A new era: UTSA plays first American Athletic Conference game Saturday in Philadelphia

Through all the change in the history of UTSA football, one thing has remained constant: When the Roadrunners begin life in a new conference, they do so on the road.

UTSA will begin life in the American Athletic Conference, its third conference, when it visits Philadelphia on Saturday to take on the Temple University Owls at Lincoln Financial Field. It will be the first time the Roadrunners have played football in Pennsylvania.

“They take pride in their Temple toughness,” UTSA Head Coach Jeff Traylor said of the Owls. “They have played a tough schedule but they have had their moments.”

In 2012, the Roadrunners opened what proved to be their lone year in the Western Athletic Conference with a road game in Las Cruces against New Mexico State University. A year later, in 2013, UTSA began its time in Conference USA down Interstate 10 in El Paso against the University of Texas at El Paso. 

The Roadrunners won both of their previous conference debuts, beating New Mexico State 35-14 and UTEP 32-13.

Now the Roadrunners (1-3) will look to follow in the footsteps of those teams by getting their time in the American off to a winning start in what has been a difficult season so far. Temple will provide a tough opponent for UTSA.

“We have a little chip on our shoulder,” UTSA tight end Oscar Cardenas said. “All we have to do is do us. We know what we’re capable of and what we can do. That triangle [of toughness] travels always, and we’re going to show it in conference.”

Coming off a bye week, UTSA had extra time to prepare for Temple, but the Owls also got additional time since their last game was Sept. 28 at Tulsa. Temple lost 46-28 to fall to 2-3 overall and 0-1 in conference play.

“They are really precise with what they want to do — quick passes and trying to get down the field,” UTSA linebacker Trey Moore said about Temple’s offense. “We definitely have to slow them down and not let them get any momentum going.”

 In recent years, UTSA’s best games have been in conference play. Since Traylor’s first season in 2020 the Roadrunners are 20-3 in conference games and 2-0 in conference championship games.

“Our players understand the importance [of conference games],” Traylor said. “Our players have the self-confidence to not listen to all the naysayers.”

UTSA goes to Temple having not lost a conference game since their final conference game in 2021. As far as this version of the Roadrunners goes, though, the conference record is 0-0 because all of those past wins were back in Conference USA.

Moving to a higher level of competition in the American means a tougher road for the Roadrunners. All the teams on their conference schedule have looked good in the early weeks of the season.

“It’s a clean slate now. We are 0-0 in conference,” UTSA cornerback Nicktroy Fortune said. “We’re just worried about doing our best to make sure we get to the top.”

That road begins Saturday in Philadelphia. The Roadrunners will be working toward making it three-for-three in conference debuts.