SCOOTER’S COFFEE FRISCO BOWL
UTSA ROADRUNNERS
vs.
MARSHALL THUNDERING HERD
Tuesday, Dec. 19 | 9 p.m. ET
Toyota Stadium | (20,500/Natural Grass)
Frisco, Texas
Television
ESPN
Jorge Sedano, Rocky Boiman and Dawn Davenport
National Radio
Bowl Season Radio
Toby Rowland, Elvis Gallegos and Chris Mycoskie
SiriusXM 84
UTSA Radio
KTXR-AM 760 (flagship)
SiriusXM 80/970
THE GAME
The Scooter’s Coffee Frisco Bowl will be played for the sixth time in the 2023 season … The game originated in 2014 as the Miami Beach Bowl before it was acquired by ESPN Events and relocated to Frisco for the 2017 season … American Athletic Conference teams have made one previous appearance in the bowl, when SMU fell to Louisiana Tech in the 2017 matchup … This year’s game will be the fourth meeting between UTSA and Marshall, which competed together in Conference USA for three seasons before moving to their respective current conferences … Marshall holds a 2-1 series lead with wins in Huntington, West Virginia, in 2013 and 2018 … UTSA was a 9-7 winner in San Antonio in 2017.
FRISCO BOWL RESULTS (0-1)
12-20-17 Louisiana Tech 51, SMU 10
12-19-18 Ohio 27, San Diego State 0
12-20-19 Kent State 51, Utah State 41
12-21-21 San Diego State 38, UTSA 24
12-17-22 Boise State 35, North Texas 32
UTSA
8-4, 7-1 American
Head Coach
Jeff Traylor (Stephen F. Austin ’90)
38-14, fourth season
UTSA is making its fourth consecutive appearance in Bowl Season and its fifth appearance in a bowl game … The Roadrunners are looking for their first bowl victory … UTSA is in the Frisco Bowl for the second time after the Roadrunners fell 38-24 to San Diego State in 2021 … UTSA went 8-4 overall and 7-1 in conference play in its first season as a member of the American Athletic Conference … The Roadrunners started the season at 1-3, but strung together seven straight wins to begin conference play before falling at Tulane in what was a de facto play-in game to the American Championship Game … The loss to Tulane snapped streaks of 15 consecutive regular-season conference wins and 17 straight wins against conference opponents (including postseason games) … Head coach Jeff Traylor has gone 27-4 in regular-season conference games and 29-4 against all league opponents … LB Trey Moore, who had a school-record 14 sacks in the regular season, was chosen as The American’s Defensive Player of the Year … Moore announced that he was entering the transfer portal, however, and will not play in the Frisco Bowl … QB Frank Harris, the Roadrunners’ seventh-year standout, has thrown for 2,506 yards and 18 touchdowns this season … Harris ranks fifth among all active NCAA FBS players with 14,007 yards of total offense, is eighth with 11,862 passing yards and is seventh with 92 career touchdown passes … Harris joined WR Joshua Cephus on The American’s all-conference first team among offensive players … Cephus has 82 receptions for 1,049 yards and nine touchdowns this season … The leading rusher is RB Kevorian Barnes, who has 698 yards and six touchdowns on 139 carries, while RB Robert Henry has 551 yards and a team-high nine TDs … CB Kameryn Alexander and S Rashad Wisdom earned all-conference first team accolades on defense … Alexander has 33 tackles with 13 pass breakups and an interception for a league-leading 14 passes defended … Wisdom is second on the team with 58 tackles to go with two sacks and five pass breakups … UTSA’s 40 sacks rank second among American Athletic Conference teams … K Chase Allen has made 13 of 15 field goal attempts, while P Lucas Dean has averaged 42.0 yards on 46 punts, including nine kicks of 50 yards or more.
MARSHALL
6-6, 3-5 Sun Belt
Head Coach
Charles Huff (Hampton ’05)
22-16, third season
Marshall is making its 19th bowl appearance and will be playing in Bowl Season for the seventh consecutive season … The Thundering Herd will play in the Frisco Bowl for the first time … Marshall is 13-5 in its previous bowl appearances, boasting the best winning percentage (.722) of any FBS team that has played in at least 10 bowl games … Marshall reeled off four consecutive wins to start the season, followed by a five-game losing streak … The Herd pulled out a 35-21 win against Arkansas State in the regular-season finale to gain bowl eligibility … Marshall is 1-0 against American Athletic Conference opponents this season with a 31-13 win at East Carolina in Week 2 … The Herd went 3-5 in its second year in the Sun Belt Conference, finishing tied for fifth in the East Division … Marshall is one of 12 teams from the Sun Belt to play in bowl games this season … The Herd had three players named to the Sun Belt’s all-conference first team … DE Owen Porter enters Bowl Season with five sacks and 15 tackles for loss … CB Micah Abraham registered three interceptions and 13 pass breakups and ranks third nationally with 16 passes defended … WR Jayden Harrison was a first-team choice as a kick returner after averaging an NCAA-leading 31.9 yards per return with two touchdowns … Harrison was tabbed as an FWAA First Team All-America selection as well … QB Cam Francher, who passed for 2,162 yards and 11 touchdowns , entered the transfer portal following the regular season … QB Cole Pennington, the son of former Marshall great Chad Pennington, could be in line to start against UTSA … Pennington made two starts this season … RB Rasheen Ali, an All-Sun Belt second team choice, has 1,043 rushing yards and 14 touchdowns and is second on the team with 28 receptions … The Herd has eight players with at least 200 receiving yards and no players with as many as 400 receiving yards … WR Caleb Coombs has 39 catches for 310 yards and two touchdowns … LB Eli Neal has a team-high 85 tackles with two sacks and 9.5 tackles for loss … DE Elijah Alston has five sacks and 10.5 tackles for loss opposite Porter … P John McConnell has averaged 42.8 yards on 61 punts, while K Rece Verhoff has hit 10 of 15 field goal attempts … Harrison has 669 yards on kickoff returns.