Frank Wilson's fighting Roadrunners made history with a bowl birth in 2016. All in all a pretty good season and certainly one that surpassed a lot of expectations, including out own.

Final Analysis looks at UTSA's 2016 season.

Identity

We harp on this because it's critical, what's the identity of a program? In other words, beyond the "core values" and marketing, what does a program do well? What do they do that makes them special, potent, or hard to deal with? If a program isn't intentional about what it wants to do, it's just hoping things go right and hope ain't a strategy.

UTSA's offensive identity, at least what's developed so far, is interesting. One could argue UTSA could have taken a "shortcut" and gone the pace and space route, spreading teams out, zone reading, etc. Wilson has opted not to go that route. We like that. Styles make fights and UTSA has a developing style that is unique.

Wilson brought in a veteran college and NFL hand in Frank Scelfo. Scelfo's offense early on is definitely more of a classic pro-style. The Runners employ those greatest of all unicorns, a fullback and a tight end. However, what Scelfo does, or seems to want to do, is closer to the shift that New England made a few years ago, going to a no huddle, three wide sets almost exclusively. Unlike the spread teams, personnel and matchups matter. Rather than searching for grass or space, UTSA tries to create favorable matchups by making players and units do things they aren't comfortable with. The Roadrunners like open spaces too.

The results have been mixed. As UTSA exploded against Southern Miss, they struggled against an inferior Rice team. UTSA ran for negative yards against Colorado State and 270 at Middle Tennessee State. Still, UTSA improved forty spots in scoring offense, from 104th in 2015 to 64th this season. Fourteen teams made a bigger jump in points per game from last year to this year.

Defensively, one of the most underrated hires in the country was Pete Golding at defensive coordinator. Golding had never been a coordinator at the FBS level, yet his unit jumped from 101st to 55th in total defense from 2015 to 2016. The biggest difference, UTSA stopped the pass exponentially better this season than last, roughly 50 yards per game.

Golding and his staff have worked to maintain flexibility in their approach. They run a base 4-2-5 but also mix in odd man front concepts with 3-4 and 3-3-5 looks. It helps that UTSA is a bit ahead of some of its of conference counterparts in terms of line depth and talent. Golding can thank Larry Coker for that.

We can't wait to see how UTSA evolves in year two of Frank Wilson's rebuild.

Best Win...

We know that they lost their quarterback midway through, but still, beating a good Middle Tennessee State team in Murffreesborough is a big deal. UTSA didn't just beat the Blue Raiders, they boat raced 'em - got out quick, didn't look back. UTSA beat a CUSA East favorite in their own barn. Sorry, barn may be offensive to MTSU fans. We don't mean an actual barn like the house most of you live in, we mean a barn like football stadium. Way nicer than the shed you live in. Moving on.

Worst Loss...

We said it at the time and it's still true, UTSA would look back at 2016 and ask themselves how they ever lost to UTEP at the Dome. We still have no idea. Ultimately, the loss didn't matter, UTSA still made a bowl game, but dang, that's one that got away.

Answers we have...