UTSA quarterback Frank Harris and head coach Jeff Traylor hug after winning the Conference USA championship for the second consecutive season. Photo by Brandon Fletcher
DECEMBER 3, 2022 — Frank Harris passed for 341 yards and four touchdowns and Clifford Chattman had an interception for a school-record fourth consecutive game, as the No. 23-ranked Roadrunners repeated as conference champions with a 48-27 victory in the Ryan Conference USA Championship Game on Friday night in front of 41,421 fans at the Alamodome.
With their 10th straight win, the Roadrunners ran their record to 11-2 on the season and successfully defended the program’s first-ever conference title won last year. It also marked their second triumph over the Mean Green (7-6) this season and improved third-year head coach Jeff Traylor’s UTSA record to 30-9.
Harris completed 32 of 37 passes, good for a C-USA Championship Game-record .865 completion percentage, nearly breaking his own program record in the process. The senior from Schertz Clemens High School tossed three of his touchdowns to Zakhari Franklin, who had 10 receptions for 144 yards while matching the school record for TD receptions in a game. Harris also rushed for 49 yards and a score to give him 390 yards of offense and five total scores.
Meanwhile, Kevorian Barnes exploded for a career-high 175 rushing yards and a TD on 28 carries to pace a ground game that piled up 227 yards. The redshirt freshman from San Augustine averaged 6.2 yards per tote in logging his fourth 100-yard game of the year.
Chattman shared the team lead in tackles with nine and added a pass breakup to go along with his fourth interception of the season, all coming in the last four games.
Trevor Harmanson matched Chattman with nine stops, and Corey Mayfield Jr. registered six tackles and a PBU to tie the program record for passes defended in a season with 17, while also setting the program record for career games played with his 60th. Ken Robinson came up with his first career pick as UTSA forced a pair of UNT turnovers on the night.
UTSA built a 31-13 lead in the third quarter on a 14-yard scoring connection from Harris to Franklin, only to see UNT storm back to within one score when Isaiah Johnson reached the end zone on a 1-yard run early in the fourth to make it 34-27.
The Roadrunners quickly answered the call, as Harris hit a wide-open Franklin on a 39-yard TD pass to make it 41-27 with 11:09 remaining.
UTSA added to its lead with a 16-yard touchdown pass from Harris to Oscar Cardenas, who caught a career-best six balls for 84 yards, with a little more than four minutes left to play to seal the win.
Austin Aune passed for 194 yards and a TD, while Ikaika Ragsdale rushed for 108 yards and a score on 17 attempts to lead the Mean Green offense. KD Davis had a game-high 14 tackles for the UNT defense.
UTSA marched 75 yards in seven plays to open the scoring on a 27-yard burst up the middle by Barnes.
UNT answered with an 11-play, 70-yard drive that was capped by a 2-yard plunge by Ragsdale on a fourth-down-and-goal attempt.
The Mean Green took a 10-7 lead early in the second stanza after Ethan Mooney put an end to a 14-play, 95-yard drive with a 22-yard field goal.
The Roadrunners reclaimed the lead on an 11-yard quarterback keeper up the middle by Harris near the midway point of the second quarter and later extended it to 24-10 after a 42-yard field goal by Jared Sackett followed by a 32-yard TD catch by Franklin just before the intermission.
UTSA will await its bowl destination, which is expected to be announced on Sunday, December 4.
UTSA Today is produced by University Communications and Marketing, the official news source of The University of Texas at San Antonio. Send your feedback to news@utsa.edu. Keep up-to-date on UTSA news by visiting UTSA Today. Connect with UTSA online at Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Instagram.
UTS Bold Careers hosts Student Technology Council where students have the opportunity to share feedback about technology needs to the UTS Leadership. The Leadership will also provide updates as to the technolgy projects for the campus.
Mesquite Room (SU 2.01.24,) Student Union, Main CampusJoin us for a hands-on workshop about the basics of copyright, both in education and as a researcher. We’ll dispel some common copyright myths, differences between copyright law and other intellectual property law, and teach you how to apply a Fair Use checklist to your scholarly work.
Virtual Event (Zoom)In this workshop, we will explore sentiment analysis, a method for identifying feelings in text, whether the tone is positive, negative, or neutral.
Group Spot B, John Peace LibraryLearn to use the simple but powerful features of EndNote®, a citation management tool. In this hands-on workshop, participants will learn to setup an EndNote library, save references and PDFs, and automatically create and edit a bibliography.
Virtual Event ( Zoom)The Urban Bird Project at UTSA will discuss urban bird populations, conservation efforts, and how you can get involved.
JPL Assembly Room (4.04.22,) Main CampusThe DMPTool is a free online resource that helps researchers create data management plans. This workshop will cover the main components of DMPs and how to create them using the DMPTool. Attendees will learn to: locate templates by funding agency, add research collaborators, and identify institutional guidance.
Virtual Event (Zoom)Join UTSA Libraries and Museums to learn more about the publishing discounts available for UTSA researchers. Current agreements include Elsevier, Cambridge University Press, Wiley, and more. Bring your questions and feedback for the library as we continue to pursue partnerships with publishers to reduce costs for our researchers.
Virtual Event (Zoom)The University of Texas at San Antonio is dedicated to the advancement of knowledge through research and discovery, teaching and learning, community engagement and public service. As an institution of access and excellence, UTSA embraces multicultural traditions and serves as a center for intellectual and creative resources as well as a catalyst for socioeconomic development and the commercialization of intellectual property - for Texas, the nation and the world.
To be a premier public research university, providing access to educational excellence and preparing citizen leaders for the global environment.
We encourage an environment of dialogue and discovery, where integrity, excellence, respect, collaboration and innovation are fostered.
