UTSA Football

Lucas Johnson completed 24-of-36 passes for 333 yards and three touchdowns as the No. 24 San Diego State Aztecs football team beat the University of Texas-San Antonio Roadrunners 38-24 in the Tropical Smoothie Cafe Frisco Bowl on Tuesday from Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas.

Wide receiver Jesse Matthews caught 11 passes for 175 yards and two touchdowns for the Aztecs, who scored 17 unanswered points to turn a 14-7 first-quarter deficit into a 24-14 third-quarter lead.

Running back Greg Bell added 26 carries for 101 rushing yards and one score. Johnson also added 15 rushing yards and a touchdown on the ground. The final TD was courtesy of wideout Tyrell Shavers.

UTSA quarterback Frank Harris completed 22-of-36 passes for 271 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. He found frequent targets in Zakhari Franklin (eight receptions, 89 yards) and De'Corian Clark (six catches, 72 yards), both of whom scored touchdowns. Brenda Brady rushed for 76 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries.

San Diego State maintained position for nearly 38 minutes as its successful ground game and explosive passing attack led to 489 yards from scrimmage. The Aztecs also managed to get 31 first downs without committing a turnover.

Clark opened the scoring with this leaping grab to put UTSA up 6-0:

Matthews' first TD helped tie the game at seven, and he earned the 20-yard score after successfully diving for the pylon:

UTSA countered with a two-yard Brady run:

However, Johnson went right back to Matthews for his second score of the game. Following the PAT, this one was tied up at 14:

The Aztecs went up for good when Matt Araiza kicked a 33-yard field goal to end the first half.

SDSU got the ball to start the second half and ended a six-play, 48-yard drive with a one-yard run from Bell.

UTSA answered with a Hunter Duplessis 41-yard field goal, but the relentless SDSU attack responded when Johnson found Shavers for a 24-yard touchdown and a 31-17 lead post-PAT.

Harris found Franklin for a three-yard touchdown to make it a one score game as time expired in the third quarter, but the Aztecs closed the scoring in the fourth when Johnson ran it in from two yards out with 9:51 in regulation remaining.

San Diego State ended its season with a 12-2 mark. It was an excellent year for the Aztecs, whose accolades include a 33-31 triple overtime win over eventual Pac-12 champion Utah.

UTSA capped its tremendous season, which saw the Roadrunners win its first 11 games and earn a Top 25 Associated Press poll ranking for the first time in the program's short history, which runs back to 2011. The Roadrunners finished the season at 12-2.

The American Athletic Conference announced Thursday it has accepted six new member schools: UAB, Florida Atlantic, Charlotte, North Texas, Rice and UTSA.

The conference did not confirm when the institutions will leave Conference USA and formally join the nine programs already in the AAC.

Commissioner Mike Aresco said in a statement:

I am extremely pleased to welcome these six outstanding universities to the American Athletic Conference. This is a strategic expansion that accomplishes a number of goals as we take the conference into its second decade. We are adding excellent institutions that are established in major cities and have invested in competing at the highest level. We have enhanced geographical concentration which will especially help the conference's men's and women's basketball and Olympic sports teams.

The realignment dominoes began falling in July when the SEC confirmed it will add Oklahoma and Texas on July 1, 2025, at the latest.

That left the Big 12 in need of a countermove lest it lose ground to its Power Five rivals. The conference snagged BYU, UCF, Cincinnati and Houston to fill out its ranks, which dealt a major blow to the AAC since the latter three were member schools.

The next dominoes to fall could be in Conference USA. The AAC's move could be its death knell because its membership has been nearly halved, so other conferences may smell blood in the water.

For the six C-USA defectors, money talks.

Yahoo Sports' Pete Thamel reported that Conference USA schools were collecting less than $1 million in annual television revenue. By going to the AAC, that money will at least double and "rise significantly from there," per Thamel.

UCF, Cincinnati and Houston are set to leave the AAC on July 1, 2024, and each pay a $10 million buyout fee. Aresco told ESPN's Heather Dinich in September the timeline could be accelerated pending negotiations about the buyout.

An expedited exit might pave the way for UAB, Charlotte, Florida Atlantic, North Texas, Rice and UTSA to make their AAC arrivals earlier than expected.

That may benefit Conference USA too since Thamel reported each school has to pay an exit fee of around $3 million.