Ranking the Top 131 College Football Programs of the Last 40 Years: 107. UTSA
MEEP MEEP
Meep. Meep. UTSA fielded their first football team ever in just 2011. Former Miami (FL) coach Larry Coker was the program’s first ever head coach, and led the team to winning records in just their 2nd and 3rd seasons. They hit a rough patch shortly after in Coker’s final years and with coach Frank Wilson, but Jeff Traylor has instilled life in the program as they move to the American conference this year.
Best Seasons and Highlights
+------+-------------------+------+--------------+--------+
| rank | team | year | resume score | record |
+------+-------------------+------+--------------+--------+
| 21 | Texas-San Antonio | 2021 | 19.736 | 12-2 |
| 24 | Texas-San Antonio | 2022 | 14.619 | 11-3 |
| 66 | Texas-San Antonio | 2013 | -8.448 | 7-5 |
| 67 | Texas-San Antonio | 2017 | -10.29 | 6-5 |
| 73 | Texas-San Antonio | 2020 | -10.984 | 7-5 |
| 69 | Texas-San Antonio | 2012 | -11.188 | 8-4 |
| 79 | Texas-San Antonio | 2016 | -19.448 | 6-7 |
| 104 | Texas-San Antonio | 2014 | -34.043 | 4-8 |
| 117 | Texas-San Antonio | 2019 | -40.918 | 4-8 |
| 108 | Texas-San Antonio | 2015 | -41.355 | 3-9 |
| 117 | Texas-San Antonio | 2018 | -47.269 | 3-9 |
+------+-------------------+------+--------------+--------+
Overall Score: 1776 (107th)71-65 record
2 conference titles
0-4 bowl record
0 consensus All-Americans
4 NFL players drafted
WE FINALLY HIT A TEAM WITH A WINNING RECORD (with at least 10 seasons played)! And they have exactly 1776 points in my algorithm! U(T)SA! U(T)SA! U(T)SA! 2 straight conference titles from UTSA show some signs of a brewing dynasty, especially with them moving from Conference USA to the American, and retaining coach Traylor. Still without a bowl win, they’re knocking on the door with 3 one-possession losses. NFL player development has been solid with the likes of Marcus Davenport and Tariq Woolen.
Top 5 Seasons
Worst Season: 2018 (3-9 overall, 2-6 Conference USA)
Honestly, they didn’t seem that bad at first. They were 3-3 halfway through the season with all losses to Power 5 teams and wins over rival Texas State, and conference foes UTEP and Rice. They were 2-0 in C-USA, how did it all go wrong? Well, first consider that Texas State, Rice, and UTEP finished the season 3-9, 2-11, and 1-11 respectively. So those wins were mirages. Once they got into the meat of conference play, the results came in harsh: 3-31 to Louisiana Tech, 3-52 to UAB, 7-45 to FIU, 0-23 to Marshall, it wasn’t pretty. They finished 2nd to last in the nation in PPG with just 14.2. You’d expect solid QB play from a team that had players with the surnames Brady and Rivers throw passes, but 5 players combined for just 1918 passing yards 9 TD 10 INT at a 51% completion rate. The run game was arguably worse, averaging just 3 yards per carry and the leading rusher only having 322 yards and 3 TD. WR Greg Campbell Jr. had an underrated year with 58 catches for 658 yards, whereas the second leading receiver had just 19 snags for 210 yards.
5. 2020 (7-5 overall, 5-2 Conference USA)
Surprise, it’s the covid year. You might’ve been fooled into thinking it wasn’t because of the 12 games they played, but no, UTSA just had fortunate luck with not having games cancelled. UTSA surprised everyone under new head coach Jeff Traylor. Under previous coach Frank Wilson, they were just 7-17 the last 2 years, and were picked last in the C-USA West in 2020. They put up a good fight, beating 3rd placed Louisiana Tech and only losing 20-27 to #11 BYU, and finished 2nd out of 7 teams in the West. They put up a good fight in the bowl against #19 UL Lafayette, actually outgaining the Cajuns despite losing 24-31. RB Sincere McCormick was the C-USA OPOTY with 1467 rushing yards and 11 TD. 3 offensive linemen finished 2nd Team All-CUSA. Special teams was a major boon as well, both K Hunter Duplessis and P Lucas Dean making 1st Team All-CUSA going 17/20 on FGs and averaging 46.0 yards per punt, respectively.
4. 2017 (6-5 overall, 3-5 Conference USA)
After their season opener against Houston was cancelled due to Hurricane Harvey, UTSA traveled to Baylor to take on the recently disgraced Bears, who were coming off a season with interim coach Jim Grobe taking over for Art Briles, now with 1st year head coach Matt Rhule. In a pretty definitive win, outgaining the Bears by 100+ yards, UTSA started 1-0 with a 17-10 win. Unsurprisingly, Baylor would go on to be really really bad, just 1-11 on the year. UTSA wouldn’t really beat anyone else notable until the 2nd to last week of the season, where they beat 7-3 Marshall 9-7. That was a microcosm of UTSA’s season; lots of defense without much offense. They ranked 104th in PPG with 23.5 and 8th in PPG allowed with 17.0. The defense was led by NFL 1st round pick and C-USA DPOTY Marcus Davenport, who had 8.5 sacks and 9 TFL, including 2 sacks and 1.5 TFL against C-USA runner up North Texas. Overall, pretty average season with some wasted potential, 4 of their 5 losses coming by 7 points or less.
3. 2013 (7-5 overall, 6-2 Conference USA)
So close! This was a pretty underrated team that had a shot at winning the C-USA title in an off year for the conference. Starting just 2-5, it was a pretty disappointing sequel to an 8-4 season the year before. They were dominant the rest of the way, though, going 5-0 with an average score of 29-15, wins including 7-6 Tulane and 9-4 North Texas. Had they beaten Rice earlier in the year, in a 21-27 loss, UTSA would’ve been playing Marshall in the C-USA title game. As a second year FBS transition team, they weren’t eligibowl, so they finished their second year in a row with a winning record but no bowl game. No real player statistics of note—but give credit to the guys who were key contributors when UTSA first started the program—QB Eric Soza, RB David Glasco II, RB Evans Okotcha, WR Kam Jones, TE David Morgan II, and more.
2. 2022 (11-3 overall, 8-0 Conference USA)
Both 2021 and 2022 were really good teams. 2021 gets the nod as UTSA’s #1 season for a slightly better record. 2022 UTSA came in with big expectations after winning the conference title in 2021, and not only met them, but arguably surpassed them. After an 8-0 conference run, North Texas was easy meat in the title game, UTSA winning 48-27 thanks to QB Frank Harris going 32/37 for 341 passing yards 4 TD 0 INT, adding a rushing TD as well. The season ended in a top 25 matchup between #22 UTSA and #24 Troy, and while Troy may have won and UTSA finished unranked in the AP Poll, they finished #24 in my rankings, which is what really counts. QB Harris won C-USA MVP, and RB Kevorian Barnes was C-USA Freshman POTY. Harris returns for his SEVENTH year in 2023, and will continue to shatter UTSA records, if there are any left.
1. 2021 (12-2 overall, 7-1 Conference USA)
And here we go, the best UTSA team. The season began with a 37-30 win over Brett Bielema’s Illinois, just their 2nd win over a P5 school ever, the first being 2017 Baylor. After starting 3-0, a 42 yard winning FG with no time left clinched a 31-28 win over Memphis. A late stop held for a 24-17 victory over UNLV, and a 52-46 barn burner over Western Kentucky saw UTSA improve to 6-0 and start getting national attention. After a 45-0 win over Rice, they entered the AP Top 25 for the first time in history, at #24. After a 45-16 win over Louisiana Tech, they were controversially left out of the first Playoff Ranking, despite being 8-0. When people doubt you, you can prove them right, or you can prove them wrong. UTSA did the latter, improving to 11-0 with a go-ahead TD against UAB with 3 seconds left to go up 34-31 and clinch the C-USA West Division for the first time ever. A 23-45 loss to North Texas next week really stung, as UTSA would fall to 11-1, but they were still going to the C-USA title game. In an explosive matchup against Western Kentucky and QB Bailey Zappe, UTSA took home their first ever conference title with a 49-41 victory. They were matched up against #24 San Diego State in the bowl and would lose, but finished #21 in my rankings. RB Sincere McCormick was the C-USA OPOTY with 1663 yards and 15 TD from scrimmage. QB Frank Harris threw 27 TD to 6 INT, WR Zakhari Franklin was 1st Team All-CUSA with 1000+ receiving yards and 10+ TD, DE Clarence Hicks had 10.5 sacks, and coach Traylor won C-USA COTY. CB Tariq Woolen was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks and made the Pro Bowl in his rookie year, and OT Spencer Burford was drafted in the 4th round by the San Francisco 49ers and started 16 games for them in his rookie season.
5th Quarter
Now that we’ve finally reached a program with a winning record, who’s up next, and how soon will we see a P5 team? Will the flood gates open and we’ll start seeing teams with truly great seasons in their top 5? Also, how will UTSA fare in the AAC?
Ranking the Top 131 College Football Programs of the Last 40 Years - Main Hub
