No. 24 Troy beats No. 25 UTSA 18-12 in Cure Bowl

Troy has won 12 games for the first time in school history.

The No. 24 Trojans took down No. 25 UTSA 18-12 in the Cure Bowl on Friday to finish the 2022 season at 12-2. Troy scored the final 18 points of the game after UTSA took a 12-0 lead in the first half.

Friday’s game wasn’t pretty. The teams combined for five turnovers and went a combined 6-of-28 on third downs. UTSA (11-3) also turned the ball over on downs twice in the fourth quarter as it had chances to take the lead,.

UTSA got the ball with 9:06 to go after Troy kicked a field goal to go up six. A big run by Kevorian Barnes got the Roadrunners to the Troy 5 but a brutal drop on second down and two ensuing incompletions gave the ball back to Troy.

UTSA’s final chance came after a Troy punt with 2:41 to go. But the Roadrunners got just one first down and an odd second-down play call of wide receiver screen and lateral was followed by two incompletions.

Both teams struggled to throw the ball. Each team averaged fewer than five yards per pass and Troy had just 152 total yards. The Trojans also ran for just 39 yards thanks to numerous UTSA sacks.

The loss means UTSA is still looking for its first bowl win after winning 23 games over the past two seasons.

Troy, meanwhile, was in its first bowl game since winning the Dollar General Bowl at the end of the 2019 season in current West Virginia coach Neal Brown’s last game with the team.

The Trojans had just one 11-win season in 21 seasons at the top level of college football before 2022. Troy went 7-1 in the Sun Belt and won the West over South Alabama. The Trojans then beat Coastal Carolina in the Sun Belt title game to set up the only bowl game of 2022 between conference champions.