UTSA has played 100 games since Larry Coker first led the Roadrunners onto the field and came away with a 31-3 win over Northeastern State in front of 56,743 fans at the Alamodome.

But during the last nine years, what has the program accomplished? Is it better today than it was in 2011?

The conference affiliation is better. The Roadrunners have gone from an FBS Independent to the WAC to Conference USA, which it joined in 2013.

A better conference usually means the team is at least a little more profitable.

But the on-field product? That’s debatable.

Saturday at the Alamodome, UTSA lost 33-14 to UAB, a program that didn’t even exist from 2015-16.

Maybe comparing the Roadrunners to the Blazers (5-1, 2-1 Conference USA) is unfair, though. UAB started playing football 20 years before UTSA (2-4, 1-2).

But it also didn’t miss a beat after its abrupt departure and stunning return.

A major reason UAB has come back in better shape than when it left is that it has a coach it believes in. Bill Clark led the Blazers to a 6-6 record in his first season (2014) and when the program was shut down, he stayed, looking over a program that wasn’t for two years.

Since the Blazers returned to the field 2017, they have won 19 games, including going 11-3 last season and winning the Conference USA championship.

That is where UTSA wants to be. Saturday proved it’s not as close as head coach Frank Wilson believes.

“I think we’re close. I really do. We are on the verge of something special. I still feel it in the air. I have not wavered. We will deliver for those young men who came to this program in 2016,” Wilson said a two weeks ago. “Not in the future … This year, we will have the success that we are chasing.”

So far that success, though, is a win over an FCS program (Incarnate Word), and a win over one of the worst FBS programs in the nation (UTEP).

Making matters worse, the Roadrunner fan base seems to know where the program stands.

The Alamodome was barren Saturday. The announced attendance was 15,728 — the lowest total in program history.

But I’d be surprised if it the Roadrunners drew much more at the gate than Brandeis and O’Connor did at sold-out Farris Stadium on Friday night.

The plan to get fans back at the Dome should be simple — win.

“We will continue to do those things that we can do to put our best foot forward,” Wilson said. “We are appreciative of the ones that traveled and the ones that showed up today … and hope to see more fans here for homecoming.

“We are going to play to the best of our ability and make them proud.”

The best of their ability doesn’t appear like it will get this team more than three — maybe four — wins this season, though. Not with performances such as Saturday, where they were outgained 492-220 in total yards.

For the Roadrunner faithful, four wins shouldn’t be good enough.

Wilson was brought in to lead the program for two reasons — recruiting and defense.

He hasn’t really failed at either.

UTSA is ranked 59th in total defense this season, 96th in 2018 and was fifth in the nation in 2017.

Two years ago, UTSA pulled in its best recruiting class and it beat Baylor 17-10. It looked like a program-defining win, especially after Wilson and the Roadrunners finished 6-7 and led the Roadrunners to their only bowl game in 2016.

Baylor finished 1-11, though, and the win meant little as UTSA finished 6-5 and did not get invited to a bowl game. The next season, the Roadrunners suffered from a lack of identity on offense and slipped to 3-9.

The Roadrunner offense was supposed to be rejuvenated this season with Frank Harris. But the sophomore quarterback from Clemens has not played since he left UTSA’s 45-3 loss to North Texas on Sept. 21 after taking a hit on the second play from scrimmage.

And he missed last season with a torn ACL.

Harris was completing 72.5 percent of his passes when he went down against North Texas. His replacement, Lowell Narcisse, has proven adept at handling the ground game. He’s UTSA’s second-leading rusher and he added 89 yards to his total against UAB Saturday.

But Narcisse is only completing 42.1 percent of his passes. You can’t win games doing that unless you are running the triple option or it’s 1959.

That hasn’t deterred the players, though. At least not yet.

“We just have to execute and make plays,” wide receiver Carl Austin said. “But the gap is closing with the elite team in Conference USA with UTSA. We are right there. We are a few plays from being in that conversation.

“I believe we have one of the best teams we have ever had. We just have to put the pieces together and show it.”

And that needs to start with game 101.