Kansas State 41, UTSA 17: Roadrunners falter in third game against Power Five opponent

By Mary Scott McNabb

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UTSA fell 41-17 to Kansas State on Saturday afternoon in Manhattan, Kan. 

The Roadrunners were in search of their first victory of the season, while Kansas State hoped to bounce back from a loss against Mississippi State. Unfortunately for UTSA, the goose-egg will remain on its win column for another week. 

Here are the three biggest factors that contributed to the deflating losss in Kansas. 

Secondary struggles continue

Coming in to the matchup, Kansas State was only averaging 126 passing yards per game. Quarterback Skylar Thompson had been struggling throwing the ball and as a result, Kansas State had been finding most of their success through the run game. The Wildcats are a run-first offense and it showed; they had 44 rushing attempts compared to only 19 passing attempts.

However, they were able to find tons of success through their limited air attack against UTSA. Thompson only completed 13 passes, but he threw for 213 yards and two touchdowns with an average of nearly 12 yards per completion. When quarterback Alex Delton came into the game for Kansas State, he only threw the ball once, but he made it count. Delton’s solo pass attempt was a 72-yard touchdown to Isaiah Zuber. Once again, UTSA’s secondary was extremely vulnerable to giving up the big play. The defensive line didn’t help too much either as they failed to create too much pressure, but the coverage by the secondary was far too soft and Kansas State made them pay for it.

Lack of air attack

On the offensive side of the ball, UTSA had almost double the amount of pass attempts that Kansas State had, but yet only totaled 157 yards on 19 completions. Head coach Frank Wilson decided to give D.J Gillins time at quarterback as well, but he only went 5-for-11 with 49 yards and a garbage time touchdown.

UTSA averaged only 4.6 yards per completion, signaling that they failed to throw the ball downfield. Good coverage by Kansas State’s secondary forced a lot of underneath throws to check down receivers, and the defense then did a good job of swarming to the football and making tackles. The UTSA offense has got to take chances and go for the big play every now and then.

No Pass Rush

The UTSA run defense once again held up fairly well. They were able to hold Kansas State to only 3.7 yards a carry and they also held them under their season rushing total average. However, for one reason or another the defensive line couldn’t get pressure on the quarterback when they dropped back to pass. The secondary is already weak, so it didn’t help that Kansas State had all day to throw the football.  

UTSA has now been outscored 127-44 in their first three games, and they now sit at 0-3. The good news for UTSA is that they won’t face another Power Five school this season, so the worst may be over. However, any way you look at it, UTSA is still winless three weeks deep into the season. The Roadrunners still have one more non-conference game before they begin C-USA play, and it’s against Texas State. The I-35 rivalry will be played in the Alamodome this year on Sept. 22. Perhaps going up against tough schools early in the season prepared UTSA for their next game and for conference play.

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