Take a step back in time to the year 2016 and recall where the UTSA Roadrunners and UAB Blazers were as football programs. UTSA just came off a disappointing 3-9 season and hired their second-ever football coach in Frank Wilson to correct the program’s trajectory. UAB had not fielded a team since 2014 after the program was shockingly terminated by the University of Alabama school system. Both teams were afterthoughts in C-USA.
Now flash forward five years. The two programs are no longer afterthoughts, but contenders for C-USA titles. Since 2017, when UAB resumed football, the Blazers have won the C-USA West title every year and captured two C-USA championships.