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Updated: November 6, 2022 @ 1:27 am
Western Kentucky wide receiver Malachi Corley catches a pass during Saturday’s game against UTSA in San Antonio, Texas.
Western Kentucky wide receiver Malachi Corley catches a pass during Saturday’s game against UTSA in San Antonio, Texas.
SAN ANTONIO – The Roadrunners got the best of the Hilltoppers again.
UTSA outlasted Western Kentucky 31-28 on Saturday at the Alamodome in San Antonio in a rematch of the 2021 Conference USA championship game.
“Hard-fought game today. Two good football teams. Hat’s off to UTSA. They’re a good football team and found a way to win,” WKU head coach Tyson Helton said. “Left it all out on the field and tried to be ultra aggressive, wanted to give ourselves the best chance. Really proud of our kids. Battled hard tonight, but nobody feels sorry for us.”
The Hilltopper’s (3-3 overall, 1-1 C-USA) defense limited UTSA (4-2, 2-0) below its season scoring average and well below what it scored in the two meetings last season – the Roadrunners won 49-41 in the title game and 52-46 in a regular-season meeting in Bowling Green. WKU’s offense struggled to find the end zone for the second straight game, being held under 30 points again after scoring 27 last week in a loss to Troy – before that, the Hilltoppers had 18 straight games scoring over 30 points.
Austin Reed threw for 373 yards and two touchdowns on 35-of-49 passing and added 43 yards and a touchdown on 11 rushing attempts. Malachi Corley had 131 yards on 11 receptions and Daewood Davis had 120 yards and a touchdown on eight receptions. Kye Robichaux had 65 yards and a touchdown on 13 attempts for WKU, which finished with 481 yards – 108 rushing – and didn’t have an interception or fumble.
The Hilltoppers went 1-for-4 on fourth downs, however, including an unsuccessful attempt on fourth-and-7 from the UTSA 34-yard line with less than 4 minutes to play trailing 31-28. WKU also went for it on fourth-and-15 and fourth-and-14 in the third quarter from the UTSA 45 and 42.
“Defense played really good against an exceptional offense. They did their job,” Helton said. “I’m proud of the whole football team – not just the defense – but they were going to make their plays. They were just really good and have great skill, and Frank Harris is a great player.
“We had opportunities and I’ll sleep good tonight because the ball was in our hands. We had an opportunity to kick a 51-, 52-yard field goal right there, but I decided to put the ball in my best player’s hands and I’ll sleep good tonight with that. Hat’s off to UTSA – they stopped us on fourth-and-7.”
Frank Harris led a UTSA offense that finished with 486 yards in the victory. The quarterback threw for 273 yards and a touchdown on 24-of-35 passing and added 61 yards and a score on 10 rushing attempts. Joshua Cephus caught eight passes for 46 yards, Zakhari Franklin had six catches for 95 yards and De’Corian Clark had four catches for 62 yards and a touchdown. Brenden Brady had 82 yards rushing and a touchdown on 19 attempts.
The two combined to score 188 points and rack up 2,358 yards of offense over two meetings last year, and entered with the ninth- and 20th-best scoring offenses in the country this season – the Hilltoppers averaged 43.4 points through five games, while the Roadrunners put up 38.6 through five games – but with expectations of a shootout heading into Saturday’s matchup, the first half was more about the defense both teams played.
“This defensive coordinator (Tyson Summers) they hired over there has done a really good job,” UTSA head coach Jeff Traylor said. “We had charted him all the way back before he came here. He’s true to who he is. His kids do what they do. That’s why they play good on defense. They’re very improved on defense.
“Think about last year, we were really good on defense last year, but we never thought anybody was going to get stopped. Tonight you were like halfway going, ‘Dang, it’s like NFL football out here. They actually stop each other occasionally and score some, too.’ It just seemed like an NFL game.”
By halftime, both teams were limited to one touchdown apiece in each of the first two quarters, and UTSA held the lead only with a 49-yard field goal from Jared Sackett as time expired before the break.
“We just came out with relentless effort,” said WKU linebacker Jaques Evans, who had a game-high 11 tackles. “We just came out and balled, played together no matter what happened, just stayed with them on the court and the outcome’s the outcome.”
The Roadrunners got the scoring started with a 65-yard game-opening scoring drive, capped off with a 12-yard keeper from Harris.
The Hilltoppers answered with an 80-yard drive that ended with Reed pushing two yards into the end zone to even the score.
WKU took a 14-7 lead with 8:45 in the half when Davis caught an over-the-shoulder pass from Reed from 18 yards out to cap off an 89-yard drive, but UTSA responded on its ensuing possession with an 88-yard scoring drive of its own. Brady finished the drive with a 3-yard touchdown run.
The Hilltoppers got the ball back with 3:44 to play in the second quarter, but UTSA’s defense forced a punt. The Roadrunners took over with 1:15 on the clock and got to the WKU 31 before Sackett came on to put his team ahead with a 49-yard kick.
UTSA forced a quick three-and-out to start the second half and extended its lead with a seven-play, 62-yard drive that took less than three minutes. Chris Carpenter rushed for eight yards on the final play of the series, but fumbled into the end zone and it was recovered by Cephus to make it 24-14.
WKU made it a three-point game when Reed hit Michael Mathison for an 18-yard touchdown with 12:11 to play, but the Hilltoppers attempted an onside kick and couldn’t recover. UTSA took advantage of the short field, and Harris connected with Franklin for a 31-yard gain before finishing the two-play scoring drive with a 12-yard touchdown to Clark.
The Hilltoppers made it 31-28 with 8:53 left on a 33-yard touchdown run from Robichaux and got the ball back when Aaron Key forced a fumble that was recovered by Derrick Smith. WKU drove to the UTSA 34, but turned the ball over on downs with 3:41 left and the Roadrunners ran out the clock to finish off the three-point victory.
“I thought (UTSA) played pretty well. I thought they did a couple things up front schematically – twists and certain kinds of pressures that gave us a little bit of trouble,” Reed said. “I think at the end of the day we hurt ourselves more than anything. We had a lot of offensive penalties, a lot of procedural penalties – false starts and things of that sort – so I think at the end of the day we just kind of hurt ourselves and it was just one of those games where two really good teams played and we had a chance to go down and drive and take the lead and we didn’t do that, so that’s my fault.”
UTSA is scheduled to travel to FIU next week, while WKU will remain on the road with a trip to Middle Tennessee.{&end}
– Follow sports reporter Jared MacDonald on Twitter @JMacDonaldSport or visit bgdailynews.com.
SAN ANTONIO – Tyson Helton isn’t looking back at Western Kentucky’s run last year to the Conference USA championship game after losing its lea…
Covering Western Kentucky University athletics for the Bowling Green Daily News.
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