SAN ANTONIO, Texas – UTSA got a touchdown from its special teams early in the first quarter, and would go on record one from their defense and two offensively, in the first half and never look back defeating Lamar University, 54-0, Saturday evening in the Alamodome.
 
UTSA finished the game with 427 yards of total offense – 242 in the second half, including 321 through the air. Big Red had a tough time finding their rhythm offensively finishing the day with 122 yards.
 
Junior Jalen Dummett completed 6-of-11 (.545) passes for 33 yards. He also carried the ball eight times for 21 yards. Big Red's ground attack was led by sophomore James Jones. The Beaumont native rushed for 50 yards on 13 carries.
 
The Cardinals' defense was led by the preseason All-Western Athletic Conference selection, Anthony Ruffin. The sophomore recorded eight tackles, including five unassisted stops. Newcomer Divine Buckrham added six stops, with five solo tackles.
 
The Cardinals finished the game being penalized just six times for 45 yards, but unfortunately, all six penalties came at key moments in the first half hurting Big Red's chances of sustained momentum.
 
UTSA didn't waste time getting on the scoreboard, after forcing the Cardinals to punt on their first possession, Sheldon Jones fielded the Bailey Giffen punt on his own 24-yard and returned it 76 yards for a touchdown. The 'Runners could only manage two field goals on their next two possessions as LU trailed just 13-0 heading into the second quarter.
 
Unfortunately, UTSA recorded its first offensive touchdown 56 seconds into the second, when Sincere McCormick carried the ball 18 yards up the middle to cap a seven-play, 74-yard drive to take a 20-0 lead. UTSA closed the half by tacking on defensive touchdown to go along with another McCormick rushing touchdown to hold a 34-0 advantage going into the locker room.
 
Despite the 34-point lead at the intermission, UTSA only managed just two offensive touchdowns in the first 30 minutes, and didn't score their first offensive touchdown until the second quarter.
 
Big Red's defense held UTSA to just 185 yards in the first 20 minutes of play, with the majority of that coming through the air. The Cardinals finished the half with 56 yards of offense. LU was also hurt by six penalties in the opening half totaling 45 yards.  
 
The Cardinals were unable to score in the second half as UTSA tacked on a touchdown and field goal in both the third and fourth quarters.
 
Big Red will be back in action Saturday, Sept. 18^th, when they travel to Greely, Colo., to take on Northern Colorado. The game against UNC will kick off at 2 p.m. (3 p.m. Central time) from Nottingham Field.