UTSA hosted the FIU Golden Panthers at the Alamodome Saturday night in front of a program-low attendance of 16,874 fans. After three straight losses, the Roadrunners were looking to get back in the win column and preserve their hopes of earning a bowl bid. With their conference record falling fast, UTSA desperately needed a win. Unfortunately, no such thing happened.

FIU dominated UTSA, and the UTSA offensive woes continued as they fell to the Golden Panthers by a score of 45-7. There was almost no energy inside the Alamodome as nothing went UTSA’s way. In fact, the loudest the crowd cheered all night was in the middle of a timeout when a fan made a kick to win Chick-Fil-A for a year. Other than that, the place was dead. Most fans left the building before the fourth quarter, spilling out into the parking lots already hoping for the season to be over.

UTSA had many things go wrong, but here are the three biggest factors that contributed to the big loss.

Yards per play

UTSA is dead last in the FBS in yards per play, and they continued to show it against FIU. In the first quarter, UTSA had some success moving the ball and put together a nice drive after Gillins connected with McNair a couple times on passes over the middle and Brenden Brady ripped off a 17-yard gain. However, a rare missed field goal from kicker Jared Sackett rendered the drive moot. After that, UTSA never moved the ball with success again and FIU took over the dome.

UTSA averaged only four yards per play and once again refused to throw the ball downfield after their first couple of drives. Gillins got the start at quarterback today and he averaged under eight yards per completion and threw four interceptions, one of which being a pick six late in the game. UTSA just couldn’t move the ball down the field as they only had one trip to the red-zone. The only UTSA score came in the final minute after Gillins came out with an injury and Rivers stepped in. Rivers threw a garbage time 36-yard touchdown pass to avoid the shutout and boost the stats a bit. Without that pass, the numbers would’ve been even worse.

FIU QB James Morgan had his way with the secondary

FIU put up 304 passing yards on UTSA, and quarterback James Morgan had himself a nice night going 19-of-29 for 291 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions. Morgan has now thrown 24 touchdowns this season and has surpassed the 2,000-yard mark. FIU averaged a very impressive 15.2 yards per completion as the UTSA secondary seemed to keep giving up big play after big play.

The UTSA secondary could not stay with the FIU recievers down the field. It was also key for the defensive line to consistently get pressure on Morgan, but they couldn’t do it. Although the D-line hurried Morgan occasionally, they only came up with one sack on the night. Every time Morgan was given ample time to throw the ball, he made the defense pay.

Third down defense

Despite what the scoreboard says, the defense wasn’t all bad. As a matter of fact, at the end of the first quarter it was a 0-0 ballgame. However, the UTSA defense allowed FIU to convert on half of their third downs. The Golden Panthers went 8-16 on third downs and as a result, they were able to keep drives alive and win the time of possession battle.

The defense was oftentimes put in a tough spot as FIU consistently won the field position as well due to four UTSA turnovers (all interceptions) that set the FIU offense up with a short field. One of FIU’s scores was a defensive touchdown as well. The UTSA defense wasn’t terrible, they just couldn’t finish the job. In addition to letting FIU convert on half of their third downs, UTSA also let them convert on both of their fourth down attempts.

UTSA is now 3-7 with only two games left to play this season. Next week, UTSA will take on the Marshall Thundering Herd on the road before closing out their season at home against UNT. With their bowl hopes gone, we’ll see if UTSA can salvage another victory or two before the season is over.