UTSA @ Baylor preview

Matt Rhule's debut as Baylor head coach didn't quite go as planned as the Bears were stunned by Liberty, 48-45. With a road game at Duke on deck followed by a difficult Big 12 opener with Oklahoma, the Bears are facing an early must-win when they host Texas-San Antonio on Saturday night.

Rhule remains optimistic despite the school's first loss to a 1-AA team since a 18-17 setback to Lamar in 1981. "As I said to them, the way my mind thinks, I put this on me," Rhule told the Waco Tribune. "I'm hoping every guy in this room says, 'Hey, what could I have done?' And if we have that approach we'll be fine. They're so young and we'll learn from this, and the sky's the limit. I think they will be good." The Bears will be facing a UTSA squad that will be playing its first game of the season after last week's game with Houston was postponed. The contest was scheduled to be played at the Alamodome in San Antonio, but Houston requested the postponement following the devastating damage of Hurricane Harvey.

TV: 8 p.m. ET, FSN. LINE: Baylor -17

ABOUT TEXAS-SAN ANTONIO (0-0): The Roadrunners return 15 starters from a team that finished second in the West Division of Conference USA, a spot they are picked to finish again in this year's league preseason media poll. Four players were picked to the preseason all-conference team by the league's coaches: DE Marcus Davenport, OL Austin Pratt, LB Josiah Tauaefa and long-snapper Matt Bayliss. Senior quarterback Dalton Sturm, who passed for 2,170 yards and 20 touchdowns and rushed for 313 yards and four more scores last season, returns to run the offense.

ABOUT BAYLOR (0-1): Anu Solomon, a graduate transfer from Arizona, won the starting quarterback job and completed 14-of-29 passes for 278 yards and three touchdowns while also rushing for a career-high 97 yards on six carries against Liberty. However, he also had one big turnover, an interception that was returned 32 yards for a touchdown to open the third quarter. A bigger issue for the Bears is an injury-plagued secondary that was picked apart by Liberty quarterback Stephen Calvert who completed 44-of-60 passes for 447 yards and three touchdowns.

EXTRA POINTS

1. Baylor sophomore RB JaMycal Hasty, who rushed for 56 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries in the opener, will be sidelined a minimum of four weeks with a knee sprain that will not require surgery.

2. This is the first meeting between Baylor and UTSA with a rematch scheduled for 2018 at the Alamodome.

3. Baylor has won 14 of its last 18 games against in-state schools.

PREDICTION: Baylor 48, Texas-San Antonio 31