Birds up! Marisol Ybarra here, writing from a patio off the River Walk with a sash so loaded with Fiesta medals it jingles when I type. Every big UTSA win earns a medal on my sash. I had to sew on a second ribbon this season, and it's only October.
Let's do this the right way. First, Saturday night's 38-34 win over Navy, which had more twists than a Fiesta parade route. Then the trip to New Orleans, where a 3-3 Tulane team is waiting with a defense that just forced six turnovers and an offense that, frankly, can't keep the ball.
Part 1: UTSA 38, Navy 34, and a Medal Earned at 2:24
It did not start pretty. On Oct. 17 at the Alamodome, Navy's Jackson Gutierrez ran for touchdowns of 2 and 5 yards, and the Midshipmen led 14-0 early in the second quarter. I set my sash down. I did not take it off.
Then Owen McCown went to work. He hit Mekhi Anderson for a 46-yard touchdown, then Brandon Young Jr. for a 14-yarder, and A'Marion Peterson punched in a 1-yard run. UTSA scored 21 straight points and led 21-14. Navy got a touchdown back before halftime, and Michael Petro's 36-yard field goal made it 24-20 in the third.
The fourth quarter was a Battle of Flowers. Gutierrez threw a 92-yard touchdown to Jordan Collins, and Navy led 27-24. Will Henderson III answered with a 31-yard touchdown run. Navy answered back, with Braxton Woodson scoring from 7 yards to make it 34-31 with 4:50 to play.
And then, medal time. McCown led a six-play, 75-yard drive and hit Peterson for a 41-yard touchdown with 2:24 left. Navy's final series ended on downs. UTSA 38, Navy 34.
McCown finished 28 of 38 for 359 yards and three touchdowns, without an interception. David Amador II caught seven passes for 71 yards. Henderson ran for 78 yards. UTSA didn't turn it over and went 2-for-3 on fourth down. Per the AP, it was the first-ever game in the series. Navy, thank you for coming. Come back anytime.
The honest part, since a medal means nothing if you didn't earn it. Navy ran for 294 yards on 48 carries, 6.1 per carry, and UTSA committed seven penalties for 60 yards. You don't get to give up nearly 300 rushing yards every week and still wear the sash.
UTSA is 6-1 and 3-0 in the American. The wins: UT Rio Grande Valley 45-16, at Texas State 31-26, Colorado State 59-45, at Rice 16-14, South Florida 31-24 and Navy. The lone loss was 30-6 at Texas. Six medals. One week I'd rather forget.
Part 2: UTSA at Tulane
Saturday, 8 p.m. Eastern, ESPNU, at Yulman Stadium in New Orleans. UTSA (6-1, 3-0) at Tulane (3-3, 1-1).
Our Parade
McCown has 1,578 passing yards, 10 touchdowns and just two interceptions, completing 69.5 percent. Henderson leads the run game with 562 yards on 94 carries. DJ Allen Jr. has 24 catches for 325 yards. UTSA scores 32.3 points per game and gains 411.1 yards per game. And UTSA's turnover margin is plus-4, 22nd in FBS.
Tulane's Float
Let me be gracious first: Tulane's defense just forced six turnovers against Memphis, and it ranks fifth in FBS in red zone defense, allowing scores on 65.4 percent of trips. Kevin Adams III had two interceptions Friday. TJ Smith returned an interception 76 yards for a touchdown. Respect.
Now the parade route. Tulane's offense averages 332.0 yards per game, 116th in FBS, and 20.5 points per game, 117th. It throws for 179.7 yards per game, 116th. Against Memphis, it went three-and-out on its first three drives and converted 4 of 16 third downs, with freshman Trace Johnson making his first start.
And Tulane is last in FBS in time of possession. Last. 26:20 per game. That's not a parade, that's a drive-by. The Green Wave hold the ball like it's a hot tamale fresh off the comal. Drop it, blow on your fingers, pass it along.
Its run defense allows 212.5 yards per game, 133rd, and opponents convert 45.6 percent of their third downs, 124th. Henderson and Peterson, put your dancing shoes on.
The Honest Part
Our defense gives up yards, too. UTSA allows 199.9 rushing yards per game, 128th, and 400.0 yards overall, 112th. And UTSA averages 83.9 penalty yards per game, 134th in FBS. I love a big parade, but even a parade has to stay on the route. Tighten it up, Birds.
The Series
CollegeFootballData.com lists UTSA ahead 2-1. UTSA won 10-7 in the Alamodome in 2013, Tulane won 29-16 in New Orleans in 2023, and UTSA won 48-26 in San Antonio last season. That 2023 loss at Yulman is the one medal missing from my sash. Time to sew it on.
Town Report: San Antonio vs. New Orleans
San Antonio. San Antonio is the seventh-most populous city in America and the second-most in Texas, with 1.43 million people at the 2020 census. A Spanish mission and outpost was founded here in 1718, and in 1731 San Antonio became the first chartered civil settlement in present-day Texas. The city is home to five 18th-century Spanish frontier missions, including the Alamo, and together they were named UNESCO World Heritage sites in 2015.
Our River Walk winds one level below the streets, lined with restaurants and shops, and crucial funding came in 1939 from the Works Progress Administration, which built some 17,000 feet of walkways and about 20 bridges. And every April we throw Fiesta San Antonio, an annual festival since 1891 with more than 100 events and more than three million people taking part. That's where I get my medals.
Even our stadium story has a parade in it. The Alamodome opened in 1993, and when UTSA football played its first-ever game on Sept. 3, 2011, against Northeastern State, it drew 56,743 people, a record for a start-up FBS program, per Wikipedia. UTSA's first season averaged 35,521 at home, a record for a new program.
New Orleans. New Orleans is a beautiful city, and I mean that. But let's look at its nicknames. Wikipedia says "the Big Easy" is "possibly" a reference to how easy it was for musicians to find work. Possibly. A city that's not even sure where its own nickname came from. We know exactly where "Remember the Alamo" came from.
And Tulane's own mascot history is a delight. Riptide the Pelican debuted in 1998, but before that the school used an angry wave, which, per Wikipedia, fans nicknamed "Gumby." A wave. Named Gumby. The Roadrunner salutes you, Gumby, and then runs right past you.
The Final Float
The plan writes itself. Make Tulane's young quarterback throw. Run Henderson at a defense ranked 133rd against the run. Hold the ball, because the Green Wave can't. Don't hand Tulane's defense the takeaways it lives on, and stay out of the penalty-flag parade.
It'll be close in New Orleans. Both of our road wins this year, at Texas State and at Rice, came by five points or fewer, so this team knows how to win a tight one away from home. And I brought an extra ribbon, just in case.
Birds up!
My call: Tulane Green Wave 26, UTSA Roadrunners 25.