UTSA vs Tulane Football Game Preview & Score Prediction!

hello everyone welcome to another episode of Road runers unfiltered it's your host Darien Starin thank you guys for being here we got a huge Friday game between UTSA versus number 18 T Lane both schools are undefeated in conference play right now Tain is sitting at 10- one overall for the season UTSA sitting at 8 and3 um a huge game I think us on this channel we've been talking about this game uh for weeks now to be honest as UTSA started conference play we've been talking about you know what that two-lane game at the end of the season is going to be huge it has essentially turned into playoff football right uh this is a win or go home type situation obviously there's a bowl game and that that's a whole thing but in terms of hanging the banner in terms of putting a stamp on utsa's first you know first campaign in the uh uh new conference AAC you know they have a huge opportunity here there's a huge opportunity for the runners to go in and and you know win two lane it is a very winnable game um and then you know probably play SMU next week for the conference Championship so yeah we are in a win and go home situation what I'm going to do um here is go through what I think going to be the keys to victory for UTSA in this one um and I'm also going to highlight a couple things we just got to worry about because T Lane does pose uh some threats there's a ton to cover if you guys are new here uh make sure you guys subscribe to the channel and like the video and for for all of my folks who've been here been with me this entire season make sure you smash the like on that button too and welcome back I appreciate having you guys here now without further Ado let's jump into that um I'm going to go I'm going to start with what to Lane I like to do this like for us as UTSA supporters I like to always present what T Lane is bringing or what the opponent and in this case is tane what they are bringing to the table um this particular game what what we have to worry about what have they done well all season um and kind of put that on the platter for you just from my perspective but tlane is one thing that I think is a skill that people will look at a schedule and say well these guys are winning close games and they'll they'll they'll kind of present that as a sign of weakness right um and I've said for for weeks on this thing teams that win to me whenever you see teams that are winning close games like that it just shows you that they know how to win right now are there teams that they shouldn't have had more success if you look at um teams on paper you look at some of the teams that they've played recently you would expect especially them being ranked 18th them being on this long winning streak you would expect them to uh beat East Carolina by more than three points you would expect them to beat Tulsa by more than two points you would expect them to beat rice beat rice by more than two points right You' expect those sort of things but um you know every team doesn't even no matter how good they are every team um you know doesn't play to their tip top best at all right now and it's one thing been talking about UTSA as well as good as this conference uh run has been for us we didn't play our best football to till last week um Frid last Friday in the Alamo d right so it's taking UTSA a while to get to where uh we're playing dominating football and I think it was the perfect timing because now tane has to deal with UTSA coming off of that game last week where Frank Carris was setting records and and and you know contributing to six total touchdowns which is absurd uh so you know it's going to be tough but anyway as I was saying on to Lane them winning close games to me means that they are doing the right things at the end of the games they are uh they are not making pivotal mistakes in big points and they're also doing enough in the clutch to bring these games home so that's one thing that I look at is actually a positive for them instead like I said I've heard a lot of people talk about you know they they have not looked great against some of the teams that this D expect them to beat um and I'm not necessarily saying it's wrong I'm saying that them winning close games winning this many close games starts to kind of tell me something about how they manage games at the end uh of you know in in crunch time right so that's something that that that we you know I'd be concerned or I'd be just worried about that if the game was close as we got to the fourth quarter and it's a Rockham sockum like not that they have an advantage or anything like that because each game is is its own but it's just something to worry about something that I've noted when just going back and watching them also uh another thing that I think that they do really well is their quarterback Michael Pratt is really good he's really good his numbers are not he doesn't have gudy numbers they've dealt with a lot of injuries this season but that dude is really good he he's the most efficient based on stats the most efficient quarterback in the conference um he doesn't put up a ton of yards but he has a 19 to4 touchdown the interception ratio which I think is something to note that means he take care takes care of the ball um it also means it's also something that kind of shows you that he's not making big mistakes at the end of these games he's not putting the team in Jeopardy at the end of these games uh um you know whenever they're it's whenever they're in crunch time so he has a pretty high completion percentage as well he has the second highest completion percentage in the conference behind uh Jacob zenu UAB which he's completing 68 uh almost 69% of his passes so uh we just got to we can't let him beat us he can also beat you beat us with his leg um if we're not careful I think it's going to be important for our front seven to get pressure on them um our front four honestly I think what we can't do is give him time in the pocket to just scan the field and find receivers because he will do that he will do that so um you know getting pressure on him is key I think treay Moore once again if he can pull pull continue to keep pulling rabbits out of his hat and and just um exploding on the uh tackles that are trying to block him right if if he could continue to dominate then I think we'll be fine getting him forcing him to get Happy Feet in the pocket is what what we what we want um so yeah I think that they do have some talented receivers I know some of them injured I think they're getting some back so we just have to be wary of that as well but I'm not as concerned about the I'm not as concerned about and let me knock on wood because I hope I'm not jinxing us here but I'm not super concerned about them stretching the field on us as much because they want to run the football they're running back this is another thing to highlight as well they have the they have the number one rusher I believe in the conference I think his name is Makai hu uh he's almost at 1100 yards on the ground they rely on him a lot he has the highest uh average per game obviously um you know and they they lean on him a lot man they lean on him a lot like he has by far the most rushan attempts uh in in the conference and he's a good back he's a good back he he scored six touchdowns for them on a year he's had some big plays that he's broken off of also but they like to lean on him and you know I think that's also I think it also keeps points off the board for them too because their offense is a little bit more slow paced uh at times because they like to run the ball a lot so um you know that's that's something we just have to be worried worried about then also they're bringing in a good defense's let's make no mistake about that they have a uh formidable defense if you if you go and look at the stats in terms of scoring defense them and SMU are very very um uh very very good they allowed the least amount of of uh points per game they're they're averaging 18 and a half um points allowed smu's averaging 18 so that's really really good versus us we're at we're we're allowing 24 uh just over 24 points a game so um they have a good defense their defense have held up all season um it's going to be a difficult code to crack but if there's an offense that can do it if that's a quarterback that can do it it'll be Frank Harris absolutely but you know and they're good you know in terms of in terms of um in terms of rushing defense they are extremely good they are extremely good listen to this folks two lanes Russian defense they are given up they've given up less than a thousand yards rushing this entire season they're giving up 2.8 yards a carry only 70 7 yards per game you know who's next it's SMU next listen to this is aund they're giving up 112 yards a game rushing SMU that's second that's the second lowest allowed uh so like if you look at that points differential I my my quick math is terrible right but if you look at that point points differential there you're looking at let's see 12 you know almost like 35 yard difference there or somewhere around maybe a 35 yard difference there they are not letting teams run the ball on them very much they are not and teams just stop doing it that's that's what eventually happens because if you just look at it they also uh has the least amount of Rush attempts against them and I think that's for it's one of those things where if you're not doing anything and you're not um you know if you're not able to have success then you're going to switch things up and do things different right and that that's that's that's what they're doing right and they don't allow many rushing touchdowns either so um that's something that we have to be worried about now when you look at their passing defense um they give up the fifth most uh passing yards in the conference right so um that's that that's what's going to be important for UTSA we're going to have to pass the ball against this team uh um you know that that would make the most logical sense but Rush running the ball obviously we should try and there's an element of that that we need so we can open up the pass game more um because I to me our Run game sets the tone for our pass game in a lot of ways you know if Frank Harris is running well or if one of our three running backs are running well uh we generally start to get rolling in the pass game as the as we grow into the game right so um I don't know their their defense is going to put us to the test and they're going to ask us a lot of questions about that performance that that our offense had last last week are we going to be able to kick the door down on that defense and really come to play to me it comes down to this UTSA High powerered offense two lane high powered defense they're going to clash me in the middle and what are the others you know they're going to clash meet in the middle and I'm sure that they're going to give up a little bit you know their def is going to give some a little bit and they're going to take some a little bit that's that's the thing that's going to happen but how are those other sides of the ball going to play each other right how is the utsa's defense going to hold up against two Lan's offense um so like it's going to be a huge it's going to be a huge um thing to watch it's going to be fun to watch because both teams are good both teams have a lot of talent and I'm really really excited about it uh I really wish I wasn't hosting Thanksgiving this year because um if if I wasn't I would have been able to do this live with you guys but but due to some scheduling stuff I'm not going to ask you guys to get up as early as I am right now to do this um but yeah there's so much so much so much uh to be excited about in this particular game so I'm really happy about that listen I think the keys of the victory for UTSA is simple I think um offensively we need to get off to a we need to we need to get off to a fast start this team's offense does not start they don't put up a ton of points I think that much is um um pretty clear if you look at the scoring numbers we're averaging 33 points per game they're averaging 27.8 but um even to me that 27.8 is a little bit inflated in my opinion because um their last three games they're 24 24 and 13 they just haven't been putting up a lot of points um lately in my opinion I think they were scoring in 36s and 37s early uh in the in the season but they haven't really put forth a lot of those performance here later in the season but um we can you know UTSA we can score 40 we can score 40 some points um with the best of them we've done it how many times this year one two three four uh yeah we we've topped we've topped 44 times this year year and we've done that uh let's see four times in conference in conference play um and in 37 34 36 41 49 you know this is what we've done in conference play that's what what UTSA have put on the board conference play if our offense and our team because some of those touchdowns and some of the points has come from defense as well um throughout some of this if our team can put up 35 Plus points I think we win the game I I think that guarantees us a win because I don't think T Lane's going to score that um and to me that means we you know we need to get make put to Lane in a position to where they're being forced to throw the ball they're not they're not trying to control clock they're not trying to you know lean on that running back as much let's let's force them into uh uh you know let's force them to do things they don't want to do they have they don't have the all of their top receivers available right well let's force them let's Force those other guys who are coming in to supplement the absences of those guys let's make let's make those guys beat us let's let's let's test them let's let's figure it out um so I think scoring early getting up early taking advantage of opportunities that that present themselves we have to be efficient we cannot be a turn we cannot turn the ball over that it's going to be a huge thing against this team we are going to have to cherish every possession that we get you know and every opportunity that we get to put up points against that defense and that's we're just going to have to be smart and we're GNA have to be really really good about doing that so um yeah getting getting um ahead early and getting points on the board early and and really trying to um capitalize on the defense trying to figure out what we're giving them offensively before they grow into and settle into the game right so I love to win this game in in the first half and just having to defend to lane from trying to play keep up that would be excellent that would be excellent so um that's that's the kind of game I want to see from UTSA in terms of the first uh um I think key is just get up early the second thing for me is pressure on the quarterback we absolutely must pressure this quarterback and force him to make some difficult decisions and difficult throws our corners and our secondary just going to hold up on the back or going to have to hold up on the back end we have good folks in those positions you have to rely on them it's going to be huge for them to get back there and also I think our front four just needs to dominate their front four as well if I think we do have the front four to get it I don't think there's a player on that field better than Trey Moore uh and I think that if he can wreak some havoc and and allow us to drive back in the coverage some and just get pressure with four that would be huge huge but either way I think we need to heat that quarterback up and challenge that efficiency a little bit make him take some risk we played one of the efficient quarterbacks earlier this year and guess what we picked them off twice didn't we so um you know it's not tane is not bringing anything to the table that we haven't se seen they well to be fair they're bringing a defense that we have not seen yet this season um maybe if you go into to to some of the non-conference stuff maybe but I don't think we've seen a defense this good and this banded together um this season is we definitely haven't seen it in the conference so that's the one thing we haven't seen but with an offense like ours with an experienced quarterback like ours with Joshua cus on the outside I think statistically he's the number two he's the number two receiver in the conference right now we have the weapons to do it Deon mckuin has been uh excellent we have the our running back Corp of course we have talent all over the field we have talent all over the field and our offensive Talent um has really come into their own and I think last week against South Florida was a huge confidence Bo boost for that group coming into these next opportunities right so um yeah yeah forcing getting pressure on that quarterback and making sure that he is uncomfortable even listen if he's beating us while being uncomfortable under a whole bunch of pressure and he's carving us up that way Len be my guest but I just have a sneaky suspicion that if we are uh forcing him to make decisions quicker and faster than he would like to I think we can be in a a a really good position to come out with a dub and then secondly adjustments I think UTSA um we have been able to all season in my opinion to to come out and make adjustments defensively in the second half and shut teams down even more than we shut him down in the first half that's going to be extremely pivotal in this game we've done it in in my opinion almost every single game of the season um where our our second half defensively our second half performance has been lights out compared to our first half performance I think we're they're going to force us because they're well coached they have good scheme they have good players they're going to force us to make adjustments I don't think we've always adjusted well offensively I think our offense is going to have to make some adjustments in that second half and do something that we haven't done great all year um in terms of making those second half adjustments and coming out and and and and adjusting to what that defense is is asking us to do that they defense is going to challenge our offense to make some moves to make some adjustments the things are not going to be easy to us they're not going to give us anything right so um I think it's going to be important obviously for the defense to continue um that just string of having really good performances in the second half but offensively we're going to have to uh meet the defense with that also and make adjustments that are necessary to carry UTSA to a victory I think um you know you we we got to put together two good halves of football we have to use the knowledge we gain in the first half from what we've seen what with the opposing team has given us to to to better help us and better prepare us for the second half and give us an opportunity to capitalize on what we're seeing right so um that's going to be the third key for me I I I I think I'm obviously rolling into my prediction here I think UTSA is going to win um and I would not be surprised if this game is not as close as um I wouldn't be surprised if we won this game handily if I'm being just completely honest this is no knock to Tain but I've I've said it for a while and I said It All season and those of you I probably sound like a broken record to those of you who've been with me all season Once our M once we really get a m once we really get momentum and we really start to put together two halves of football two halves of good football we haven't done that a lot you know we haven't done that consistently this year but we have started to do that toward the end of the season we have started to build off each performance what did I say coming out of the East Carolina game I said UTSA utsa's competition is going to rise pretty much all the way up until we play t Lane that's what I said think about it North Texas that was not an easy game I don't care what their record is North Texas can put up points um and they have they have some Talent on defense you know we needed to play uh you know that game was a eight-point game regardless of what things look like their game was eight-point game they they were a real test for us and that's after us you know us not playing just great football we didn't play just great football against eth Carolina I think the first half against eth Carolina wasn't great you know that I think we we we gave up what 20 points in that first half against that team a team that we should have been been running over in my opinion so um you know North North Texas was a test that we passed rice was an even bigger test in my opinion even without their starting quarterback they still were a good formidable football team and they've played some good football and you know I think they challenged us their defense challenged Us in ways we hadn't been challenged this season but we we passed that test South Florida you can say whatever you want but that's a that that team's not bad either they they they put up 50 points against Memphis didn't they um and you know that game was is something that I said hey you know what our defense is going to get tested because that team can put up a lot of points and offensively we're going to have to outscore that offense right we're gonna have to outscore that offense they just ran into us on a wrong night but it was also perfect because you know we our defense did a good job in that game and then our offense 49 points six touchdowns from Frank Harris so you know this momentum that that UTSA is is starting to with these in my opinion just steps up in competition we us having to answer different questions every week every week every week every week they have to answer another one on Friday but do I think we have the momentum absolutely absolutely do I think our that that this team as good as that defense is do I think that they're going to hold us to this 18 points or yeah 18 and a half points no they won't they won't we can score 18 points against anybody with that quarterback that we have right now so um I am very very confident based on the way we're entering this game the [Music] way to land has has I'm not saying they looked bad but they have not scored a ton of points all throughout the season and I think that's just going to be problematic for them quite frankly I think that we have too much talent on offense to to you know I think we have too much talent on offense for anyone in this conference to to put a muzzle on that that's what I think that's what I think so um in terms of my score prediction I'm going to go UTSA 37 to Lane 24 I think we I think we beat them yeah yeah I think we beat them by more than a touchdown here so I'm g go yeah UTSA 37 to Lane 24 that's my score prediction UTSA will on December 2nd um uh play SMU for the conference Championship in the AAC and I will I I cannot wait I cannot wait so uh thank you guys for being here thank you guys for being here this entire regular season it means the most uh um to me that you guys have been here all season I really appreciate all the subscriptions think about it guys I just wna I just want to say this as as I round this off we started this when I started this Channel and I started UTSA uh or Road run is unfiltered I was at 238 subscribers I am now um um at around 650 moving towards 700 on a larger scale that's not a ton but that that's just a lot of you guys uh being being you know being great and trying helping me build a community so I really really really appreciate that but um I'll see you guys next week UTSA will win and we will be doing a preview and a breakdown and all of that stuff uh next week so enjoy the holidays thank you guys for being with me I'll see you guys peace