Since joining Conference USA for the 2013 season, UTSA's football program has always been full of potential.
They are a large school in a large city with only one pro team to contend with for attention. They have resources and they seem to have an institutional commitment to football.
Through their first four years as a program since its founding in 2011, the Roadrunners have shown flashes, playing power schools close, getting an occasional big conference win — two against UTEP, in fact — then failing to sustain it.
So it was through the first quarter of this season, notably in getting a 16-point lead against Arizona State in Week 2 and watching it turn into a 33-28 loss on national television in the second game under new coach Frank Wilson.