SAN ANTONIO — Despite losing his starting quarterback in their season opener, and despite starting the campaign with a victory over the Nebraska Cornhuskers, new Illinois Head Coach Bret Bielema was quick to move forward to who his Illini face on Saturday: the UTSA Roadrunners. '
"You can't get overly excited about what it means or what it is gonna do moving forward, because we have a UTSA team coming in here that has lots of returning starters," Bielema said. "They won a lot of games a year ago, so we have our work cut out for us."
The Roadrunners are looking to collect only their second-ever win against a Power Five program since upsetting Baylor in 2017. Illinois will likely start backup quarterback Art Sitkowski after first-stringer Brandon Peters left early in their opener with a shoulder injury.
Roadrunners Head Coach Jeff Traylor isn't sleeping on the second quarterback on the opponent's depth chart.
"No. 9 came out there and played very well. He was 12 out of 15 (on passing attempts). He's played lots of football in his life, so they work that guy, too," Traylor said.
As for the Roadrunners' season outlook, they return their fair share of super-seniors after the 2020 COVID season. With the return of quarterback Frank Harris and featured running back Sincere McCormick, the offense has explosive potential.
Meanwhile, the defense expects to be among the best in Conference USA, and with its special teams unit – kicker Hunter Duplessis and punter Lucas Dean among them – UTSA has lots of pieces that could figure into season success.
"We're much deeper. We know who we are as an offense, as a defense and with special teams," Traylor said. "Culturally we know where we are, and we have a deeper roster."
Kickoff is set for 6:30pm Saturday evening.