UTSA Hate Week And The I-35 Rivalry

“I don’t think it was much of a rivalry, I don’t think it was much of a series to be honest with you, until last year, I guess.”

That’s how G.J. Kinne opened the Sun Belt Conference’s coaches media availability call this week.

“They’re a really good team, I think Coach Traylor does an unbelievable job,” Kinne said. “They got really good players. A really good culture. They’re big, they’re strong, they’re fast. They got a quarterback, that’s kind of like their team, the best. One of the best, if not the best, G5 quarterbacks in the country. So, we’re just working hard over here to figure it out.”

I asked the question that led to the coldish response, so I’ll take full responsibility for the amount of UTSA propaganda under my tweet of this exchange from Monday.

I was curious what Coach Kinne had thought of the evolution of the series to this point in his tenure.

In 2023, he took over, lost his first game of the series and then the next year demolished the Roadrunners in San Marcos. It was clear, if the series to that point was nothing, now it was something.

In 2018, then-Head Coach Everett Withers was asked if he thought the series had turned into a rivalry game.

“No, I think it is,” Withers said with a grin. “Three is the magic number. I just made that up. You’re going to write that in there, too!”

At that point, the Bobcats had lost every single meeting with the Roadrunners. Texas State would go on to lose the following two meetings in 2020 after Withers had left, under former Head Coach Jake Spavital and in 2023 in Kinne’s first year when the series made its return.

Something I think was taken drastically out of context after Texas State’s first win in the series was that the Bobcats had deliberately recruited players who could stand up to the Roadrunners in the second game of the season in 2024.

I still think last year’s team was incredible on paper. Those guys almost knocked off Arizona State in a primetime mid-week madness game. No disrespect to Jeff Traylor, the Roadrunners or the City of San Antonio. But Kinne and company were not worried about these guys last year, they were poised to win a Sun Belt Conference Title.

Injuries, lack of focus, overconfidence and a faulty defense shot those dreams down. I don’t think we were supposed to be a College Football Playoff team, but it was nice to dream. That team was SOLID.

This team still has a lot to prove and cannot rest on the laurels of the first-ever bowl game-winning team like last year’s squad did.

Talking to Kinne on Monday, he struck me as extremely focused on the task at hand, which is not unusual, to be completely fair. But the vibes were much more serious coming into week two than they were just a week ago ahead of Eastern Michigan.

Much has been made of the rivalry to this point. Again, the teacher and the student meet again on the gridiron. Kinne talked about how weird it is to see Traylor on the opposing sideline when the two spent so many years fighting for the same goals alongside one another.

Kinne said meeting up with Traylor pre-game or post-game is always awkward. He called the I-35 rivalry week a tough week. In his mind, he knows someone is going to walk away from the game mad, frustrated or potentially backed into a corner down the stretch.

Throw in what the fans want to happen on the field and the whole thing takes a weird turn. We have two coaches with nothing but love for one another, two fan bases with nothing but hate for one another and two incredibly solid teams.

Last year, one of the major story lines that developed was that Kinne and Traylor try not to talk to one another on game weeks. Ordinarily, the pair bounces ideas off one another and have a working relationship. But this week is all business.

I’m really excited and nervous for this game. I think it’s the biggest game of Kinne’s career because it’s the next one. As one of the hottest names in college coaching, the next game is more important than the last. But this specific one against what should naturally be a rival will be fiery — if you don’t believe me just look at the responses to my Kinne tweet on Monday.

In week one, Texas State danced away with a 52- 27 win over Eastern Michigan. Brad Jackson was 18 for 26 with 214 yards and four touchdowns. His longest was a 33-yarder. UTSA fell to Texas A&M 24-42. The Roadrunners’ Owen McCown was 19 for 32 with 121 yards in the air and no touchdowns. His backup, Brandon Tennison, threw the team’s only touchdown. But the real story was Robert Henry.

Henry had 177 yards in 16 attempts on the ground, scoring twice. What a legend. Again, this is against Texas A&M. If you want to feel better about it, Lincoln Pare again danced on Zimmel’s take that he is mid, putting up 167 yards in 12 rushing attempts. Greg Burrell and Jaylen Jenkins also put up solid numbers and found the endzone.

Everyone, including Kinne, is super high on Owen McCown. From all the journalists and coaches I have talked to, everyone believes in him because of his NFL pedigree and frame. I think he and Brad are kind of in a similar boat. Whoever figures it out first will have the better season in the end.

Will this game be more of a shootout or ground and pound? I feel like this is already turning into a last team with the ball wins scenario and that scares me because our defense was a little suspect and the Roadrunners will play very clean, especially compared to what we saw in San Marcos last year.

We’ll have a lot of fun with a full preview of the game with our guy Darrien Starling this week on the show!

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