Frank Harris and De’Corian broke school records, Chris Carpenter registered the first kickoff return for a touchdown in UTSA history and the defense came up with a pair of takeaways to help the Roadrunners race past Texas Southern 52-24 on Saturday afternoon at the Alamodome.
Harris surpassed the UTSA record for individual passing yardage with 392 on 20-of-31 passing to lead an aerial attack that also eclipsed the school standard for team passing yards with 441, as the Roadrunners evened their record at 2-2 on the season with the win in their first-ever meeting with the Tigers (1-3).
Meanwhile, Clark shattered the single-game record for receiving yards with 217 on nine catches. The senior from Fort Worth also matched his own UTSA mark with three receiving touchdowns on the night.
Carpenter returned a kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown to help give UTSA a 14-7 lead in the first quarter. The Jacksonville, Texas, native stamped his name in the school’s record book with the first kickoff return for a score and the longest play in the program’s 12-year history.
Defensively, Dywan Griffin and Avery Morris came up with UTSA’s first two interceptions of the season, while Clifford Chattman led the unit with eight tackles and a pass breakup. Kelechi Nwachuku added seven stops, while Jamal Ligon, Ronald Triplette and Trey Moore posted six tackles apiece, while Moore had 2.5 of his stops for a loss.
Joshua Cephus turned in his third 100-yard game of the season with a career-high 114 yards and a touchdown on five receptions, while Zakhari Franklin added 87 yards and a TD on six catches.
Harris turned in a highlight reel run on UTSA’s opening possession, as the senior QB hurdled a defender on his way to a 19-yard TD dash to give the home team a 7-0 advantage.
After the Tigers got on the board on a 4-yard run by Andrew Body, Carpenter’s kickoff return gave the Roadrunners the lead for good.
UTSA went up by 14 points after Clark hauled in his first touchdown pass of the night on a 31-yard reception from Harris, who tossed four TD passes on the day.
TSU cut the deficit to four points at the half after another Body TD run and a 20-yard field goal by Richard Garcia made it 21-17.
UTSA took control coming out of the locker room, as Clark capped a three-play, 75-yard drive with a 69-yard catch-and-run from Harris to push the lead to 11.
Cephus then got in on the scoring with a 23-yard TD reception at the 5:37 mark of the third quarter to help make it 35-17.
The Roadrunners answered a 33-yard touchdown dash by Jacorey Howard with yet another TD pass, this one from Harris to Franklin for 35 yards to put UTSA up 42-24.
Jared Sackett drilled a 43-yard field goal with 12 minutes left to play and Clark put an exclamation point on his night with a 7-yard touchdown reception from Eddie Lee Marburger, who completed all three of his pass attempts for 49 yards.
Body finished with 229 yards passing and 45 on the ground to lead the Tigers, while Howard rushed for a game-high 88 yards.
The Roadrunners will open Conference USA play next Friday against Middle Tennessee (3-1). Kickoff is set for 6:30 p.m. at Floyd Stadium in Murfreesboro.