UTSA has more to answer for. The Roadrunners went to Boca Raton on a Thursday night as the American's leader with a 5-game winning streak and lost 60-29. Caden Veltkamp threw 4 touchdown passes, Leonard Farrow ran for more than 100 yards, and the 60 points were the most UTSA has allowed in Jeff Traylor's 7 seasons. The Houston Chronicle wrote that the loss ended the Roadrunners' Playoff hopes. A league title is still in play, and this game decides whether UTSA controls that.
The Thursday kickoff gives UTSA one thing back: time. The Roadrunners will have had more than a week to clean up the FAU film, while North Texas played Rice on Saturday and gets a standard week before the trip down I-35. UTSA's home win over Navy, 38-34, looks a lot like North Texas' 49-39 win in Annapolis. These are two good offenses with defenses that bend a lot.
UTSA is still a team that has won tight games. The Roadrunners beat Rice 16-14 and South Florida 31-24 in the same stretch, and they won 42-19 at Tulane before the FAU game. One bad Thursday doesn't erase that. North Texas, meanwhile, is a 7-2 team that has been flawless in league play and has one game of margin over UTSA and Memphis at the top of the standings.
It's indoors at the Alamodome, so weather won't slow either offense. If the UTSA defense that showed up at Tulane is back, the Roadrunners can pull even in the standings. If it's the one from Boca Raton, North Texas gets a lot closer to the title game.
