UTSA improved to 9-2 all-time in season openers with the 37-30 road win over Illinois, the Roadrunners' second victory against a team from a Power Five conference. Saturday will mark the first meeting in football between UTSA and Lamar, two former Southland Conference foes in several other sports. UTSA has won its last six games against FCS teams dating back to 2012.

The Roadrunners have won their last two home openers and are 6-4 overall. Of UTSA's 112-man roster, 87 (78%) are from the state of Texas. Saturday's game will air on ESPN3, marking the 99th straight UTSA game to be broadcast.

Setting the scene
Fresh off a thrilling 37-30 road win over Illinois on Saturday night that marked the program's second triumph over a team from a Power Five conference, UTSA will host Lamar in the home opener on Saturday, Sept. 11. Kickoff is set for 5 p.m. at the Alamodome and the game will be broadcast on ESPN3. The Roadrunners (1-0) and Cardinals (1-0), two former Southland Conference foes in several other sports, will meet for the first time on the gridiron. Lamar is in its first year as a member of the Western Athletic Conference, a league in which UTSA competed for the 2012 season.

Tuning in
Saturday's home opener will be broadcast on ESPN3. Lincoln Rose (play-by-play) and LaDarrin McLane (analyst) have the call. Fans can stream the broadcast at Watch ESPN or on the ESPN app. The contest will air live on Ticket 760 AM in the San Antonio area and on SiriusXM app channel 988. Andy Everett (play-by-play), Jay Riley (analyst) and Pat Evans (reporter) will call the action. The pregame show will begin at 3 p.m. and there will be a 45-minute postgame show. The radio broadcast also can be heard online at Ticket760.com and via the iHeartRadio and The Varsity Networkapps.

UTSA in home openers
The Roadrunners have won their last two home openers and are 6-4 all time in such contests. UTSA posted a 24-10 victory against Stephen F. Austin a year ago and downed UIW 35-7 on Aug. 31, 2019, at the Alamodome. The Roadrunners were victorious in each of their first two home lid-lifters, beating Northeastern State 31-3 in 2011 and Texas A&M-Commerce 27-16 a year later. After dropping three straight home openers, UTSA again posted back-to-back victories in their first home game, beating Alabama State 26-13 in 2016 and Southern 51-17 in 2017.

Punter from Down Under
In its short history, UTSA has developed consistent success in the punting game with the likes of Kristian Stern and Yannis Routsas, a 2017 Ray Guy Award semifinalist. Lucas Dean has emerged as the next in that strong punting lineage. A product of Prokick Australia and the first Roadrunner from Down Under, Dean has used an Australian Rules Football background to help provide UTSA with a weapon in the kicking game since his arrival on campus in 2019. As a true freshman, he averaged 40.8 yards on 65 punts and booted 12 of 50-plus yards. He also pinned opponents inside the 20-yard line 16 times and induced 28 fair catches. Dean provided quite the encore in 2020, shattering UTSA's single-season punting average record with a 46.0 mark to lead Conference USA and rank sixth nationally. A semifinalist for the Ray Guy Award, he was named C-USA Special Teams Player of the Year and a second-team All-American by the Sporting News. Dean registered 27 punts that pinned opponents inside the 20-yard line, including 15 inside the 10 and seven inside the 5, and he recorded 21 punts of 50-plus yards, including a career-best 67-yarder against Florida Atlantic, during his sophomore season. Dean opened his third season by averaging 44.2 yards on five punts with one inside the 20 and a long of 55 in the 37-30 road victory over Illinois. He is on this year's watch list for the Ray Guy Award and has been tabbed a preseason second-team All-American by the Sporting News.

Down to the wire
UTSA is no stranger to close contests over the past year, as 10 of its 13 have been one-score ballgames in the fourth quarter. In the season opener, UTSA held off Illinois 37-30 in a game that saw the Illini have a chance to tie things up with two throws into the end zone in the final seconds. The Roadrunners opened the 2020 campaign with a double-overtime decision at Texas State that saw the Bobcats rally to tie the score with 1:16 left to play before UTSA escaped with a 51-48 win after Hunter Duplessis' field goal in the second extra frame. UTSA's home opener versus Stephen F. Austin saw the Roadrunners storm out to a 17-0 advantage only to have the Lumberjacks climb back to within 17-10 until a Frank Harris touchdown run with 7:08 left to play secured a 24-10 victory. UTSA held a 37-29 fourth-quarter lead over Middle Tennessee on Sept. 25 before a Blue Raiders score with 1:04 left on the clock made it a two-point contest. The pass attempt on the two-point try fell incomplete, sending UTSA to its first 3-0 start since 2017. On Oct. 3, the Roadrunners trailed UAB by a 21-6 count early in the final stanza before a Sincere McCormick touchdown dash pulled UTSA to within 21-13 with 10:31 remaining. In a road matchup with No. 15 BYU the following Saturday, the Roadrunners cut a 21-6 deficit to one score after a 32-yard TD pass from Lowell Narcisse to Zakhari Franklin early in the fourth. After the Cougars pushed their lead to 27-13 with 2:18 left to play, Narcisse found Brennon Dingle for a 34-yard scoring connection that helped make it 27-20 with 1:17 left, but BYU held on for the win after recovering an onside kick. Against Army West Point, Franklin hauled in an 11-yard touchdown pass from Harris with 14:06 left to play to cut the deficit to 21-16, but the Black Knights answered with a TD of their own less than two minutes later to help seal a 28-16 win. UTSA rallied from a 13-point deficit with a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns to pull out a 27-26 triumph over Louisiana Tech on Oct. 24 and held off Southern Miss by a 23-20 count on Nov. 21 in Hattiesburg, while the SERVPRO First Responder Bowl saw the Roadrunners erase a 24-7 deficit to No. 16 Louisiana and knot the score at 24-all early in the fourth quarter before a late Ragin' Cajuns touchdown proved to be the difference.

Brotherly duos
UTSA has two sets of brothers on the 2021 roster in offensive lineman Kevin Davis and wide receiver Isaiah Davis, along with outside linebackers Dadrian and Donyai Taylor.

A focus on recruiting Texas
UTSA's 112-man roster features 87 players — 78% — who hail from the state of Texas. The next-closest state is Louisiana with seven, while there are five players from Mississippi. California and Florida are considered home for three players apiece and two are from Georgia. UTSA has one player each from Iowa, Hawai'i, Tennessee and Virginia, while Lucas Dean is the first Roadrunner from Australia.

Keeping them home
UTSA head coach Jeff Traylor and his staff have placed an emphasis on recruiting the city of San Antonio and surrounding area. The current roster includes 29 players from Greater San Antonio with a team-high seven hailing from perennial power Converse Judson High School.

Up next
UTSA will host Middle Tennessee for its Conference USA opener on Saturday, Sept. 18. Kickoff is slated for 5 p.m. at the Alamodome.