Paul Myerberg

USA TODAY Sports

You have to learn how to crawl before you can walk, unless you're UTSA – in which case you skip crawling, walking, potty training, remedial spelling and cursive, opting instead for hitting the ground running at a pace beyond even the Roadrunners' wildest expectations.

The program played its first game on Sept. 3, 2011, when Urban Meyer was in the midst of his one-year interregnum between Florida and Ohio State. That 2011 team drew in 56,743 fans for its debut, setting a new Football Championship Subdivision attendance record for a start-up program. The Roadrunners averaged 35,521 fans for the home slate, likewise a start-up record.

UTSA was winning eight games by 2012, when fellow Football Bowl Subdivision neophyte South Alabama was going 2-11 in the Sun Belt Conference – and South Alabama christened its program in 2009, giving the Jaguars a two-year head start.

Last year's team – the program's last before gaining full-fledged FBS status – went 7-5 as a debut member of Conference USA, taking six games in league play and coming within a touchdown of an outright West Division title. "It's been a great run this season," Larry Coker said after a year-ending win against Louisiana Tech, in his typically understated style.

A monster has been born on the Riverwalk: UTSA is so good, so fast that it nearly defies logical explanation.

As if San Antonio needed another monster. But unlike those other guys – you know, Duncan and the gang – UTSA is all local, totally inexperienced, flying by the seat of its pants, taking it a game at a time and seemingly unaware of just how ridiculous this whole thing has become. One similarity: UTSA is brimming with confidence. Another: UTSA is really good.

LAST YEAR'S PREDICTION :

The issue for UTSA is extremely inadequate depth, and this will be plainly evident as the Roadrunners go up against the meat of this year's schedule. The offensive line has only one backup with past experience. The back seven on defense can't suffer any meaningful injuries. Another issue on offense is the lack of one leading skill player with game-breaking potential. This is not a complete team, in my mind, and I see UTSA taking a sizable step back in the win column during its first season as a member of Conference USA.

2013 RECAP :

In a nutshell: Theoretically, one could incorrectly project each team in college football, seeing that each team projected to go 12-0 could go 0-12, those 11-1 teams could go 1-11 and the 1-11 and 0-12 teams could go 11-1 and 12-0, respectively. It's just pretty difficult to totally air ball all 128 teams; you can whiff on a dozen, two dozen, maybe a third of the FBS, but when it comes to getting more right than wrong, math and common sense are on your side. But there's a simple rule to live by: Aim small, miss small. Don't overstep the boundaries of common sense; don't bite off more than you can chew, basically. This adage works in preseason projections as it does in life, if that's the sort of life you'd like to lead – safe, secure, uneventful, staid. Anyway, I thought UTSA would be terrible last season. The Roadrunners were anything but.

High point: A five-game winning streak to end the season. Among this group were wins against two teams with eight or more wins: North Texas and Tulane. The Roadrunners just humiliated Tulsa, to the point where an individual unfamiliar with each team would just assume the Golden Hurricane played their first game in, say, 2011.

Low point: Losing to Rice by six points. UTSA likely couldn't claim a postseason berth either way, due to the transitional period accompanying the move to Conference USA, but a win against the Owls would have sent the Roadrunners to the conference title game.

Tidbit: It took a little time, but UTSA's roster is now up to 106 players. Of those 106 Roadrunners, 94 come from Texas – a ridiculously high percentage. Another five are from Florida, three are from California, three are from Oklahoma and one, junior tackle Brian Price, is from Indiana – but comes to San Antonio from a junior college in California.

Tidbit (roster edition): One more extremely important note about this roster: UTSA has 37 seniors. This isn't just the highest total in the country; it's the highest total in the country with a bullet. The Roadrunners will have 19 senior starters, barring injuries or a surprise, four more than second-place South Alabama.

ARBITRARY TOP FIVE LIST :

2001 Miami (Fla.) starters in the NFL

1. Ed Reed

2. Andre Johnson

3. Clinton Portis

4. Jeremy Shockey

5. Jonathan Vilma

PLAYERS TO WATCH :

Offense: The thing to remember about this offense is that it's the same group that led UTSA to seven wins a season ago, merely a year more experienced. The only notable change comes under center, where the Roadrunners will transition from Eric Soza, a multiple-year starter and tremendous leader, to senior Tucker Carter, a former JUCO transfer who spent last season in a reserve role. It's fine to be somewhat nervous: Soza was a linchpin, remember, and it's difficult to overstate just what he meant to this program's early days. Yet Carter has every skill you'd need, not to mention the intangibles: UTSA's new starter was a standout in one of the nation's top JUCO conferences and led his high school, Allen, to the Texas state championship. He'll get the job done, even if I'm unsure just what sort of production he'll bring to the running game. As a passer, however, Carter might not be only Soza's equal; he should be even better. If you worry about the quarterback position, do so only because it's the only position on this entire roster undergoing any significant change whatsoever.

Everything else is the same. The offensive line returns 143 career starts, the most of any returning FBS program – Appalachian State has two more career starts, but the Mountaineers are moving up from the FCS. Yeah, nothing's going to change: UTSA brings back senior left tackle Cody Harris, senior left guard Scott Inskeep, senior center Nate Leonard, junior right guard William Cavanaugh and senior right tackle Josh Walker. In reserve, the Roadrunners return Cody Cole, Payton Rion and Jordan Gray, with Rion and Gray holding a combined 13 career starts – or seven more than Tennessee's entire offensive line, to put it in simple terms. Inskeep, Leonard and Harris will be all-conference picks.

What's nice about this receiver corps isn't that it allows UTSA to share the wealth, something this offense does as well as any team in the country, but that several targets can provide a boost both through the air and on the ground – such as senior Kam Jones (34 receptions for 345 yards), who bolstered his receiving totals with 302 rushing yards on 10.41 yards per carry. But the big story is experience: Jones, Marcellus Mack (22 for 169), Brandon Freeman (24 for 255), Kenny Harrison (23 for 201), Seth Grubb (14 for 228), Josiah Monroe and Earon Holmes – essentially seven of UTSA's top nine – are seniors. The rest of the production comes from juniors Aaron Grubb (18 for 218) and Kenny Bias (16 for 335), the latter a field-stretcher, while senior tight end Cole Hubble (20 for 274) is a borderline all-conference contender.

Defense: The thing to remember about this defense is that it's the same group that led UTSA to seven wins a season ago, merely a year more experienced. The only notable change comes at outside linebacker, where UTSA will replace Steven Kurfehs – the only defensive starter lost to graduation – with senior Jens Jeter (29 tackles), last year's backup. Jeter – or maybe sophomore Dalton Miller, but I'd be surprised if it's not the senior – will line up alongside the combination of junior Drew Douglas (69 tackles) and senior Blake Terry (33 tackles), the returning contributors in the middle. Douglas will start, as was the case last fall, but Terry is going to be a very valuable top reserve off the bench. These linebackers will do what is asked from coordinator Neal Nethery's system – not be particularly explosive, though that'd be nice, but simply clean up in space. It's a steady group.

But the defense's strength is a line loaded with experience – and I realize how repetitive this whole thing has become. The only cog lost from last year's rotation is end Jarron Harris, a somewhat valuable fourth end; this year's line features four senior starters, on the other hand, and has eight returning linemen with fairly extensive starting experience – in each case, six or more career starts. The biggest key will be mounting a more effective pass rush, a task that falls on ends Cody Rogers, Robert Singletary (30 tackles, 5.0 sacks) and Codie Brooks (34 tackles, 5.0 sacks). While Brooks is listed as a backup, he's essentially a third starter; he'll play major minutes in key packages and situations. The interior is extremely solid: Richard Burge, Ferrington Macon, Ashaad Mabry (41 tackles) and Brian Price form a very, very good group. It's amazing to think that Coker and UTSA have accumulated this line talent in such a short period of time.

The secondary is similarly experienced but not quite as productive, which is why it's important that UTSA beef up this pass rush. But despite the lack of a hungry rush, this backfield does excel at preventing big plays; that reflects well on the three-safety back end of seniors Nic Johnston (70 tackles), Brian King (61 tackles) and Triston Wade (94 tackles) – with the latter the secondary's best hope of an all-conference selection. Another could be junior cornerback Bennett Okotcha, who came on strong as a first-year starter. He'll be joined on the outside by senior Crosby Adams III, while fellow senior Darrien Starling, the third cornerback, brings 24 career starts into his final season.

Let's just do a quick summation of the offense and defense. The Roadrunners' starting five offensive linemen have 129 career starts. The starting backfield has 38 career starts, counting fullback Nate Shaw. The three starting receivers – Freeman, Jones and Mack, though everyone's going to play – have 55 starts. The top four defensive linemen have 61 starts. In total, the secondary's two-deep features 119 starts. This is insane.

Special teams: The kicking game will come last for UTSA. Neither kicker Sean Ianno nor punter Kristian Stern inspires confidence; both have much to prove, though Ianno has done an adequate job on kickoffs. The return game is fairly strong, however, even if the coverage teams could stand for a slight uptick in consistency.

POSITION(S) TO WATCH :

Running back: This a competition only by default, seeing that the rest of the offense – and the rest of the defense – is so secure in its projected personnel as to render this section null and void. Yet the Roadrunners are a touch low on experience in the backfield, having lost two senior contributors: Evans Okotcha, the bruiser, and Soza, a valuable dual-threat athlete. Yet the Roadrunners shouldn't miss a beat if sophomore Jarveon Williams (126 yards) can match Okotcha's role as the offense's bigger-bodied piece, joining senior David Glasco II (496 yards) in headlining this running game.

With Glasco the leader, Williams the complementary reserve and senior Brandon Armstrong (251 yards) the jitterbug speedster, the Roadrunners have seemingly identified a solid rotation. This attack merely needs Glasco to deliver, Williams to step forward and Carter to provide a semblance of tertiary production from the quarterback position. It's extremely safe to project this group to deliver.

GAME(S) TO WATCH :

Rice: To the winner go the spoils and the West Division, in my opinion, though North Texas could have something to say about that matter in the regular-season finale. Either way, I think all three teams take at least six games to again secure bowl eligibility. I also imagine that UTSA – and this fan base, mind you – is fairly excited for the opportunity to take on Houston in the opener. Just a hunch.

SEASON BREAKDOWN & PREDICTION :

In a nutshell: The Roadrunners are moving at breakneck speed, which seems fitting. In a short span, this program has gone from irrelevance – the universe before the Big Bang – to the next big thing in Conference USA, a potential monster of a program set to consume all comers in asserting itself as the league's power program. Some might have seen this coming from the start; none could have seen it coming this soon. In only its first season as a full-fledged member of the FBS, the Roadrunners have the talent, coaching and experience to take home the West Division and meet Marshall to decide the Conference USA title. It's almost hard to believe.

It's all about the experience. Not just 19 returning starters; 19 senior starters. The strengths are both lines, on offense and defense, and how each group will help UTSA control the line of scrimmage – dictating the tempo on offense, helping Carter get his feet wet, and controlling the flow of attack on defense, setting the perfect tone for the entire roster. On offense, UTSA has buttressed this line with a deep receiver corps and a solid backfield. The only concern is the quarterback position, and I think Carter will do perfectly fine as a passer – if not exceed his predecessor's production. The defense will flourish if the line finds a steady rush; the defense will be fine even if the line struggles at times pressuring the quarterback.

UTSA just needs to take care of business. Well, that's the big question: Can UTSA handle the pressure – or is UTSA ready to handle the pressure? There's certainly a long-term view in place with this program, one espoused by Coker and this administration since the school first broke ground a half-decade ago. Yet this team is so heavy on seniors and experience that it's only safe to assume next year's team will take a slight step back; this year's team needs to take advantage of the situation. I think it will: UTSA is the team to beat in the West Division and a program to watch closely across the entire range of college football.

Dream season: UTSA loses just twice, to Arizona and Oklahoma State.

Nightmare season: The Roadrunners slide to 5-7, a disappointing finish for a team with this much experience.

UP NEXT :

Who's No. 59? This team's coach was born exactly one year to the day after a relief pitcher who gave up a home run to end the World Series.