Roadrunners stay undefeated despite bleak second half

Kin Man Hui/SA Express News 

As the age old cliche goes, it was truly a tale of two halves in the Alamodome this afternoon. The Roadrunners flew out of the gate, jumping out to a 24-3 halftime lead over the Texas A&M Commerce Lions. From there, UTSA seemed to go blank, scoring just three points in the second half against a miserable Division II squad. Though the 30,000+ in the Runnerdome certainly would have like to see a bit more separation in the score, UTSA came out ahead 27-16.

The victory pushed the Roadrunners to the .500 mark, the program's best since the infamous loss to McMurry. Dating back to last season, UTSA is currently on a three-game winning streak and have rushed for over 170 yards in all three affairs. Rushing the ball has continued to be a huge point of contention for the Roadrunners as they took every opportunity they could to keep the ball on the ground. As Commerce coach Guy Morris put it, "I think they felt they could run the ball on will and they pretty much did it." While UTSA's recent emphasis on rushing the ball may not be as sexy as Soza hitting Brandon Freeman in stride, the rushing game has been extremely efficient. Each ball carrier averaged over 4.0 yards per carry, outside Aaron Grubb who had one carry-- a busted jet sweep. Another promising factoid: The Runners have yet to fumble the ball on a designed running play in 2012.

While UTSA did a fantastic job toting the pill, Commerce was miserable at it. UTSA's defensive line and linebackers held the Lions to 16 rushing yards and a cool average of .7 yards per carry. Wow. The front six also brought constant heat to the Commerce backfield, racking up nine tackles for losses, five sacks, and four quarterback hurries. Jaron Harris and Cody Rogers were particularly outstanding on the pass rush. This is the way bigger schools are supposed to knock smaller schools silly. Domination in the trenches.

Now to the miscellaneous thoughts department. Going bullet style cause I'm feeling lazy.

- UTSA experienced what was likely their worst kick returning performance in program history. Kenny Harrison and Kenny Bias both lined up as the return man throughout the game, averaging just 6.3 yards per return. I feel like coaches across the NCAA landscape are experimenting with their return game following the rule changes that we saw in the offseason. It didn't work at all, but Blake Terry and Lekenwic Haynes were lined up in front of the return man on kickoffs. Being two of the team's hardest hitters, I guess the coaching staff wanted them to land a big block or two and hopefully spring the Kennys for a big return. Things got pretty awkward when middle linebacker Blake Terry caught a directional kick though...

- Eric Soza's offense went 4-4 in the redzone this afternoon to come to 6-6 on the season. I think that's a huge testament to the improved and enlarged offensive line who can actually get a surge at the line of scrimmage now. Most of the credit should go to Sean Ianno, who I heard once kicked a 73 yarder in practice (without a defense to kick over, but impressive nonetheless).

- Not sure what his injury was, but Darrien Starling became the second Roadrunner cornerback to miss a game this season. Crosby Adams started in his wake and did a fairly admirable job. That should be a good confidence boost for the young CB who has struggled to solidify his playing time despite flashes of great potential. Adams delivered a forceful (illegal) blow to a Lion receiver and sent the Dome into a frenzy.

- Kevin Brown's infatuation with running the option to the short side of the field is starting to drive me nuts. The offense's speed becomes underserved when placed within a shallow boundary and it becomes much, much easier for safeties and cornerbacks to come up to help stop the run on a short field. Just feels like overcoaching to me, unless there's something I'm missing.

- Commerce's quarterback Deric Davis performed admirably under great pressure. His offensive line really let him down, but the 220 pound, lefthanded signal caller did his damned best to keep the ball moving up the field. He had some pretty wildly errant throws but placed the ball decently enough on the short stuff to keep the Lions in the game. I doubt many people cared but myself, but I was immensely impressed with the moxy, determination, and strength he showed on his own half yard line. With a physically imposing defensive line to his front, and a drunk and loud student section to his back, Davis made sure that the defense would not be coming off the field with a safety. At one point Davis had about three or four Runners piled up on him, but Davis kept his feet moving to get out of the endzone.

I think that's a decent enough amount on a sort of tune-up game for the Runners. Next up we rematch with the Georgia State Panthers who just fell to 0-2 on the year after being smoked by Tennessee 51-13. I'm gonna try to take a bus out to Hotlanta for the game, so keep your eyes peeled on the forum for more info on that, as well as an eye on the blog for more info on the Georgia State Panthers.

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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