American Athletic Conference, UTSA unveil 2023 football schedule

FEBRUARY 21, 2023 — Commissioner Mike Aresco has announced the American Athletic Conference’s 112-game football schedule, including the 56-game conference schedule, as the conference begins its first season of competition as a 14-team league in 2023.

The Roadrunners will play eight league contests in their debut season in The American, four at the Alamodome and four on the road. UTSA also has four nonconference games on the docket with home matchups against Texas State and Army and road dates with Houston and Tennessee.

UTSA will play on Friday at least twice with a potential third game that could flex from Saturday to Black Friday on Thanksgiving weekend.

The Roadrunners will kick off their 12th season of play on September 2 at Houston, the program’s second visit to TDECU Stadium and the first since a 27-7 victory to open that facility on August 29, 2014. It will mark the fourth all-time meeting with the Cougars, who are moving to the Big 12 Conference this summer.

UTSA will face Texas State for the home opener on September 9 at the Alamodome. UTSA has won all four previous matchups with the Bobcats, including a 51-48 double-overtime thriller on September 12, 2020, in the debut of head coach Jeff Traylor, who coached new Texas State head coach G.J. Kinne at Gilmer High School. 

The Roadrunners then will host Army for the third time since 2019 when they welcome the Black Knights to Military City USA on Friday, September 15. UTSA pulled out a 41-38 overtime victory in West Point last season for its first win against Army. 

UTSA will close out the nonconference slate on September 23 against Tennessee, which finished 11-2 and ranked No. 6 in both major polls in 2022. The first-ever meeting with the Volunteers will take place at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville. 

Following their lone idle week of the regular season, the Roadrunners will play their inaugural AAC contest on the road against Temple on October 7. The first meeting with the Owls will take place at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.

UTSA’s first-ever home AAC game will come the following Saturday against a familiar foe, the UAB Blazers. The Roadrunners have come out on top in each of the past two meetings in the series, including a 44-38 double-overtime road triumph last November.

The Roadrunners will travel to Boca Raton for an October 21 date with Florida Atlantic before returning home to host East Carolina on October 28 for the two schools’ first meeting on the gridiron.

UTSA will travel to Denton to face North Texas on November 4 in a continuation of a series in which the Roadrunners hold a 6-5 edge after defeating the Mean Green twice this past fall, including a 48-27 victory that secured a second straight Conference USA title.

The Roadrunners will welcome Rice to San Antonio on November 11 in a renewal of a series that has seen UTSA win the last eight contests, including a 41-7 road decision last November that clinched the C-USA regular season crown and a spot in the conference championship game. 

UTSA’s regular season home finale will be against South Florida on Friday, November 17.

The American has included the Roadrunners’ road game against defending conference champion Tulane among its Black Friday selection scenarios. Two games will be chosen to be moved from Saturday, November 25, to Black Friday (November 24) among a group of four games in the final week of the regular season. The Black Friday selections will come from UTSA-Tulane, Tulsa-East Carolina, Memphis-Temple and UAB-North Texas. Those selections will be made by October 9.

UTSA scored a 10-7 home victory on November 9, 2013, in its only previous meeting with Tulane, which won the AAC and finished ranked ninth nationally with a 12-2 record last season after defeating USC in the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic.

The American Athletic Conference Football Championship, which has been broadcast on ABC in each of the last eight years, is scheduled for Saturday, December 2, and will be televised either on ABC or ESPN.

Kickoff times and television designations for the first three weeks of the season, as well as the season-long weeknight games, will be finalized by June 1. The rest of the schedule will fall under the customary 12-day and six-day selection processes.

Each of the 14 teams in The American will play eight conference games in 2023. The top two teams in the final single-division regular-season standings will meet December 2 in the ninth American Athletic Conference Football Championship.

The American welcomes UAB, Charlotte, Florida Atlantic, North Texas, Rice and UTSA to its ranks in 2023. They will join continuing members East Carolina, Memphis, Navy, South Florida, SMU, Temple, Tulane and Tulsa to comprise a conference that will continue to compete for perennial New Year's Six bowls and College Football Playoff appearances.

Season tickets for the 2023 UTSA football home schedule are on sale now. Fans can call 210-458-UTSA (8872) or visit ticketmaster.com to purchase their tickets.

Season ticket prices start at $93 per seat. Payment plans for all season ticket packages are available. The renewal deadline for season ticket holders to keep their same seats for this season is April 7.

Current UTSA students receive free admission to all home games by downloading tickets via their Account Manager. 

Under the direction of two-time conference coach of the year Jeff Traylor, the Roadrunners are coming off an 11-3 campaign that saw them capture their second straight C-USA Championship and play in a bowl game for the third year in a row. UTSA has been ranked in the top 25 in each of the last two seasons and boasts a combined 23 wins over that span, the fourth-best total among all FBS teams behind only Georgia (29), Michigan (25) and Alabama (24).