Behind Enemy Lines: South Florida at UTSA
TAMPA, Fla., (Nov. 2, 2023) – South Florida (5-5; 3-3 American) and UTSA (7-3; 6-0 American) meet for the first time Friday night when USF plays its last road game of the season at the Alamodome in San Antonio Texas. Kickoff is slated for 9 p.m. ET on ESPN2.
UTSA is tied with SMU and Tulane at 6-0 atop the American Athletic Conference standings.The Roadrunners have won 14 straight regular season conference games and are very tough to beat at home where they have won 20 of their last 22 home games and is 22-3 (.880) at the Alamodome under head coach Jeff Traylor.
The Road Runners have won six straight and have not tasted defeat since a Sept. 23 game at Tennessee.
With that in mind, BullsInsider.com went behind enemy lines and asked Stephen Whitaker, beat reporter for BirdsUp.com about the matchup from the UTSA perspective.
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1. What have been the key differences, changes or improvements since UTSA lost back-to-back games against Army and Tennessee?
Probably the biggest difference for UTSA between now and those losses to Army and Tennessee is that now the Roadrunners are creating turnovers on defense. Special teams recovered a Volunteers muffed punt against Tennessee but it didn't result in points for the Roadrunners and the offense had a costly fumble early against Army that led to a 14-0 deficit that was tough to overcome. Starting with the Temple game UTSA has gotten more takeaways on defense than it has given away on offense which has helped with the turn around.
2. What has been the overall reaction in Texas to watching the way things have gone since Jeff Traylor took the reins of the program?
Most people in Texas knew Jeff Traylor was a winner at the high school level. Before he took over Gilmer High School in 2000, that school was not a state power and had never made a state championship game appearance. In 15 years he turned that program into a state power with three state championship titles and several deep playoff runs. The question asked when UTSA hired him was would it carry over at the college level. Now in his fourth season at UTSA I think it is safe to say that Jeff Traylor can win at any level. He already turned down one P5 offer back in 2021 and a few of the P5s in Texas will probably come open this offseason which will mean schools knocking on UTSA's door.
3. Which players in Traylor's first recruiting class, now upperclassmen, have impressed you the most with their development during their time with the Road Runners?
There are three players from Traylor's first class who blossomed during their time at UTSA. All three are from Texas and play on the defense. All three anchor different groups. Asyrus Simon leads the defensive line, Jamal Ligon is a key cog at middle linebacker and Donyai Taylor is an impact player at outside linebacker. Taylor's older brother Dadrian was a leader on the defense the last few years and this year Donyai has stepped into that role as a leader on the defense. Ligon played for Jeff Traylor's brother, Kurt Traylor, at Tyler Lee HS and was leaning toward North Texas before Kurt was hired by Jeff at UTSA. Simon came to UTSA as a highly rated player out of Atascocita High School outside of Houston. It isn't a far stretch to say the last few years at UTSA look different if any of those three are not with the program.
4. Which players on the Road Runners defense should USF fans pay close attention to?
In addition to the aforementioned trio from Traylor’s first recruiting class, a name on the Roadrunners defense to keep an eye on is linebacker Trey Moore. Moore is 1.5 sacks back of the top spot in the nation and is chasing down the AAC record for sacks in a season. Moore already holds the school record for sacks in a season and is closing in on the school's career sack record. He played high school football in San Antonio for Smithson Valley and because he is a redshirt sophomore he will be eligible to enter the NFL draft this offseason. If he doesn't return to UTSA next season it's probably because he jumped at the chance to play on Sunday.
5. Who wins Friday night and what is your final score prediction?
The resurgent Bulls is one of the best stories in the American this season but UTSA keeping its conference dominance going from Conference USA into the American has also been an interesting story-line to follow. The people who tune in to ESPN2 should get a competitive football game but there is something about the Alamodome that is tough for visitors to adjust to. I predict a closer game than the experts think but UTSA will make the plays it needs to get a 35-24 win.