Jeff Traylor isn’t pretending this is a fair fight.
As UTSA prepares for a Saturday night trip to Darrell K Royal Texas Memorial Stadium, the Roadrunners’ head coach was blunt about what awaits his team against No. 1 Texas. Traylor, who once worked on Charlie Strong’s staff with the Longhorns, said the gap is obvious.
"They know they're better than us," Traylor said ahead of UTSA’s game at Texas, fearing the worst. We know they're better than us."
That honesty has been a running theme around this matchup. Texas, fresh off one of the biggest wins in recent program history, enters as the nation’s top-ranked team and a heavy favorite. UTSA is 2-0, but Traylor didn’t sugarcoat the challenge when asked on a podcast whether his team could stay within the 30-point spread.
"You're still living in the naive dream world," Traylor said to podcast host Kirk Bohls. "Those days are gone, Bubba.
I used to be that [optimist] guy. I'm not that guy anymore."
The Longhorns’ roster is loaded with NFL-bound talent, and this is their last home game for nearly a month. That could open the door, at least in theory, to a flat spot. Texas also has bigger games looming, with ranked SEC road trips to Tennessee and Oklahoma ahead.
There’s also been some off-field turbulence. Co-defensive coordinator Johnny Nansen was arrested and charged with a misdemeanor DWI, and he will serve a one-game suspension. Texas coach Steve Sarkisian called that situation "obviously disappointing."
Traylor, meanwhile, kept the humor coming when the Texas series came up.
"It's not smart," a joking Traylor said about the series with the Longhorns. "We need to get out of that deal, Sark.
Let us go. Free us, Sark.
Free us."
Even with the mismatch in front of them, Traylor has plenty to point to at UTSA. The Roadrunners are above .500, have won bowl games in two of the last three years, and are not far removed from a 23-5 run across 2021 and 2022. They’ll also be one of the teams in the mix for an American Conference championship in 2026.
For now, though, the task is simple: get to Austin and get out in one piece.
Texas, for its part, is trying to keep the spotlight where it belongs. After hearing all week about how the Longhorns couldn’t win the big one, Sarkisian said the narrative has flipped too quickly.
"A week ago, the narrative was we can’t win the big game," Sarkisian said about his squad this week. The opinion now is we’re the best team in the country, allegedly, and so everybody is patting us on the back. Job's not finished."
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