Towel Talk: Jared Kalmus of CoolerChronicles on UTSA
The Hilltoppers have a big week ahead of them, as they welcome in UTSA for the final home game of 2014, and with a win, the Tops will find themselves bowl eligible, which is pretty amazing all things considered. To get a little more perspective on the Roadrunners, we reached out to Jared Kalmus of CoolerChronicles.com (a site in which he co-founded) and UnderdogDynasty.com, who has been watching UTSA in their short time as a football program, so there’s no one better to talk to.
Wave the Red Towel: UTSA started the year with a huge win against Houston, a three point loss against Arizona (that, if you watched the game, should have been a win) and then didn’t win again until week six. What in the world happened?
Jared Kalmus: Oof. Good question. There were injuries, sure, but every college football team loses a few starters along the way. If I had to pick out one main issue it would be that play calling has never adopted to the strengths of each of the three different quarterbacks that UTSA has played with the season.
WTRT: The only major category that UTSA isn’t in the 100’s in is points against (44th). They’re only allowing 23.9 points per game, but only have three wins. How is that possible?
JK: UTSA’s defense is probably even better than their statistical rankings. The offense is a three-and-out machine, so UTSA’s defense has to play a ton of snaps and gets short breaks on the sideline. Thankfully, the Roadrunners are deep at several key positions. It’s really miraculous that UTSA’s defense has continued to hold up in spite of all of the offense’s issues. UTSA won their last game against Southern Miss without scoring a touchdown.
WTRT: I’m looking at the stats of the duel-QBs (Tucker Carter & Austin Robinson), and in terms of point production, they aren’t good. Is it an inability to actually score for UTSA, or once they’re inside a certain point on the field do they stick to the run?
JK: The play calling certainly gets uber-conservative in the red zone but this offense is bad all over the field. I’m not anticipating Carter to play, but if he does, he has the ability to stretch the field with his strong arm. Robinson, the likely starter, began the season as the third string option while being passed by true freshman Blake Bogenschutz before the young prodigy broke his wrist. Forced into action, Robinson has shown flashes of promise while also struggling to command the offense. Robinson is a great athlete that can make defenses pay if they leave space for him to scramble out of the pocket.
WTRT: What an ugly win for UTSA last week. From an outsiders perspective, it seemed like a game UTSA really should have lost. What was it like watching it with Roadrunner glasses?
JK: They say a win is a win but it’s such a weird feeling to celebrate after a game in which your team didn’t score a touchdown. It was great for the defense to finally be rewarded with a win as those guys have majorly impressed down the stretch.
WTRT: Even though the win was ugly, can it be seen as a turnaround for the team for the final two games of the year?
JK: No, I think it’s too late for a real turnaround per se. If UTSA shows a major improvement in these last two games I would assume that would be a due to a mix of decreased competition and some younger, more athletic players getting a chance to prove their worth on the field.
WTRT: What will WKU have to do against UTSA to win.
JK: It would bode well for the Toppers to attack UTSA’s secondary often. It’s been the Roadrunners’ sole glaring weakness on defense this year. In spite of WKU’s defensive struggles this season, it would be a minor miracle for UTSA to score over 28 points. The Toppers should skate to victory if they score four touchdowns or more.
WTRT: Conversely, what will UTSA have to do to steal a win from Bowling Green?
JK: I think above all UTSA just needs to play loose and let their athletes make plays. The Runners have the talent to compete with any team in this conference but they have played like they have had a burden on their shoulders all season. If UTSA plays confidently and within their means they could surprise with consecutive wins.
WTRT: We wont hold you to it, but do you have a prediction?
JK: I’ve been calling for a blowout in this game all season. Hope I’m wrong but I’ve got WKU taking it 34 – 16.
Thanks to Jared for taking time to answer our inquires. Be sure to check out CoolerChronicles for the UTSA side of things in preparation for Saturday.