DOWN, BUT NOT OUT

UTSA SUPPORTERS everywhere marked Oct. 20 on their calendars before the start of the 2012 football season. That day, the Roadrunners would play its first league game as a member of the Western Athletic Conference against the San Jose State Spartans. The Roadrunners entered the game with a 5-1 record overall and a 1-0 record in the conference. The week before …

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the home game, UTSA lost its first game this season against the Rice Owls, 34-14. The team also lost starting quarterback Eric Soza, who injured his hip during that game.

With redshirt freshman Ryan Polite leading the Roadrunners, the game against San Jose State started with the Spartans building a 28-0 lead off three Roadrunner turnovers in the first quarter. The Spartans torched the Roadrunner secondary on several occasions, making big plays and racking up yardage with long distance touchdowns. The Roadrunners finally got on the board after another turnover led to a Spartan field goal. The four turnovers proved too much for UTSA and they fell 52-24 to San Jose State.

A week later, the Roadrunners welcomed the Utah State Aggies to the Alamodome. Polite started as quarterback for the injured Soza. UTSA showed improvement over the previous week as they contained the Aggie offense to seven points in the first quarter. But the Aggies outscored the Roadrunners 41-7 in the second and third quarters. Utah State claimed the game with a 48-17 victory.

Despite the fact the Roadrunners lost three straight games, head coach Larry Coker remained confident in the team going forward. “I don’t want to make excuses,” Coker said following the Utah State game. “We have good things going for us. Our players work extremely hard and we have a great coaching staff. I told our team we have four more opportunities left this year to get on the winning side of the scoreboard.”

The Roadrunners closed out their season on Nov. 24 when they played the first-ever football game against their archrival, the Texas State Bobcats, at the Alamodome.

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