UTSA rolls into Boca Raton fresh off a bowl blowout, while Florida Atlantic is betting its explosive passing game can finally cover for a defense that got shredded all year.
Bush’s Picks
UTSAFAU
UTSAFAU
OverUnder
Best BetUTSA
UTSA is the more complete football team walking into this one, and that matters more than FAU's ceiling. Traylor's program has been remarkably steady, closing 2025 with a bowl blowout, while FAU still has to prove its defense can hold up against anyone with a real ground game. Back the Roadrunners to win it outright.
UTSA
+7-6 in 2025, capped by 57-20 bowl win
+Traylor has best win percentage in program history
+25-1 in home conference games under Traylor
−Less proven big-play firepower than FAU's offense
−Road environment on a short Thursday week
Florida Atlantic
+Veltkamp and Messer return from nation's top passing offense
+Second year in Kittley's system, more continuity
+Preseason outlook called best of the 2020s for FAU
−Defense allowed 34.6 points per game, ranked 129th
−Run defense also ranked 129th nationally
−Bottom-5 nationally in turnover margin (18 giveaways)
This one's a study in contrasts. UTSA is the steady program — Jeff Traylor enters his 7th season having built the most consistent winner in school history, and the Roadrunners closed 2025 with a 57-20 First Responder Bowl thrashing of FIU to finish 7-6. FAU is the wild card, a team that was genuinely dangerous on one side of the ball and a disaster on the other.
Florida Atlantic's calling card is Zach Kittley's offense, and it's not subtle. Caden Veltkamp and Easton Messer are both back after running the nation's top passing attack a season ago, and that duo alone is why analysts are calling FAU's preseason outlook the best it's been in years. The problem is what happens when the Owls don't have the ball.
Show fees
7:00 PM CT
Spread
ML
Total
UTSA UTSA
FAU Florida Atlantic
FAU's defense allowed 34.6 points per game in 2025, 129th nationally, and the run defense was just as bad, also ranked 129th, getting gashed for chunk plays in five separate blowout losses. Layer on a turnover margin that ranked bottom-5 in the country — 18 giveaways against only 6 takeaways — and it's easy to see how a team with this much firepower still finished 4-8.
UTSA Roadrunners
Oct 16?vs Navy—
Oct 8?vs South Florida—
Oct 2?@ Rice—
Sep 25?vs Colorado State—
Sep 19?@ Texas—
Sep 12?@ Texas State—
Sep 5?vs Vaqueros—
Florida Atlantic Owls
Oct 29?@ North Texas—
Oct 17?@ Army—
Oct 3?vs Texas Southern—
Sep 25?@ UL Monroe—
Sep 19?vs Florida International—
Sep 12?vs Navy—
Sep 5?@ Florida—
Recent form.
UTSA doesn't need to be flashy to take advantage of that. Traylor's teams have made a habit of playing clean, physical football, and a 25-1 record in home conference games under him speaks to a program that rarely beats itself. On the road against a defense that leaks points and turns the ball over, that discipline could be the deciding factor.
The bigger question for FAU is whether an offseason under a defensive-minded scheme adjustment — if it comes — can actually cut down on the explosive plays that buried them last year. Until that shows up on tape against a real opponent, Kittley's offense is going to have to outscore its own mistakes just to keep games close.
