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

Episode 24: Sombrero

This is the Wed night edition of the show -- Jared is throwing a margarita party on our usual Thurs for his birthday so he booted us! -- We talk spring practice, injuries, complicated offenses and defenses and more --- podcast@cokerchronicles.com

Danny Mac article we were referencing: LINK

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

Enjoy!

Wayback Machine: 1971 Article on Football

H/T to @mac78251 who linked to this on his page.

/via @UTSAYesterday

The following is the article transcribed for readability.

By Karl O ‘Quinn

No football for UTSA in its early years, perhaps not in this decade.

The timetable is not his, but the rest of the forecast is from Dr. Arleigh Templeton, and he should know.

Templeton is president of the embryonic University of Texas at San Antonio, which is slated at the present time for a 1973 opening.

The new school will strive for major status as quickly as possible in basketball, track, tennis and golf, Templeton added, but football is just too expensive.

“We don’t want to play junior college football our first few years,” he said. “We don’t want to do anything half-way. When we do begin playing football we will be playing the best competition available. We’ll do it the way the University of Houston did it -- schedule teams such as Alabama and Mississippi as soon and as often as we can until we have a major schedule.”

Buy UTSA will no have a stadium, and there’s the rub.

“You can’t spend state funds on a stadium,” Templeton pointed out.

This means UTSA will either have to use Alamo Stadium, along with the eight high schools of the San Antonio Independent School District and Trinity, or wait for the city or county to build a suitable plant.

It is the latter alternative that inspires the theory UTSA will not hit the gridiron in the 1970’s.

“Football must be self-supporting.” Templeton said, “and football programs at schools such as the University of Texas at Austin are expensive.”

His quoted figure was off the record but it is common knowledge the cost of the programs at Texas, Ohio State and other major schools run into the millions of dollars --per school.

Other sports are a different matter, however. They are less expensive, require fewer playing facilities will be avail- athletes and coaches, and able to the school (sic)

A gymnasium, baseball diamonds, tennis courts and quarter-mile tracks were prominent in the artists’ drawing of the proposed university complex. The golf team could play on the city’s existing courses, as other teams do.

Templeton said he was still undecided about baseball, however, because of scheduling difficulties. “We played the Southwest Conference schools while I was at Sam Houston State,” he said, “until we started beating them. Then they dropped us from their schedules.”

Templeton is obviously very interested in athletics, which should please local sports fans hungry for better things in college athletics. He was an all-around athlete at New Waverly High School and played three sports at Sam Houston State. He later became president of his alma mater and encouraged the growth of athletics at Sam Houston.

“I’ve been involved with athletics all my life,” he said. “I’ve never been a loser. We had good teams at Sam Houston and we’ll have good teams at UTSA.”

But not in football, for a few years at least.

I chuckled when I read the familiar refrains about facilities and cash. Times have changed but circumstances haven't -- at least not much. This article highlights the incredible importance the Alamodome has in the city. It saved the Spurs and perhaps birthed the UTSA football team.

It certainly is helping the program get looks in conference realignment talks, as well.

Also, I'm glad it isn't 1971 anymore.

Go Runners!

Live CC Podcast Episode 23: Roster Turnover

Jared's back and we talk about the Spring Game, spring practice, Chris Johnson leaving and other roster changes, and of course, Conference Realignment -- podcast@cokerchronicles.com

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

Enjoy!

Episode 22: Spring Game is Near

Check Sticher:

Check iTunes

RSS feed

Episode 15: Live Podcast

We'll be here. Live on Thursday, Jan 26th. Watch us record the CC/EC podcast and interact with us live.

Weirdos.

The audio portion of the podcast can be found here:

or here.

Rambling Reflection: Minot State

I didn’t go to the game. I did go to four of the six home games so I feel like I did my part to contribute to the NCAA attendance record for a first year program.

I is a fun little trivia tidbit that slightly disarms the unknowledgeable. It probably will impress a recruit or two. Wow, they think, must be legit.. *

*While out in Austin, my friend was absolutely shocked (shocked!) that SA had 1.2 million people. She thought it was a tiny town or something.

The problem next (aside from raising funds for facilities) is maintaining the momentum from November 20, 2011 to early September 2012.

We’ll do our part out of loyalty and fandom and the school’s athletic administration will continue to tout the benefits of becoming a fan and supporter.

So far it has been nothing but success. Thirty-five thousand plus every couple of weeks to see the Runners play a schedule full of Never-Heard-Ofs. The immediate goal of fielding a Division 1-A (FBS) team has been achieved. Fielding a successful team is a separate, more difficult undertaking.

You, the fan and/or student need to be in it for the long haul.

Minot state was as good as a bowl game. They laid down like a good has-been boxer for a former champion. They were the journeyman fighter for an aging Rocky in a montage.

Next year will bring tougher opponents and 2013, an even tougher batch. I believe in increasing the challenges. You don’t repeat level one in Tetris. We probably will get our asses handed to us more often and by bigger margins than at Southern Utah and UC-Davis.

It is all part of the experience. These kinds of games are fun and maybe a little useful. Stretching your legs against inferior opponents has to be good for confidence and helps protect your younger players from mentally checking out. This is supposed to be a little fun after all.

I’ll be back with more later.

*So crazy to see that north of the capitol building there is tailgating awesomeness and south of it, on Congress there is hipster awesomeness. Austin is such a cool city.

Jared is writing something, too. Right now I’m watching Liverpool v Chelsea and recovering from the Austin trip.* Also, don't forget to check out El Convo for our ramblings on the basketball team. They are really good and there will be lots of winning going on. If you need something to scratch your basketball itch you should definitely come out to the games and hang with us, yo. Also, don't forget to check out El Convo for our ramblings on the basketball team. They are really good and there will be lots of winning going on. If you need something to scratch your basketball itch you should definitely come out to the games and hang with us, yo.

Losing in Lake Charles: UTSA 21-McNeese St 24

The last time UTSA lost 24-21 it was to a team they should have probably beaten handily. That was September 10th. Nearly two months to the day that they dropped a decision to McMurray. This was another underachievement to another McTeam.

There is a tendency to dismiss this game like some of the others. I have been guilty of it at times. People say the losses don’t matter as much because they are not really playing for anything. It is true that they don’t matter but they shouldn’t be played as such.

That is the Big Challenge. We’ve mentioned it in this space before and probably will continue to do so. I cannot say for certain that guys on the team are checking out or not playing as hard or are pulling up with the finish line in sight. I do know that without senior leadership nor guys who have had to endure a full college season it seems likely that there would be fatigue in both the mental and physical varieties.

College football is a man’s game. It is mean and tough and usually takes three years to get built up to have success. Sure there are the guys that hop in and kick ass as 17 or 18-year olds. There are many more that need time in the weight rooms.

Maybe that accounts for the way Eric Soza seemingly has regressed. Maybe that accounts for all the arm tackles that allowed McNeese to rip through them for 190+ yards in the first half. * Maybe that accounts for all the fumbles, too.

*To be fair, Neal Neathery did some strategizing that stopped the bleeding and returned the Hardhat to the defense.

It is fantasy-shattering for some. No doubt it has and will affect attendance at the last home game. It already messed with the last one. None of that matters though. The “fans” have the luxury of being fickle and can wait until the team is good, playing for “something” or against a big name team.

The fact is that none of it matters. Sure there was a chance to capitalize on the initial excitement and fervor. Going a possible 4-6 with mostly freshman is impressive. The losses were freshman type losses. Turnovers, experience mistakes, being overwhelmed physically, and getting injured. Oh and losing to teams that they should beat.

There is a lot to look forward to. Not just next year but this week. I am excited to see Kam Jones do his thing like he has been doing live and not on a crappy internet feed. The dude has been killing it and Travis Bush has been getting it into his hands and putting him in space to do damage. Jailbreak screens, crossing routes, pitches.

How about Steven Kurfehs and Nic Johnson? Larry Coker thinks the former can play NFL ball and Nic Johnson is always making plays, yo. Also it is live college football for like fifteen bucks.

I know most of you who read this blog and post on rowdyville and rowdytalk are not hopping off the bandwagon but I needed to say it anyway.

Oh yeah and dammit I want some fireworks during the intros.

Go Runners.

Lake Chuckin' --UTSA v McNeese St.

Something Like A Preview of McNeese and More

There are lots of things to talk about. We have not touched on nary a one.

For this I apologize.

Anyhoo. We have a game this week. Apparently no one cares. Well, not as many people care as did in September. Fear not, loyal attendance watcher. This is November. There are a lot of other things occupying the San Antonian’s mind. All those students are taking a sobering look at theirs grades and gearing up for a hard run at the highest letter they can muster after giving less than full concentration in the first half. That means no skipping class, and being prudent with their time. Instead of reading college football blogs and perusing their favorite message boards, they are instead figuring what extra credit paper they can write to squeeze out an A, B or C respectively.

For those that have no chance, this is where they get angry at their professors and complain loudly that this “sucks man. They should work with [me] on this.” Some will decide that college “blows” and they instead will just get a job leaning heavily on the reasoning that “my [cousin, friend, uncle, etc.] makes $XXX,XXX a year and they didn’t even go to college.” That or “college isn’t for everyone.”

For the non-student, there is Thanksgiving to think about. Where are we having it? What are we eating (besides the staples)? How in the hell will I deal with (insert troublesome family member here)? Trips take some time to plan and can be fairly pricey. Time spent on priceline.com is time not spent on cokerchronicles.com and rowdyville.net.

What is your excuse?

Regardless, we have McNeese St this week. They are a solid team with some guys that can play. Darius Carey is a North Texas transfer and was expected to be the top guy in Denton until being unceremoniously let go because of a riff with the new staff. He transferred to McNeese and is now the leading pass catcher with 38 catches for 451 and 2 scores.

Fortunately they have been having trouble keeping Cody Stroud upright and the offense has been lackluster because of the offensive line. Sam Houston kicked their asses and had six sacks. The next week Stephen F. Austin rocked them for eight sacks off a simple four man rush.

Not only is their line terrible but injuries are killing them. Their starting linebackers were out and DE Desmund Lighten was hurt for the majority of the game. The replacement for the two injured starting corners was also taken out midway through the win over Nicholls State that stopped a four game skid.

So in a game that was billed by this site as a tough one looks like it could be a cakewalk. Yeah I said it. They are hurt, mentally beaten and barely scratched out a win over Nicholls State -- another hapless squad.

Their line is a sieve and their defense is injured. I’m predicting our first road win, guys.


PREDICTION: 34-10 on Senor Night in Lake Charles, LA. Home to 70,000 people.

Bye Week Randomness

I don't know about you. I'm exhausted. This last week has been another one of those stupid ones that go by quickly while seemingly taking twice as long at the same time. This is normal when you start a new job.

My sleep cycle hasn't adjusted to waking up an hour earlier so by the time I get home I feel like napping for nine hours. Yep, I am officially an adult now. I come home look for a beer and fall asleep on the sofa watching sports.

Well, at least for this week.

Seems everyone needed a little recovery. For the RoadRunners, it was a week to reflect on the three game losing streak (2-5 overall) and plan for the last three games. This thing doesn't really need much tweaking, just more honing. I still maintain that a young squad can't be held to the same standards of a 100 year-old program. In addition to the normal expectations and worries of an upstart are the hopes and dreams of an entire city.

San Antonio is an odd bird, man. There is an inferiority complex combined with an sense of entitlement that creates an odd situation for UTSA. They are expected to dominate like the Longhorns but with 15% of the support. I'm fine with it, however. I've said in this space before that the accelerated timeline and alternative forms of entertainment as competition gives the program an edge. The credit goes to Lynn Hickey and Larry Coker for that. This thing is set up to compete on the next level. They are not a struggling setup that is in over it's head.

The Alamodome has given the team a net gain in recruiting. For all the good that a weight room does to woo a player, the gameday experience has and will always be the most influential. Fact is that when you dream about playing college football you dream about doing it in front of a big, loud crowd and not in a half-empty 4000-seater.

The ideal model has always been something akin to South Florida. They set the attendance record that we broke and routinely put 40K+ in Raymond James every home game. To be fair, they also made the AP top ten within ten years of having the first coaches meeting under a tree.

Everything so far says that something similar can be done. UTSA football doesn't need need to get that 40K, 25-30K would be just fine, thank you. They don't need a top ten ranking within ten years to be a success, a conference championship push would be satisfactory.

I say all this as we wind down this inaugural season and the realities of big time college football become clearer. There is much work to do but the program has people in place to do it and do it well. For that I am glad.

Morning Reading: South Alabama Gameday

Techa Tech people infiltrate the Aggie's midnight yell.



1. Red River Rivalry

Biggest game today is the Red River Rivalry. Brush up on it so you sound knowledgeable amongst your friends.

2. contribute@cokerchronicles.com

I'm sure some of you have wondered how you can get in on this whole writing thing without firing up a blogger account or shelling out some cash on the wordpress.com site. I have your answer: contribute something here. Email me and I'll give you the details, yo.

3.twiiter.com/elconvo

The revolution will be twittered. The site is not yet up but we have some good stuff in the queue for the start of basketball. For now, follow the twitter handle. Let me know if you would like to contribute to this site also. Email me and I'll give you the details.

4. Lekenwic Haynes Profile

He played special teams at Mississippi so everyone is thinking he will be able to do the same. Unfortunately, that is all. Mauricio Sanchez has the starting spot and tossed in twelve or so tackles last week. Even if the guy behind you look more like a player than you do, it is all about performance. Right now Lekenwic is still trying to catch up on something like seven weeks of football on the fly. Don't be surprised if doesn't crack the starting lineup until the last week of the season.


5. Depth Chartin'

Episode 8: Mid Season Review

In this week's episode, we review the Sam Houston trip Jared took, take stock of the team at mid-season, and preview U of South Alabama. We also experience technical difficulties that wipe out 25-30 minutes of quality, quality podcasting.


We recorded part two Wednesday night and it is now up.

Enjoy!



Part 1 Download


Part 2 Download

South Alabama Jaguars Preview

After falling just a few plays short of upsetting a strong Sam Houston State team (now ranked at #11), UTSA will host their first ever home game against a D1 opponent. Following a bye week last week, the South Alabama Jaguars will travel to San Antonio carrying a 2-2 record, with wins against West Alabama and Lamar and losses to FBS opponents North Carolina State and Kent State. While both teams sit in the dark of the proverbial FBS cellar (neither team have defeated an FBS opponent yet this year) USA should be heavily commended for playing both of these schools very tightly. South Alabama traded turnovers with NC St. until the end of the third quarter when the Wolfpack began to separate from the pack (ha-ha-ha). Kent State jumped out to a 33 point lead against the Jaguars whom would rally to bring the final score to 33-25 after a couple of squandered opportunities for South Alabama to send the game into overtime.

For those unfamiliar, South Alabama is a future FBS start up program. The team formed in 2009, but did not gain NCAA recognition as a varsity football program until 2010. This means that the team was able to play together for a year without losing a year of eligibility. USA will join the Sunbelt in a provisional role as a scheduling partner next year, then gain bowl eligibility in 2013. South Alabama has drawn a lot of attention since its inception by racking up a 17-0 record in the program’s first two years. While the bulk of these wins came against military academies and sub D1 programs, USA enjoyed notable wins against Southland Conference member Nicholls State, fellow D1 start-ups Lamar and Georgia State, and a thriller against UC Davis that was decided by a shanked field goal as the clock expired. The Jaguars were able to extend their winning streak in 2011 with home wins against West Alabama and Lamar before beginning their killer slate of two back to back FBS games.

Forewarning: USA is still undefeated against FCS opponents.

Brief aside: they totally jacked our “Still Undefeated” shirt.

As a rule of thumb, South Alabama is a team that plays with a lot of confidence and swagger. Whether this holds up during the program’s first ever losing streak remains to be seen. They hit hard, fight for every yard, and are well coached. Much akin to UTSA’s squad, the South Alabama roster is loaded with talent and flaws-- Guys that are great players but lacking in one facet, whether it is sheer speed, girth, height, or academics.

Starting in the trenches, the Jaguars' athleticsm among their big men impressed me. While their offensive line weighs in at a sub-280 lb. average, they compensate with footwork and assistance from their neighboring blockers. The Jaguars love to pull blockers on tosses and off tackle runs so Smith and Neill will need to be sure that they maintain their inner half on the line of scrimmage and clamp down on releasing blockers. USA’s offensive line does a great job of clearing out holes for their backs to jump through, providing ample space for their two feature backs to work their magic. If UTSA is able to seal up these patches up front as they did against Sam Houston State then South Alabama will be forced to drastically alter their run-first game plan. USA shifted into a five receiver set at times during their game against NC St., I would look for them to duplicate this on Saturday against UTSA's big and nasty defensive front four. Despite USA’s three senior starters on the offensive line(and three Texans), I feel confident that UTSA’s defensive line will be able to crash in and make some noise when South Alabama attempts to pass after watching North Carolina St. bull rush their way into USA’s QB C.J. Bennett’s face at will .

Cause for optimism: USA is averaging two sacks allowed per game, with 1.5 sacks per game of their own. UTSA is allowing 1.8 on average and getting to the quarterback 2.8 times per game.

On the defensive side of the line South Alabama features a lot of speed and shiftiness. The guy that caught my eye was Romelle Jones, a 6’2, 275 lb. sophomore nose tackle. Jones has great feet and does an absolutely terrific job of using his hands to generate separation from offensive lineman, thereby putting himself in good position to roam the back field. Romelle (3.5 TFL, 2 sacks) may be the best pure pass rusher UTSA has faced thus far into the season. He’s also a “leisure studies” major. Ahhh, the elusive major where porn counts as research! Flanking Jones in USA’s 3-4 base set are defensive ends Motavious Williams and Alex Page. Page and William are both undersized, coming in at 6’1, 235 lbs. and 6’2, 265 lbs., respectively. Andy Dalgleish and Randon Carnathan also see significant playing time on the line. While South Alabam’s line is small, they can cause some serious damage if you don’t latch on to them and keep your feet moving, as evidenced by their six sacks and 10 quarterback hurries on the season.

USA’s defense won’t just stay in a 3-4 look. In the couple of hours of film I watched on them, I noticed a traditional 4-3, a 4-2 nickel package, and a 4-1 dime set. Leading tackler is middle linebacker and Virginia Tech transfer Jake Johnson. Johnson is a high motor, lateral linebacker that manages to track down running backs twice as fast as himself. All roads lead through #42 if UTSA wants to get anything going on offense.
One flaw that stuck out to me while watching South Alabama’s game against North Carolina State was USA’s inability to cover the flats on wheel routes and screens; interestingly enough, this is an area that UTSA has struggled to exploit, as you probably realized after watching Tevin Williams drop two wide-open screen passes or CheRod Simpson forgetting to turn around and look for the ball after releasing for a pass against Sam Houston State.

Offensively, there’s no doubting that the Jaguars want to run the ball as much as possible, using a mixture of sweeps and tosses on the outside and a power game between the tackles. They’ll pull the ball back and throw up a play action pass from time to time, gaining an average of 189 yards through the air.

Caveat: starting quarterback C.J. Bennet (RS Freshman) has eight interceptions on the year in contrast to only three touchdowns.

 A bit of a far cry from what we’re watching Robert Griffin III do up at Baylor this year, to say the least. In fact, I can’t help but feel the quarterback position is an area of major concern for the Jaguars. Bennet goes on tears where he’ll fire off multiple pin-point passes, then systematically throw up a lame duck into coverage. If UTSA stuffs up the run and Bennet continues his two picks-per-game trend then the Roadrunners will be set up for a win.

Where South Alabama is going to rake their points in is on the back of tailback Kendall Houston. Houston is a stud back that tends to require a hard lick or multiple defenders to bring him down. While Houston is not crazy fast and isn’t going to generate his own touchdown runs, he does a fantastic job of following blocks after they have developed, displaying a sense of maturity much higher than what one would expect from a redshirt freshman. If you give Houston a decent gap at the line of scrimmage then you’re practically guaranteed a minimum of five yards.

Splitting carries with Kendall is Demetre Baker, another redshirt freshman that transferred from Georgia this spring. Baker is another great running back that is a bit more of a slasher than Houston. Baker has good closing speed and a long stride that makes him tough to arm tackle.

All in all, South Alabama is eerily similar to UTSA-- A scrappy, young team with plenty of room to grow into a good FBS team in a few years. Taking UTSA's struggling offense into account, this game is as close to a toss-up as could be in my book, but I’ll give the Roadrunners the edge thanks to home field advantage. Final score: 24-21 UTSA.

Oddities: Earon Holmes has been nominated UTSA's starting wide receiver after his return to the team from shoulder injury last week.

Game day: Sam Houston State

It is game day. Be sure to check out Rowdyville, Rowdy Talk, and Mysa’s game chat for updates. 

As of this posting, we are about 30 minutes away.

Gonna try this last minute chat thing. For those of you who don't want to mingle with n00bs and/or don't  want to wait for message board updates only. 

Episode 7: Bacone and BearKats

In this week's episode, we review the Bacone game and look ahead to the Huntsville trip.

Enjoy!



DOWNLOAD/SMARTPHONE FRIENDLY

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.

Discuss the game on Rowdyville


Game stat sheet

Southern Utah Scouting Report

Fresh off a last-minute heart break to McMurry University, the UTSA Roadrunners face a huge challenge in their first away game in school history. Not only is Southern Utah the first road trip UTSA must take, it also represents the Roadrunners' first game against Division I talent. Southern Utah is returning 16 starters, nine of which earned First Team All-GWC honors last year during the team's march to the Great West Conference championship. Southern Utah University (formerly known as Southern Utah State College, and College of Southern Utah before that) has an enrollment of around 7,000 undergraduates, and is located in picturesque Cedar City, Utah. While Southern Utah is currently a member of the Great West Conference (Cal Poly, UC Davis, South Dakota, North Dakota), they will begin play in the Big Sky Conference in 2012 (Eastern Washington, Northern Arizona, Sacramento St., Montana, Montana St., etc.). Southern Utah is also an affiliate of the WAC, as SUU competes in WAC gymnastics.

Southern Utah's football program is led by head coach Ed Lamb who is in his fourth year at SUU. While Southern Utah is Lamb's first head coaching gig, he's been around the game for a while, playing at BYU for four years before graduating and beginning his coaching career. Lamb coached BYU's linebackers in 2001 before moving on to Idaho where he would be defensive coordinator from 2002 to 2003, allowing opponents to score 31 points per game on average. SUU offensive coordinator Steve Clark has overseen three different SUU offenses, all of which have broken school records. Defensive coordinator Justin Ena floated around the NFL for a few years before joining the staff at Southern Utah. Interestingly enough, all three coaches either played or coached at Brigham Young at some point in their lives. With many mormon players on their team, you may as well deem Southern Utah BYU-lite, with players leaving the team for missionary trips and all. Yes, I'm dead serious about this. This SUU team is old. While their athletics site does not list ages or birth dates, judging by the three year missionary trips many of their players have gone on, some of SUU's seniors must be approximately 26-27 years old. Contrast with that with the 19 and 20 year olds on UTSA's squad for a charming sense of dismay. Southern Utah has 21 seniors on their roster, five of which boast three lettering seasons. The school also employs many interesting recruiting techniques. SUU's roster is comprised of student athletes from all over the nation, from Hawaii and American Samoa to Georgia. Southern Utah defensive lineman Kouri Jones will be seeing some familiar faces across the sideline-- Jones played at Converse Judson with Cory Williams and Erik Brown, who will make his debut as a Roadrunner this weekend.

Southern Utah QB Brad Sorensen

Offensively, Southern Utah is a freakishly well-balanced team, so much that the Thunderbirds ran 37 rushes and threw 38 pass attempts in their game against Sacramento State last week. SUU features a spread offense as their staple formation, favoring short routes to slot receivers and quick dumps/screens to running backs. They are very effective in doing so. SUU is currently ranked 12th in the FCS in total passing yards with a grand total of 305.5 yards per game (UTSA is at 246 ypg, for reference). The Thunderbirds run game is nothing to scoff at either. Bolstered by a gigantic offensive line with five returning starters, and I'm talking SEC size here, senior running back Deckar Alexander enjoys the privilege of large holes and monstrous blocking dummies. Indeed, Alexander rushed for 78 yards and two touchdowns last week, while also pulling in five catches. Alexander's performance was enough to earn him Great West Conference player of the week honors. There's little arguing who Southern Utah's best player is though. Junior quarterback and pre-season All American Brad Sorensen stands at 6'5, 225 with an equally big arm. Sorensen came into the season ranked as one of the top 10 quarterbacks in FCS football. I could ramble off a myriad of impressive statistics, but if you want to be impressed you can click here (Hint: Brad broke a lot of school records against Texas State).

Look for Southern Utah to come out in a 4-3 set on defense. Similar to their offense, SUU boasts a grizzly, season line on the defensive side of the ball. Senior defensive end Tyler Osborne (6'4, 225 lbs.) was a consensus first team all-conference player and was appointed as a preseason all American defensive end this year. Osborne plays with fury, racking up sacks and tackles for loss with ease. Need proof? Osborne totaled 5 tackles (3 for a loss), 1.5 sacks, two quarterback hurries, and recovered a fumble against Sacramento State last week. The rest of the defense is a bit of gray area for the Thunderbirds, with holes at linebacker, free safety, and cornerback coming into the 2011 season. Outside linebacker Blake Fenn looks to lead the Thunderbirds in tackles for the second consecutive year, boosted by eight solo tackles last week. One thing to watch in the game will be how SUU's 4-3 defense fairs against UTSA's spread and five receiver sets. I wouldn't mind seeing 10 quick dumps off to Armstrong in the slot.

While the challenge for UTSA this week may look daunting, there are some positives out there. First off, evidently this has been a great week of practice for the Roadrunners, with Coach Neathery going so far as to label the practice effort as "outstanding". SUU's coach has said that Bush's offense is one of the most creative play books he's come across. SUU only has two games to work off of, and you know Bush has a lot more up his sleeve. There's always the hope (and I'm going to optimistically buy into this notion) that UTSA's athletes will play up to the level of competition. If UTSA comes out with energy and executes their game plan with precision they will have a shot. SUU is well coached and very disciplined but seem to lack speed, something that this UTSA squad is basking in.

It looks like goutsa.com's Rowdy Zone will be broadcasting the game online. We'll be watching. Be sure to let us know if any of you guys have a great idea for a watching party, we'd love to catch the game with a fun crowd. Also be sure to check out our podcast for more analysis/predictions of the game on Saturday

Scouting information on Southern Utah
Southern Utah stats report
Discuss the game with UTSA fans

Episode 6: The First Loss

This week we talk about the loss to McMurray, preview the Southern Utah game with Hipster Football Jared and look at What It Means For The Program --even though I'm already tiring of the phrase.

An hour and a half of goodness:

Beat via @DJ_Sheednomics of UTSA with “Swaggy” by @BDSMonstaz



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