SAN ANTONIO — Florida Atlantic demonstrated Saturday why it is one of the best teams in Conference USA, rolling to a methodical 40-26 victory against outmatched UTSA.
A crowd of 14,355 watched FAU (8-3, 6-1) lead from wire to wire and outgain the Roadrunners 526-401 in total offensive yardage.
While the Owls' margin of victory was only 14 points, they never were seriously threatened by UTSA.
FAU led by 22 points in the fourth quarter before coach Lane Kiffin started emptying his bench. The Roadrunners outscored the Owls 15-7 in the final period to make the margin of defeat more respectable.
The loss ensures that UTSA (4-7, 3-4) will finish the season with a losing record for the second year in a row. The Roadrunners, who lost their third consecutive home finale, end the season at Louisiana Tech next Saturday.
UTSA coach Frank Wilson expressed regret that the Roadrunners couldn't win their home finale for the team's 21 seniors, all of whom were honored in a pregame ceremony.
"We went out and we played hard," Wilson said. "We wanted to be able to dedicate this win for them in their last game in the Alamodome. This is a very special place. Our university is a special place.
"Our fans, our school is. We wanted to play well for one another more than anything else. To fall short on that, not have a win, is the thing that hurts those young men."
FAU leads the C-USA East Division race by one game over second-place Marshall (7-4, 5-2). But the Owls must win their regular-season finale to clinch the title because they lost to the Thundering Herd.
UTSA senior safety Carl Austin III and senior offensive lineman Josh Dunlop talked about the emotion of playing at the Alamodome for the final time.
"I mean, I hate to be here for one last time," Austin said. "I've been here for a while. I played a lot of snaps on this field. I've had a lot of ups and downs on this field. There were a lot of emotions after the game."
Dunlop talked about the importance of gleaning the positive from the season and staying even-keeled.
"We still got positive heads," he said. "That's just how we train ourselves. We don't really get too down and out about a certain loss because the way really all college football is played, as soon as the game is over, it's already time to start to prepare for the next opponent."
FAU led 33-11 going into the fourth quarter, but UTSA trimmed the lead to 33-18 on a 2-yard pass from Narcisse to Leroy Watson with 8:42 left. The Owls scored their last TD on a 5-yard run by BJ Emmons with 6:48 remaining.
The Roadrunners kept punching, drawing to within 14 on a 24-yard pass from Weeks to Carlos Strickland with 3:01 left.
FAU quarterback Chris Robison completed 27 of 41 passes for 336 yards and one TD. Tight end Harrison Bryant finished with 10 receptions for 182 yards and the 2-yard scoring strike from Robison.
Wilson was effusive in his praise of Bryant.
"Their tight end, 40, is a Sunday player, will play in the National Football League for years to come," Wilson said. "We did our best to cover him. Put one underneath, one over top. At times when they tried to hide him, they created matchup issues for us.
"He had a huge game on us. He's our leading tight end in our conference. We did our best to try to contain him. Thank God he'll be going (laughter)."
The Roadrunners also were hurt by three turnovers that the Owls converted into 14 points. UTSA had one pass intercepted and lost two of three fumbles. FAU finished with one turnover, a fumble, that the Roadrunners capitalized on for a TD.
"We traded blows with them," Wilson said. "We couldn't afford to go back and forth playing from behind. When you turn over the ball, we had some young guys out there that gave everything. We rode them this far. Today just wasn't their day in some spots."
Starting quarterback Lowell Narcisse hit 10 of 19 passes, with one interception, for only 86 yards, but he threw for two TDs. He had his best game of the season in last week's 36-17 loss to Southern Miss, completing 22 of 30 attempts for 325 yards and two TDs.
Weeks, who replaced Narcisse with 10:55 left, completed 8 of 11 attempts for 123 yards and the TD pass to Strickland.
The Roadrunners finished with 192 yards rushing and 209 passing.
Ahead 17-3 at the half, the Owls extended their lead to 27-3 in the third quarter on a 28-yard field goal by Vladimar Rivas and 32-yard TD run by Emmons.
The Roadrunners cut the deficit to 27-11 on a 16-yard pass from Narcisse to wide receiver Zakhari Franklin and two-point conversion run by Narcisse with 4:01 left in the third period.
But FAU wasn't quite done for the quarter, scoring another TD on a 2-yard pass from Robison to Bryant with six seconds left. Robison's pass on the two-point conversion attempt was incomplete, leaving the Owls with a 33-11 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
Up 7-3 after one quarter, FAU extended its lead to 17-3 at the half on a 26-yard field goal by Rivas and nine-yard run by James Charles.
The Owls scored on their first possession and never trailed. Malcolm Davidson put FAU on the scoreboard with a 16-yard run that capped a five-play, 90-yard drive that consumed only 1:51.
UTSA cut the Owls' lead to 7-3 on a 41-yard field goal by Hunter Duplessis with 4:11 left in the first quarter, but the Roadrunners went scoreless the rest of the half.