The UTSA Roadrunners are coming back to the 40 Acres, but they are far from the team that Texas faced two years ago, and the Horns cannot afford to treat them as if they are, even with an SEC opponent looming overhead.
Almost two years ago to the day, Texas quarterback Arch Manning took (temporary) control of the Horns' offense. Quinn Ewers had gone down with an injury against the Roadrunners, and Manning stepped into the QB1 role for a couple of weeks.
It resulted in a dominant 56-7 victory for the Texas Longhorns, and Manning finished with 223 passing yards for four touchdowns through the air and 53 rushing yards for a touchdown on the ground.
The Roadrunners are 2-0 on the year and just defeated the Texas State Bobcats, the very team that earned nearly 350 total yards against Texas in the first game of the season.
The Roadrunners were able to put up 398 total yards of offense against Texas State, just 118 fewer yards than the Longhorns' offense produced in Week 1. UTSA quarterback Owen McCown threw zero interceptions against the Bobcats, while Manning threw an interception in the first half against Texas State.
Simply put, even though the Horns' SEC schedule is already peeking over the horizon, Texas can't treat UTSA like a cupcake opponent, or head coach Steve Sarkisian and his squad could face an upset before conference play even kicks off.
It's Week 3 of the Red River Faceoff, and @dekotagregory and I broke down the Horns' upcoming matchup against the UTSA Roadrunnershttps://t.co/RPWMLA0Jzh pic.twitter.com/BFThDD8Ise
— sam fariss (@samfarisss) September 16, 2026
Texas must increase ball security with Roadrunners coming to town
Against Ohio State, one of the biggest red flags of the first three quarters was a lack of ball security from the Texas offense.
On the first play of the game, running back Raleek Brown fumbled the ball, and it was recovered by the Buckeyes. Later that quarter, Manning threw a seemingly perfect pass to wide receiver Cam Coleman, who failed to secure the ball to the ground; it popped out, and Ohio State intercepted it.
In the second half, even as Texas's offense finally started to fire on all cylinders, wideout Emmett Mosley IV fumbled the ball, and luckily, Coleman was able to hop on top of it before the Buckeyes could.
That cannot happen against the Roadrunners, who were able to force and recover a fumble from the Bobcats in Week 2, with the turnover resulting in a touchdown for UTSA.
Obviously, the Roadrunners do not measure up to the same quality of opponent as the Buckeyes, but treating this as an easy win would be extremely risky for the Longhorns.
There is always one game a season where the higher-ranked team treats the underdog as a walkover, and it almost always results in a trap game. That means the lower-ranked team frequently upsets the top dog.
Oddsmakers give UTSA Roadrunners perfect opportunity to upset Texas Longhorns
The Horns are 30.5-point favorites in the matchup, but we've seen this story before, with the UTEP Miners giving Texas some problems in Week 3 of the 2025 season, a game that the Horns only won by 17 points.
- Spread: -30.5 Texas, +30.5 UTSA
- Moneyline: -8000 Texas, +2200 UTSA
- Over/Under: +/-58.5 points
Odds are courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook. Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-GAMBLER.
Now, none of this is to say that the Longhorns can't easily handle the Roadrunners on Saturday, but it is to say that Texas shouldn't treat UTSA like a walk in the park.
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