Jorge Corrales/ Staff Writer
The Panthers head west on Oct. 11 to take on the Roadrunners of the University of Texas at San Antonio. Game time is set for 7 p.m. It will be the first ever meeting between the two schools.
The Panthers enter the game 3-3 and are riding a two game C-USA win streak. They are 2-0 in conference play and currently sit in second place in the East division behind the University of Middle Tennessee.
“The attitude around here is good,” said Head Coach Ron Turner. “Hopefully, they’re still hungry and they’ve still got an edge about them. We’ve had two really good days of practice.”
On Thursday, Oct. 2, the Panthers defeated the Florida Atlantic University Owls in a prime-time Shula Bowl showdown. The Owls were fresh off a 41-37 victory against the Roadrunners. Despite their impressive effort against the Owls, the Panthers still enter Saturday’s game as a 13-point underdog.
The Roadrunners will limp into Saturday’s matchup. After opening the season with a 27-7 victory at the University of Houston, the Roadrunners dropped their next four games. The 1-4 record is not indicative of UTSA’s talent. They have lost some close games to elite opponents, including a 26-23 loss to now number 10 Arizona.
The key for the Panthers against the Roadrunners will be containing a very big and experienced offense.
“They do a lot shifting and a lot of motion,” said Turner. “They’re a veteran team. They’ve got 36 seniors with a few young guys sprinkled in. You can tell they spent a couple of years before they played in the weight room. They must’ve lifted, like, seven days a week. They are big and strong a physical. They’re also extremely well-coached.”
The Roadrunners are coached by Larry Coker. South Florida fans may remember Coker from his days coaching the University of Miami. He led them to a National Championship in 2001.
The Panther defense is used to stopping strong offenses. They visited a University of Alabama at Birmingham team two weeks ago that was averaging 40 a game and held them to only 20. Their 21 takeaways lead all of college football.
Freshman quarterback Alex McGough is coming off a good performance against FAU. He threw for 160 yards and ran for a touchdown. He will have to continue to play well if the Panthers hope to have their best game.
Saturday’s game will be played in the Alamodome. The multi-purpose facility is used for football, basketball and baseball. The San Antonio Spurs played there from 1993-2002.
To prepare for the noise, the Panthers practiced all week with crowd noise blasting through the speakers in The Cage.
“We always do that when we play on the road if there’s a chance there’s gonna be a lot of crowd noise,” said Turner. “During certain periods we make it loud so they have to communicate through it. We have music playing all the time in practice but we just turned it up… a lot.”
If the Panthers win on Saturday and Marshall beats Middle Tennessee, the Panthers will be atop the Conference USA East division for the first time in school history.
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