College
Traylor’s Roadrunners Show Their Grit When It Matters Most
Jeff Traylor's Roadrunners are embracing the grind, leaning on their culture and toughness to overcome adversity and keep their American Conference Championship hopes alive.
SAN ANTONIO, TX – Jeff Traylor strode to the podium after the 35-16 win over rival North Texas with his trademark THSCA hat on his head and a wry smile on his face. His Roadrunners now control their own destiny to the American Conference Championship game with a trip to UAB and a home tilt with Tulsa standing in their way.
Traylor, who still views himself as a high school head coach seven seasons into his tenure in San Antonio, still relies on his experience at Gilmer High School, where he learned how to handle the grind of the playoffs. He sees similarities in what his Roadrunners are trying to accomplish this season. There is no need for style points. They simply need to win.
“I do think the Texas high school football coach in me kind of prepares you for these grinds,” he said. “You have to win six of these in a row just to win a state championship. This is like each week is a playoff game and we’re still alive right now. We’re just still alive.”
Traylor built his reputation as a college head coach at UTSA by winning close games and dominating opponents at home. His Roadrunners were 11-2 in one possession games during the back-to-back conference championship seasons of 2021 and 2022 and entered the North Texas game in Week 11 with a 37-5 mark at home, including a 27-1 record in the Alamodome against conference opponents.
The victory over North Texas won’t count towards his record in one possession games, which is 24-12, but anyone who watched knows that the Mean Green were on the doorstep of pulling off a colossal comeback with a backup quarterback.
UTSA led 21-3 at halftime. That lead was cut to 21-16 by the fourth quarter and North Texas had the ball with a chance to shock the Alamodome crowd. In 2024 and 2025, the Roadrunners would’ve folded. But not this team. UTSA is 4-0 in one possession games this year, and with momentum squarely on the visitor’s side, Traylor’s squad responded.
The defense, which allowed 60 points last week in a road loss to FAU, bowed up and forced a turnover on downs with 4:53 left in the game. And then the offense, which only had 35 total yards in the second half up until that point, slammed the door shut with back-to-back runs by A’Marion Peterson, who set program records with four rushing touchdowns in a game.
Traylor spent the offseason preaching culture. The 210 Triangle of Toughness hadn’t lived up to the motto over the past couple of years as the team let second half leads slip away. But on Saturday night against North Texas, those pillars helped the Roadrunners get one step closer to its goal – playing for a conference championship.
His Roadrunners aren’t perfect, but they look more like a Traylor team than they have in years.
“I still don’t know how good we are. We’re hard to watch sometimes,” Traylor admitted. “We just play really hard. We’re really scrappy. We have an unbelievable love for each other, an unbelievable gift of camaraderie. I do believe us doing our individual triangles, as corny as it sounds, has bonded this team.”
The clash between rivals North Texas and UTSA was supposed to be a shootout. The Mean Green ranked first in the country in scoring offense with 44.7 points per game, while the Roadrunners were fifth in the American Conference at 33. UTSA gave up 60 points last week and spent all week reading the press clippings.
Those press clippings provided the motivation that UTSA needed to respond and hold the nation’s top total offense to 233 yards under their average.
“Y’all poked the bear,” Traylor said to reporters in the room after the win about the defensive performance. “They love their head coach. They love their staff. They love their school, and they don’t like when y’all talk bad about us. So, I give y’all the credit.”
But the job isn’t finished. Traylor knows that. To use his playoff analogy, his Roadrunners have simply advanced to the quarterfinals, which is a road trip to UAB. Win that, and the home finale against Tulsa becomes the semifinals, Get out of that alive and his program could host a conference championship game in a building that their 27-1 against conference opponents.
