FAU @ UTSA Game Thread - November 23, 2019


The Matchup: FAU (7-3, 5-1 C-USA) vs. UTSA (4-6, 3-3 C-USA)


When: Saturday, November 23rd, 6:00 PM

Where: Alamodome

Weather: San Antonio, TX

The Series: The Owls took the lone meeting 41-37 in 2014 at Schnellenberger Field.

Roadrunner Team Site: Here

Key Stats Comparison:





Game Information

TV: None

Live Video: ESPN+

Radio: 640 The Hurricane

Opening Line: FAU - 18.5

18.5 points!

(wow)

Large number for being a road team

+1

Not sure they watched the game last night…UTSA might be somewhat one dimensional, but if we don't play solid in the secondary they will burn us.

Rick said

+1

Not sure they watched the game last night…UTSA might be somewhat one dimensional, but if we don't play solid in the secondary they will burn us.

Posted On: Nov 17th 2019, 6:41 PM #390863

If you you look at the SP+ FAU comes in at 56 and UTSA at 125. So the spread makes sense from that stand point

DeltAlumnus said

Rick said

+1

Not sure they watched the game last night…UTSA might be somewhat one dimensional, but if we don't play solid in the secondary they will burn us.

Posted On: Nov 17th 2019, 6:41 PM #390863

If you you look at the SP+ FAU comes in at 56 and UTSA at 125. So the spread makes sense from that stand point

Posted On: Nov 18th 2019, 6:11 AM #390864

Agree!

But to play devil's advocate, these types of ratings do not take into account development trends and resulting potential…they tend to lean towards what has been done, and history drives the forecast.

That said, and as mentioned before, firmly believe that UTSA will burn us if we do not play solid defense in the secondary.

A couple of those (like Marshall) and we will make it more difficult than it needs to be.

They are a very young team at the skill positions but are improving with each game…teams with potential usually start to peak (as we are) this time of the year…In UTSA's case, they are far better than they were three games ago.

Just went to garner UTSA Head Coach Frank Wilson's notables for his presser to post here in the thread…and low and behold he basically said what I did after their loss last Saturday to Southern Miss, and just now above in the last reply.

Of course someone had to ask him the question, but when you throw for 155 yards over the season average it's easy to present…they had five guys average 13.9 YPC or better.


On the ability to get big plays in the passing game

The maturity at the quarterback and receiver position. When you talk about Joshua Cephus, Zakhari Franklin, Carlos Strickland, those are first-year players for us. And it took some time, Zakhari Franklin didn't even play in the first three or four games.

Zakhari and Joshua Cephus has started to come on. Carlos we knew had talent we just had to find ways to get him in position at times as the primary in our schematics of what we are doing.

We took time in getting to where we were and we still had some veteran guys that early in the year gave us our best chances. They had been with us for four years because of know-how and getting right and lined up for us to be functional.

The other guys have had to develop over time and as they have developed and I think that has contributed to the big plays.

Outside of the Motor city bowl in 2008, has FAU played in dome?

Shane Marinelli OC40 said

Outside of the Motor city bowl in 2008, has FAU played in dome?

Posted On: Nov 18th 2019, 9:03 PM #390869

The "home" game vs. Michigan State in 2010, also in Detroit.
The New Orleans Bowl vs. Memphis in 2007.

But that's it as far as I know, unless we played one of the schools in the Great Plains like NDSU, Idaho, or USD.


It'll definitely be something different for the guys. Hopefully it's something they're able to overcome or is made a bigger deal than it really is (like the chilly weather in WKU).

UTSA's improvement in the passing game isn't the only thing that FAU fans should worry about.

It looks like UTSA may be switching back to the "Rowdy Head" logo on the helmet, originally made popular during Larry Coker's time as Road Runners' Head Coach. That's the helmet used when UTSA became the darling of the conference. Packing the Alamodome with 30,000 fans, beating programs like Houston and Baylor.

Could THAT be what has caused UTSA's downfall? Is this a last ditch effort by Frank Wilson to generate some excitement as his seat gets warmer by the week? Am I weird for thinking way too much into this?

I guess we'll find out come Saturday night!

You asked and now it’s in your hands! What are we wearing for our final home game against FAU this Saturday? 😎🏈

RT for Rowdy Head Logo
Like for UTSA Texas Logo#BirdsUp🤙 pic.twitter.com/EmCs6r4hrD

— UTSA Football 🏈 (@UTSAFTBL) November 18, 2019