Remember the Alamodome: #17 UTSA Opens Season 2 as #19 Baylor Comes to Restore Order

By Frankie “The Horn” Calderón
Rise of the Roadrunners | Season 2, Episode 1 Pregame Preview

They heard the noise in Waco.

They heard it on the message boards. They heard it from the Power 5 loyalists. They heard it from the fans who watched UTSA climb the mountain last season and immediately started looking for reasons why it could not happen again.

The 2025 Roadrunners were a great story.

A miracle run.

A perfect storm.

A team that caught fire, found a rhythm, rode the Alamodome, and lifted a trophy before the rest of college football could figure out how to explain it.

That is the version they want you to believe.

And now, to open Season 2 of Rise of the Roadrunners, #19 Baylor comes to San Antonio with a ranking, a roster full of captains, and the quiet confidence of a program that believes it can be the one to restore order.

Not because Baylor does not respect UTSA.

That would be too easy.

The Bears know what happened last season. They know Clay “Stonewall” Merritt turned the Roadrunners into one of the most physical, disciplined, and dangerous programs in the country. They know UTSA is not sneaking up on anyone anymore.

But respect is not belief.

Baylor respects the banner.

They just do not believe the kingdom lasts.

That is the difference.

On Sunday, #17 UTSA opens Season 2 at home inside the Alamodome against #19 Baylor in one of the biggest season-opening matchups in program history. It is a ranked-on-ranked collision, a Power 5 measuring stick, and the first answer to the question the entire country has been whispering since the confetti hit the ground.

Was UTSA a moment?

Or is this a movement?

Baylor Comes to the Dome Looking to Draw the Line Again

This is not just another non-conference game.

This is a culture test.

Baylor is walking into the Alamodome as the team that represents the old college football argument. The one that says programs like UTSA can have a year, maybe even a magical one, but eventually the sport corrects itself. Eventually the bigger brand, the bigger roster, the bigger conference identity, and the bigger history show up and remind everyone where the line is supposed to be.

That is what Baylor is carrying into San Antonio.

The Bears are not coming in like a cupcake looking for a check. They are ranked #19. They have size. They have veteran leadership. They have All-American talent. They have captains on both sides of the ball.

They are built like a team that expects to survive the noise.

They are built like a team that believes the Alamodome is loud, but not enough.

They are built like a team that thinks UTSA lost too much.

That is where this game gets dangerous.

Because Baylor is not wrong to ask the question.

Robert Henry Jr. is gone. Pieces of last year’s heartbeat have moved on. The Roadrunners are no longer chasing the crown. They are wearing it.

That changes everything.

Last season, UTSA was the hunter.

This season, the Roadrunners are the target.

And Baylor gets the first shot.

The Pressure Is Different When You Are Defending the Throne

There is a different kind of silence around a defending champion.

It is not doubt from the outside. That part is normal.

It is the waiting.

Everybody waits to see if the hunger is still there. Everybody waits to see if the new faces can carry the old standard. Everybody waits to see if the coach can reload the machine instead of simply remembering what it felt like when it ran perfectly.

That is where Stonewall Merritt’s program lives now.

UTSA is not trying to introduce itself anymore.

The Roadrunners are trying to prove the introduction was not the whole story.

That is why Baylor is the perfect opening test for Season 2. Not because the Bears are coming in disrespectful. Not because they are some cartoon villain wearing a black hat. Baylor is dangerous because they are credible.

They have enough talent to believe.

They have enough size to challenge.

They have enough leadership to walk into a hostile building and tell themselves they belong there.

But the Dome is not a neutral field.

It is not a welcome mat.

It is not a sightseeing stop for a ranked Power 5 program looking to make a statement.

The Alamodome became a coliseum last season. On Sunday, Baylor gets to find out if the walls still shake the same way.

Baylor Players to Watch

If the Bears are going to come into San Antonio and restore order, these are the names that have to matter.

QB Walker White — The Quarterback Sent to Calm the Dome

Walker White steps into this opener with the job every Power 5 quarterback claims he wants.

Go on the road. Face a ranked defending champion. Quiet the crowd. Control the game. Make the moment feel smaller than it is.

The 6-foot-3, 225-pound senior from Little Rock, Arkansas is the face of Baylor’s belief system in this matchup. If the Bears are going to win in the Alamodome, White has to give them composure early.

That is easier to say on a depth chart than it is to do with the Southwest Sack Exchange breathing through the line of scrimmage.

White has to handle the first wave. He has to manage the crowd. He has to keep Baylor out of panic mode if UTSA’s defense lands the first punch.

Because the Dome does not just get loud.

It starts asking questions.

And if White does not have answers early, Baylor’s plan to restore order can turn into survival football fast.

RB Treyshawn King — The Captain Who Has to Keep Baylor on Schedule

Treyshawn King might be one of the most important players in the entire game.

The sophomore team captain from Longview, Texas gives Baylor a chance to keep the game on its terms. That matters because nobody wants to live in third-and-long against UTSA.

That is where drives go to die.

King’s job is not just to gain yards. His job is to protect Baylor’s entire offensive structure. Four yards on first down. Another push on second. Keep Walker White out of obvious passing situations. Make the Roadrunners respect the run enough that the pass rush cannot just pin its ears back and hunt.

If King gets Baylor ahead of the chains, the Bears can breathe.

If UTSA swallows the run early, the Dome gets louder, the clock gets faster, and Baylor starts playing the exact game Stonewall Merritt wants them to play.

WR Louis Brown IV — The Returning All-American With the Home-Run Swing

Louis Brown IV is the kind of player who makes a pregame preview honest.

You do not have to invent danger when a returning All-American is lining up outside.

The 6-foot-2, 192-pound senior from South LA gives Baylor a real explosive threat. He is the player who can flip field position, punish a missed assignment, and change the temperature of the building with one deep ball.

Every ranked team needs a player who can turn a shaky drive into a statement.

For Baylor, that player is Brown.

UTSA’s secondary will have to prove it can stay disciplined, tackle in space, and avoid giving the Bears the one thing every road underdog wants inside a loud stadium: a quick reason to believe.

Brown is not just a receiver to watch.

He is Baylor’s best argument that this game can swing in one snap.

WR Darrell Gill Jr. — The Versatile Problem Baylor Can Move Around

Darrell Gill Jr. is a chess piece.

At 6-foot-3 and 224 pounds, the senior from Atascocita, Texas brings the size of a physical receiver with added running back versatility. That makes him one of the more interesting matchups in Baylor’s offense.

Players like Gill are how teams try to test discipline.

Motion him. Shift him. Put him in space. Make the defense communicate. Make linebackers declare. Make safeties hesitate.

Against a defense like UTSA’s, hesitation is the whole game.

Stonewall Merritt’s group built its reputation on discipline, violence, and control. Gill gives Baylor a chance to stress that structure and force the Roadrunners to tackle cleanly in uncomfortable situations.

If Baylor finds ways to get him involved early, UTSA will have to adjust fast.

DT Jerry Bledsoe — The 316-Pound Captain in the Middle

This is the name that should matter to every UTSA fan watching the run game.

Jerry Bledsoe is 6-foot-4, 316 pounds, a senior from Marlin, Texas, and a team captain in the middle of Baylor’s defensive front. That is not just size. That is a message.

Baylor knows Robert Henry Jr. is gone.

Everybody knows it.

The Bears are going to look at UTSA’s backfield and ask whether the Roadrunners can still be the same physical offense without the player who carried so much of last year’s identity.

Bledsoe is the first test.

If he controls the interior, Baylor can make UTSA uncomfortable. If he forces the Roadrunners behind schedule, the Bears can let their linebackers and edge defenders get involved.

But if UTSA moves him, if the Roadrunners create lanes, and if the new-look ground game gets rolling, then Baylor’s biggest offseason talking point starts to crack in real time.

OLB Keaton Thomas — The Returning All-American on the Edge

Keaton Thomas gives Baylor a legitimate problem on the outside.

The 6-foot-2, 226-pound senior from Jacksonville, Florida returns as an All-American, and he walks into this game as one of Baylor’s best answers to UTSA’s offensive rhythm.

His job is to make Owen McCown uncomfortable.

Set the edge. Pressure the pocket. Disrupt timing. Force the Roadrunners to account for him on every snap.

This is where Season 2 gets real for UTSA’s offense. Last year’s production is not lining up on the field. Reputation does not block All-Americans. The Roadrunners have to prove the operation still works against a defense with real teeth.

Thomas will be one of the first players trying to bite.

OLB Kip Lewis — The Senior Captain Who Brings More Heat

Kip Lewis gives Baylor another captain in the linebacker room and another piece in a defense that has the leadership to survive a hostile opener.

At 6-foot-1 and 226 pounds, the senior from Carthage, Texas brings experience and toughness to the second level. Alongside Keaton Thomas, he gives Baylor a pair of outside linebackers who can test UTSA’s protection, squeeze the run game, and challenge the Roadrunners’ ability to stay balanced.

Baylor is not coming in hoping one player can wreck the game.

They have multiple players capable of making UTSA earn every yard.

Lewis is one of them.

LB Brian Nelson II — The Captain in the Middle

Brian Nelson II is another captain in a defense full of voices Baylor trusts.

The 6-foot-2, 196-pound junior from Pearland, Texas has to be the stabilizer. The communicator. The cleaner. The player who keeps Baylor from getting stretched sideways by UTSA’s speed and tempo.

If Nelson plays clean, the Bears can settle into the game.

If UTSA gets him chasing, the Roadrunners can turn the opener into exactly what the Dome became last year: a track meet with shoulder pads.

UTSA Players to Watch

The crown stayed in San Antonio.

Now the cast has to prove the standard stayed with it.

QB Owen McCown — The Captain Fully in Command

Owen McCown is not sneaking up on anyone anymore.

He is not the quarterback of a fun story. He is the quarterback of the defending national champions. He is a team captain. He is the player Baylor circled the minute this matchup became real.

Last year, McCown helped steer the ship.

This year, it is his ship.

That comes with pressure. That comes with noise. That comes with every defense trying to prove they found the answer during the offseason.

Baylor is going to test him. They are going to bring heat. They are going to try to force him into proving that UTSA’s championship poise did not leave with the departed stars.

McCown does not need to answer the message boards.

He gets to answer on the field.

RB Wayshawn Parker — The Transfer Asked to Carry the Torch

This is the question everyone wants to ask.

How does UTSA replace Robert Henry Jr.?

The honest answer is that it does not happen with a slogan. It does not happen because fans want it to happen. It does not happen because the next back wears the same uniform.

Wayshawn Parker has to make it happen one carry at a time.

The transfer running back from Richmond, California steps into the Season 2 opener as one of the most important players in the entire Rise of the Roadrunners story. He is not being asked to be Henry. That would be unfair and lazy.

He is being asked to be dangerous.

He is being asked to make Baylor pay for believing UTSA’s physical identity graduated.

He is being asked to turn the biggest question on the roster into the next problem for opposing defenses.

Sunday is not about replacing a ghost.

It is about introducing the next name.

WR Devin McCuin — The Captain Who Sets the Tone Outside

Devin McCuin gives UTSA the kind of receiver every championship quarterback needs.

Trusted. Tough. Experienced. Ready for the moment.

The senior from Jacksonville, Texas enters this opener as a team captain and one of the most important tone-setters on the roster. Baylor will want to make UTSA one-dimensional. They will want to clog the run game, pressure McCown, and make the Roadrunners prove they still have answers outside.

McCuin is one of those answers.

When a defense brings pressure, somebody has to win quickly. When a quarterback needs a drive to settle, somebody has to be where he is supposed to be. When the moment gets loud, captains have to play like captains.

That is McCuin’s job.

WR/Returner Mekhi Anderson — The Spark That Can Change the Game

Special teams can turn a season opener sideways.

Mekhi Anderson gives UTSA instant electricity.

The 5-foot-9, 174-pound sophomore from Tampa, Florida does not need twenty touches to matter. He needs one lane. One mistake. One Baylor coverage unit that takes the wrong angle inside a building waiting to explode.

That is the danger of a player like Anderson.

Baylor wants this game under control. They want clean drives, clean punts, clean field position, and clean communication.

Anderson is the kind of player who steals clean.

If he gets loose, the Dome will not build slowly.

It will detonate.

OLB Vic Shaw — The Captain on the Edge

Vic Shaw is one of the faces of what UTSA became under Stonewall Merritt.

The 6-foot-3, 237-pound junior from Texarkana, Texas is a team captain and a tone-setter off the edge. He brings the kind of physical presence that makes quarterbacks feel pressure before the snap.

That matters against Walker White.

Baylor’s quarterback has to stay calm, but calm gets harder when the edge keeps collapsing. It gets harder when third down turns into a countdown. It gets harder when the crowd knows the pass rush is coming and the offense still has to stop it.

Shaw does not need to talk about last year.

His job is to make Baylor feel like nothing changed.

OLB Owen Peewee — The All-American Linebacker With a Point to Prove

Owen Peewee comes into this opener as an All-American and one of the most important players in UTSA’s defensive structure.

The 6-foot-2, 207-pound senior from Katy, Texas is right at the center of the Baylor question. Can the Bears run the ball well enough to stay balanced? Can they protect Walker White? Can they avoid becoming predictable?

Peewee has a say in all of that.

If he closes lanes early, Baylor’s offense starts shrinking. If he plays downhill and forces the Bears into obvious passing situations, the Roadrunners can unleash the rest of the defense.

That is when the Dome starts smelling blood.

And when the Dome smells blood, things get uncomfortable quickly.

The Matchup That Decides the Tone: Baylor’s Front vs. UTSA’s New Backfield

There are plenty of matchups that matter in this game, but the emotional center is obvious.

Baylor’s defensive front against UTSA’s new-look run game.

That is where all the offseason doubt lives.

It lives in the space Robert Henry Jr. used to occupy. It lives in the questions about whether Wayshawn Parker can carry the torch. It lives in Baylor’s belief that if they can make UTSA feel different physically, they can make the Roadrunners feel different mentally.

This is where Baylor wants to prove the title team is gone.

This is where UTSA wants to prove the standard never left.

If Parker and the offensive line get movement early, the entire story changes. Baylor cannot just sit on McCown. The linebackers cannot just fly downhill without consequences. The Bears cannot treat UTSA like a team searching for itself.

But if Baylor’s front wins early, if Bledsoe clogs the middle and Thomas and Lewis crash the edges, the Roadrunners will have to show they can win a different kind of game.

That is what makes Sunday so good.

There is no fake drama here.

The question is real.

The Message Board Bowl

Every great season opener has a second opponent.

The one on the schedule is Baylor.

The other one is the noise.

The trolls have been busy. The message boards have been loud. The college football traditionalists have had an entire offseason to explain why UTSA’s title was special, but not sustainable.

They do not have to say the Roadrunners are bad.

That is not how this kind of doubt works.

They say the run was magical. They say the timing was perfect. They say the right players got hot at the right time. They say the Dome was a factor. They say the schedule broke right. They say it was a great story.

Then they add the word “but.”

But can they do it again?

But can they replace Henry?

But can they handle being hunted?

But can Stonewall Merritt reload?

But can UTSA really become a national power?

That is what Baylor represents.

The Bears are the first “but.”

And on Sunday, UTSA gets to put a helmet on the answer.

Stonewall Merritt Does Not Coach Apologies

Clay “Stonewall” Merritt did not build UTSA into a champion by asking permission.

That is the part people keep forgetting.

This program did not stumble into toughness. It did not accidentally become physical. It did not luck into an identity.

The Roadrunners became what Stonewall demanded they become.

Disciplined. Relentless. Uncomfortable to play. Hard to knock off schedule. Harder to finish.

That does not disappear because the calendar turned.

It has to be proven again, absolutely.

But Baylor is not walking into an empty house. The Bears are walking into a program with a standard, a coach who guards it, and a fan base that remembers what the Dome felt like when the Roadrunners stopped hoping and started expecting.

That is the real danger for Baylor.

They may be coming to restore order.

But UTSA believes order already lives in San Antonio.

Final Word: Remember the Alamodome

So here we are.

#17 UTSA.

#19 Baylor.

The Alamodome.

Season 2.

A championship in the rearview and a target on every helmet.

The Bears are coming to test the throne. The message boards are waiting to see cracks. The Power 5 crowd wants the sport to make sense again. The doubters want proof that last year was a moment, not a movement.

And the Roadrunners?

They do not need to win an argument on the internet.

They do not need to defend the banner in a comment section.

They do not need to explain the standard to anyone who refused to see it the first time.

They get sixty minutes.

They get the Dome.

They get Baylor.

And they get the only answer that has ever mattered in football.

Line up.

Snap the ball.

Find out.

Remember the Alamodome.