Yesterday.

As you know, I watched both UTSA and Texas State win yesterday.  Two very impressive wins.  Let's get started.

UTSA put together a gameplan full of duct tape and baling wire, opened the offensive playbook wide, and found a way to scrap together a win.  Twelve players got touches on offense.  It seemed like Bennett was bound and determined to pick on Starling, but the Jaguars passed for less than 200 yards.  A gaggle of timely turnovers and a very smart retooling of the depth chart offset a ridiculous amount of UTSA penalties.   That created a wildly entertaining game and got a whole bunch of "firsts" out of the way.

(1) They pass the eye test.  Sure, UTSA's first win in FBS was against another newbie.  There was a lot of raw emotion that showed this game meant more to the players than any of the other crap we wax poetic about.  But I watched Idaho, New Mexico State, Utah State, San Jose State, Texas State, and them play actual football games this week.  UTSA fought through losing two defensive starters before getting on the plane and won on the road, which they've never done before.  They're not a start-up anymore and none of this "first" shit needs to apply from this point forward.

(2) Personnel: They need to consider leaving Kurfels at rover and rolling with Terry and Reeves at linebacker.  Wort can spell him.  I loved the playcalling on offense, using certain players to do certain things.  There were some notable gaffes but it was worth it to see what using the entire playbook can do.  That leads to a lot of happy, contributing players.  The OL took a while to congeal, while the DL wasn't very effective until the fourth quarter. 

(3) Looking ahead: D2 A&M-Commerce is a tasty treat to start what should be a well-attended home schedule.  FCS SC State crushed Georgia State 33-6 in the Georgia Dome, UTSA's third opponent.  Then another D2 game with Northwestern Oklahoma State back in San Antonio.  4-0 going into New Mexico State for the Runners first WAC contest is a strong possibility.

This team is flawed and incomplete, a work in progress.  Faith is usually a part of completing matters, and the epic highs and sudden lows they went through on Saturday are as well.  The Baby Birds grew up on Saturday getting that win in muggy Mobile, and it doesn't really matter that it was against one of the worst teams in the country when they're playing in a conference full of them. 

One last thing: I'm writing the backstory for why I think they need to keep playing if you didn't know:  South Alabama is a year ahead of UTSA and a Sun Belt team this season.  They came to San Antonio last season and UTSA kicker Ianno's gamewinning kick is blocked.  They lose and wind up under .500 for the year.

The same situation comes up this year and Ianno has probably kicked this a million times in his head, and it doesn't matter that it's 52 yards away, two days after a tropical storm, on 110 degree eight year old Fieldturf in 90% humidity for the fourth time of the day.  That thing was good from 62.
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The funny thing about the Texas State game is how it was executed.  I remember talking to Justin about how we would gameplan Houston in 2010.  We'd run the ball almost every play, change formations and run down the play clock constantly, and keep that damn Air Raid off the field.  That's not exactly what happened - Rutherford was 8-9 in the first quarter alone - but the Bobcats finished with 52 carries for 248 yards, and held the ball for nearly three quarters worth of football. 

The statement made by shutting down Houston was different from UTSA's "arrival".  This was a feature, a showing of Texas State football to people that pay attention to football outside the scrub ranks.  As my buddy at the top in the yellow shirt says, "Texas State could be the next Boise State."  We laughed, as he says that about everyone in any of his prior and current leagues.  Say it again, Karl, because people want to hear you.  This was about believing it after watching something Boise might have done in their first years of the climb.

(1) Fran's back, folks.  Houston was held to 13 points or below for the first time since September 18th, 2010.  I wondered why Terrance Broadway was the backup QB at ULL and not at Houston, because it became clear that Piland isn't nearly as good as the next heir to the revived Houston statgod quarterback dynasty needed to be.  This was exploited by the secondary's regular abuse of the Cougar receivers.  Texas State played a tough, fast, physical football team - and roughed them up. 

(2) I think it's finally clear why Fran is never going to name a starting quarterback.  Rutherford is durable enough to take 20-something hits a game plus run upfield, and now he beat Houston.  Shaun will start for the rest of the season unless he is injured or until he fucks up.  I think asking him to be both a quarterback and a running back when he was more suited to be a wide receiver was a bad idea last season.  I think Rutherford caught a couple of breaks but he's much, much more improved than I thought he would be. More on this at the bottom.

(3) Bigger, faster, stronger, sure.  Different?  Yeah.  It's hard to believe that Texas State looked like were going to wreck Houston until they lined up.  I noticed something from my illegal Eastern European stream.  Curry ran past the Houston defense.  The secondary was outright violent to those Houston receivers.  The line held up.  And for all the talk of needing a second year for Fran's system to work, there's a true freshman from Alabama starting at WR.  I think it's because of something else.

Does anyone remember how Sam Houston came out of nowhere running that goofy offense with the Wildcat as the base formation last season?  Didn't last night's game sort of look like that - with new coach Jeff Conway at offensive coordinator?  Oh, the irony.  Bob Debeese, the former Bobcat head coach and alum, ran that offense at Sam Houston, with Conway as assistant head coach.  He's now the offensive coordinator at New Mexico, probably the worst program in the country.  They pounded FCS Southern last night 66-21 using two quarterbacks.  One was a 6'4" 230 lb freshman that ran 8 times for 88 yards and only threw twice, the other a two year starter that threw nine times and ran only twice.  The backs had 51 carries for 347 yards.

Sam Houston went from unranked to the FCS title game using a 5'10" guy from Galveston as the Wildcat, Richard Sincere, making for an unlikely All-American and Southland Conference Offensive Player of the Year in 2011.  I think this version of the Franchione spread offensapalooza now shares some of the same elements, but instead of putting a WR as the Wildcat, they're using Rutherford.


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Watched some Lamar and some Alabama but I couldn't take my eyes off the Texas State game.  It was just so unexpected, so quirky and fascinating. I had a great day of football and got to watch two upsets by two teams that combined I probably know more about than any other human being.  Yesterday was just so damn important to those teams.  Texas State gets another chance at Cinderella next week, in what will probably be the most critical game in school history.  UTSA?  All I can tell you there is that team isn't going to finish last in the WAC and will almost certainly start the year 4-0, and I'd guess six is a worthwhile goal.