| #122 UTSA Roadrunners |
| #10 in Conference USA |
The Roadrunners went 15-9 in their first two FBS seasons, including a second place divisional finish in their Conference USA debut in 2013. Since then, they have been unable to build on what Larry Coker started, and Frank Wilson is out after four years. In is former Arkansas running backs coach Jeff Traylor, who doesn’t even have any coordinator experience, let alone head coaching experience. The one upside is that he’s probably starting with a better running back than anything he had in the room in Fayetteville. True freshman Sincere McCormick stuck with UTSA after late Power Five offers from Colorado and Syracuse. McCormick proved to be worthy of those bigger offers, running for 983 yards on 5.6 ypc. Perhaps more impressive was the durability of the 18 year old, who had at least 12 carries in every game except one, and didn;t show any signs of wearing down over the course of the season, going for 119 yards on 17 carries (7.0 ypc) and 4 receptions, in the season finale against Louisiana Tech. Determining who starts under center looks to be a bigger challenge. UTSA used three quarterbacks last year, none of whom played very well, and while none graduated, none of them entered the transfer portal either. So as underwhelming as all three were, clearly none are scared that any of the others is particularly competent either. Beyond those three, there is Suddin Sapien, who redshirted last year as a true freshman. He’s never taken a college snap, but he is probably the most talented quarterback on the roster. The decision of tight end Carlos Strickland II to go pro a year early was a little curious. He was a solid Conference USA tight end, but ESPN doesn’t have him ranked among the top 25 tight end draft prospects, or the top 300 overall. When we are reading the UTSA 2021 preview we could be watching him in the XFL. They will get a full year out of Zakhari Franklin, who didn’t really emerge in his freshman season until the second half. He had 5 receptions for 30 yards and no touchdowns in the first six games, but 33 receptions for 461 yards and 3 touchdowns over the final six. Defensively, the secondary is where the focus needs to be. The Roadrunners had the second worst pass efficiency defense in Conference USA, and that was with a pretty strong pass rush. But that changed as the season progress, and teams just started getting the ball out quicker, and it worked. The pass rush, which had a sack rate near 7% over the first nine games, was just 1.77% over the final three, with no sacks in the finale against Louisiana Tech.
| KEY PLAYERS |
| RB | Sincere McCormick, Sophomore |
| WR | Zakhari Franklin, Sophomore |
| G | Spencer Burford, Junior |
| . |
| DE | DeQuarius Henry, Senior |
| DT | Jaylon Haynes, Senior |
| S | Rashad Wisdom, Sophomore |
| #121 Akron Zips |
| #11 in MAC |
It’s hard to believe, or at least hard to remember, that it was just 2017 when Akron was in Detroit, playing for a MAC Championship, and then began 2018 2-0, with a win over eventual Big Ten West champion Northwestern. Because since that game, the Zips have gone 2-20, and are presently on a 17 game losing streak. Akron entrusted the program to Tom Arth, more based on what he did in his 4 years at Division III John Carroll than his two subsequent years at FCS Chattanooga. Arth looked around and decided they weren’t winning in 2019, and he needed to build this thing up. It takes a new coach, with a lot of leash, at a desperate program, to take the long view that Arth did. He went very young, particularly on offense, and the results were predictable. The Zips averaged 3.7 yards per play, 1.8 yards per rush, and 10.5 points per game, each of which was the worst in the FBS. Their offensive SP+ of 7.7 wasn’t just the worst in the FBS, it was the worst since UMass in 2013. The question now is what amount of that is youth and what amount is lack of talent. Arth is betting on the former, because the Zips return the third highest percentage of their offensive production of any team in the FBS. As far as the latter goes, Akron did not exactly make a major impact on the recruiting trail. They did bring in former Indiana Hoosier Cole Gest from the transfer portal. Gest played quite a bit in 2017, with 511 scrimmage yards, but over the past two seasons combined, only played in five games. He’s immediately eligible though, and Akron will take whatever they can get after trying four different backs last year, none averaging more than 23 rushing yards per game or 3.4 ypc. Kato Nelson has plenty of experience, but at this point, you just have to settle for who he is, and accuracy is never going to come along. The defense was much better than the 36.3 ppg allowed, but the offense gave them no help. They allowed just 5.7 ypp, 4th best in the MAC, but they were on the field for 34 minutes per game, and forced the second fewest turnovers in the conference. If they can just basically get a repeat of their 2019 defense, but that creates a few more turnovers, and combine it with a serviceable offense, and there is the makings of a 3 or 4 win team. That’s a tough ceiling to swallow, for a team with a 3 year starter at quarterback. They do open with Youngstown State and New Mexico State, so it’s there for a confidence building start...before a trip to Clemson.
| KEY PLAYERS |
| QB | Kato Nelson, Senior |
| WR | Nate Stewart, Senior |
| WR | Jeremiah Knight, Junior |
| . |
| DE | Dylan Meeks, Senior |
| LB | Bubba Arslanian, Junior |
| CB | Jordyn Riley, Junior |
