Soza- Very inconsistent play tonight from the offensive head honcho. Soza came out of the gate flawless, completing all five of his pass attempts in UTSA's first possession. Eric made good decisions with his feet by picking up yards on zone reads and keepers. When #8 becomes a dual threat the Roadrunners offense is tough to stop. Unfortunately Soza was not able to maintain his early success as pressure mounted. Finishing with 14 completions on 28 attempts, Soza totaled 141 yards through the air which looks elementary across from Sorensen’s 20-28, 287 yd., 3 TD line on the stat sheet. Exercising some brutally ill-advised judgment, Eric forced way too many throws to places where they simply were not going to be caught. Most egregious of all came on UTSA’s first offensive play of the second half. After meeting pressure in the pocket, Soza rolled to his left sideline, staring down Brandon Freeman all the way through. Naturally, SUU’s Dion Turner noticed and hopped in front of the pass to return it for a Southern Utah touchdown. Freeman was never open in the first place, and staring him down only makes matters worse. A wasted down on a thrown-away pass is much more manageable than handing over an easy touchdown. Tough game, but don’t forget that this is only Soza’s third collegiate football game.

Kam Jones- Dude, Kam Jones is really good. He did a little bit of everything tonight including catching four passes for 43 yards and reeling in 18 yards on the ground via a reverse on his way towards leading the team in all-purpose yards with 124. Kam deserves extra praise for fighting through some bumps and bruises, especially after enduring a brutal hit early in the game that sidelined him for a while. Lest we forget, Jones had a touchdown-saving tackle on a kickoff as well. I wouldn’t mind seeing Coker bench Kam next week against a weaker opponent to ensure he bounces back from the beating he took tonight.

Kenny Harrison- Blazing fast. Ran a beautiful slant route for a first down. Flew with the ball on a kickoff return after both Jones and Armstrong went down with injuries. I’m starting to see why the coaching staff is so high on Harrison and I’m looking forward to seeing him develop as a receiver.

David Morgan- Another great game from the talented, young tight end, amassing 35 yards on just three completions. Hauled in the first touchdown of the game on a very nice catch. David may have the best hands on the team at 6’5, 225. An offseason regiment with a Division I strength and conditioning coach is going to make Morgan a scary option for Eric Soza moving forward. He’s pretty skinny for his frame, yet he still trucked through three Thunderbirds on a five and out route tonight.

Steven Kurfehs- Just how good is Steven Kurfehs? 13 tackles, including 8 solo in tonight’s contest. Kurfehs flashed his athleticism throughout the game, chasing down speedy Thunderbirds with ease and crashing through the line for a loss of five in the second quarter. The anchor of UTSA’s defense is already up to 29 tackles on the year.

Brandon Reeves- Big bounce back from a lackluster performance last week. Reeves enjoyed the Roadrunners’ lone sack in the game while also pulling down seven tackles, five of which were brought down for a gain of four yards or less. You’ve got to admire Reeves passion on the field, you can tell he’s one of those guys that just absolutely loves playing the game of football.

Nic Johnston- We might be entering the zone where it’s safe to say that Nic Johnston is the best player on this football team. Nic had seven tackles tonight, was credited with a force fumble, and delivered two CRUSHING blows to SUU receivers. Nic is great in coverage and does a phenomenal job of getting his hand in between the receiver and the pass. Teams are going to start game planning around Johnston. If I’m a receiver I don’t want my route to run anywhere near this dude.

Play calling- Although it might have been a bit unnecessary, we got a peek into a few wrinkles in Coach Bush’s offense. A lot of motion going on all over the field, some times going into and out of double tight sets. This interests me in particular because it completely changes the mindset of the defense, even if all you did was tell what would have been your slot receiver to go down into a three-point stance. Best play of the game? Soza motioned a back out to a slot receiver position, then handed a reverse to Kam Jones for a big pick up. Set up by the previously described play, Bush later ran a fake reverse to Jones, only to have him continue running out for a pass that Soza completed, nearly leading to a Roadrunners touchdown. The more ways we can get Kam into open space, the better.

Six Fumbles- WHAT….. This is the only answer to these woes.

Triston Wade’s ejection- This is a weird play and it’s always tough to see a player ejected, but Wade could have cause serious brain injury to Measom. Granted, Wade was .1 second away from having made a perfect play on the punt, he still put Measom’s life in danger which is absolutely unacceptable. I hope Measom made it out alright without any type of damage and he learned his lesson about calling for a fair catch. That rule is there to protect you, Brady. Use it, it could have saved your ass tonight

The “Wild Runner” formation- So I guess we could not be lame and just call it the Wildcat, but Bush finally paraded out his wildcat formation. I failed to take notes of who all was involved, but it looked like Jones and Johnson were the two upbacks. UTSA was fairly efficient out of this set. Don’t forget that Jones (and Josiah Monroe) was an all-state quarterback in high school… just sayin’.

I’m fading fast so I’ll wrap this up and hit the hay. Bottom line: A team full of freshmen made their first road trip EVER to a mountain town to play one of the best FCS teams in the nation and played pretty well for about 35~40% of the game. I felt that UTSA had the edge in pure talent, but of course that doesn't win football games. This team needs to continue getting reps and coaching to be at the level of play that they are capable of. Let’s hope that develops sooner rather than later. After watching this game I'm convinced that UTSA can hang with the rest of the FCS teams on its schedule. Winning those games is a different story. That takes game planning, execution, preparation, and *gasp* maturity.

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