When UTSA coach Jeff Traylor hears criticism of his protection, his thoughts goes first to the employees who’ve stood by him by way of each step of his seven-year tenure, and of their members of the family who preserve ears to the bottom and listen to lots of the critiques.
That noise was particularly loud after UTSA gave up 60 factors in final week’s blowout loss to FAU to mark the worst exhibiting of Traylor’s tenure, reaching a low level for a protection that was on tempo statistically to be one of many worst within the Roadrunners’ historical past.
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The problem this week was anticipated to be particularly daunting. North Texas was bringing the nation’s top-ranked offense to the Alamodome for a crucial showdown UTSA wanted to win to maintain tempo within the American Convention championship race.
However every week after being embarrassed, the Roadrunners responded with a renewed degree of physicality, delivering what Traylor known as “essentially the most dominant defensive efficiency I’ve seen towards a extremely nice offense.”
UTSA stifled North Texas from begin to end, driving 4 touchdowns from A’Marion Peterson to a 35-16 win Saturday within the Alamodome that places the Roadrunners again within the American title hunt and silences any questions in regards to the protection’s struggles in 2026.
“They are not dumb. They hear the racket. They hear the chatter,” Traylor mentioned. “That was a response.”
The win places UTSA (8-2, 5-1 American) right into a three-way tie alongside North Texas (7-3, 5-1) and Memphis (8-2, 5-1) atop the league standings with two weeks to play within the common season.
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UTSA improved to 38-5 within the Alamodome beneath coach Traylor, together with a 28-1 mark towards convention opponents. The Roadrunners additionally gained a fourth straight sport as a house underdog, with the Imply Inexperienced getting into as a 2.5-point favourite.
UTSA moved to 18-6 following a loss since Traylor took over previous to the 2020 season, together with a 16-4 mark since 2021. The Roadrunners have by no means dropped video games towards Group of Six opponents in back-to-back weeks with Traylor on the helm.
“I nonetheless do not know the way good we’re. We’re onerous to look at typically. We simply play actually onerous. We’re actually scrappy,” Traylor mentioned. “We’re nonetheless on this factor, and now we have an unbelievable love for one another, an unbelievable present of camaraderie.”
Earlier than Saturday, UTSA’s protection trending towards historic lows. The Roadrunners entered the week permitting 410.6 yards per sport to rank No. 119 within the nation after by no means beforehand ending a season ranked exterior the highest 100.
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UTSA’s rush protection had allowed 200.9 yards per sport – greater than any earlier season in program historical past – to take a seat No. 128 out of 138 FBS groups. The Roadrunners additionally ranked No. 128 in sacks with 1.11 per sport, far worse than this system’s earlier low of 1.75 per sport.
However Traylor mentioned the shortcomings had been usually as a result of poor sport plans or shocking changes from UTSA’s opponents, pointing to the protection’s success in driving wins towards Texas State, Rice and South Florida. He was offended each after the loss to FAU and once more this week about questions relating to the unit’s inconsistencies, and he mentioned after Saturday’s dominant exhibiting that he intends to “chew again” towards any criticism he believes is unfair.
“Is that the definition of inconsistent, I suppose?” Traylor mentioned. “They had been nice tonight. So, I get it.”
UTSA’s Cameron Upshaw Jr. tackles College of North Texas working again Brendon Haygood throughout a soccer on the Alamodome, Saturday, November 14, 2026. (Cody Responsibility/Contributor)
North Texas was an unlikely opponent to be the beginning of UTSA’s turnaround, getting into the sport ranked No. 1 within the nation in complete offense at 534.7 yards per sport and second in scoring at 44.7 factors per sport. The Imply Inexperienced had been additionally prime 10 within the nation in sacks allowed, surrendering lower than one per sport.
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However North Texas quarterback Tayven Jackson, described by Traylor this week as “the best quarterback we have performed towards” in his tenure at UTSA, completed simply 10 of 20 passing for 125 yards with an interception earlier than being knocked out of the sport with a shoulder harm early within the third quarter.
Operating again Jahiem White, who entered ranked third within the nation in dashing at 131.8 yards per sport and was hailed by Traylor as an NFL expertise, carried 13 instances for 32 yards, additionally lacking elements of the sport after being dinged up.
North Texas completed with 304 complete yards, together with simply 109 on the bottom at a mean of two.7 yards per carry, and UTSA transformed three sacks.
“We had been simply upset,” nook RJ Lester mentioned. “It was an indignant protection that got here into the dome tonight. I feel that we had been just a little embarrassed by the outing that we had placed on the Thursday beforehand. So, everyone had just a little bit further motivation to play good this sport.”
UTSA turned North Texas’ six first-half drives into three punts, an interception, a turnover by way of fumble and a subject aim. The Roadrunners’ protection outscored the Imply Inexperienced by themselves, as Lester offered the primary factors with a 9-yard pick-six. Zach Morris additionally returned an interception for a landing in the course of the second quarter, however the play was known as again as a result of a questionable holding penalty.
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UTSA’s offense struggled for a lot of the evening, and Owen McCown completed with simply 85 passing yards. However working again A’Marion Peterson accounted for greater than half of the Roadrunners’ 326 yards of complete offense, working for 179 yards and a program-record 4 touchdowns on simply 11 carries.
Within the course of, Peterson set a UTSA single-season report with 16 complete touchdowns, besting Honest McCormick’s 15 dashing touchdowns from 2021 and Zakhari Franklin’s 15 receiving touchdowns from 2022.
“It feels good. When you will have guys like that on the workforce who simply wish to do their job for you, you do your job for them, it is simply tremendous simple,” Peterson mentioned. “It is a good feeling, however we have got extra work to do.”
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This text initially printed at ‘An indignant protection’: UTSA silences North Texas in crucial showdown.
