ORLANDO – The UTSA Roadrunners and Troy Trojans met with the media Tuesday as they prepare to face each other in the Duluth Trading Cure Bowl on Friday afternoon.
This event also allowed select team members and both head coaches to take photos with the Cure Bowl trophy.
The players signed memorabilia that will be auctioned off to raise money for the Cure Bowl, with the proceeds going to fight cancer.
UTSA was represented by head coach Jeff Traylor and players Dadrian Taylor, Frank Harris and Rashad Wisdom.
“We’re excited to be here,” Traylor said. “Our players are very excited since we heard the announcement where we were going now. They’ve been excited ever since. The destination’s fantastic, and the opponent we have a lot of respect for, and it’s a great opportunity to show a lot of people how good a football we play at UTSA against a great opponent in Troy.”
Troy head coach Jon Sumrall and players Austin Stidham, Kyle Coale and Carlton Martial represented the Trojans.
“A great match up. A lot of respect for Texas, San Antonio and the season they’ve had,” Troy coach Jon Sumrall said. “I think, two of the premier group of five college football programs right now without question. You look, our seasons have been very similar, and I think it’s a tremendous matchup with two really well-coached teams, two very talented teams, and it should be a really good football game, and excited to be here and excited for our players to have the opportunity experience this week.”
The Cure Bowl is a Top 25 matchup and is the only bowl game to feature two conference champions.
“Yeah, it’s a great test for us,” UTSA quarterback Frank Harris said. “They’re very good, very well coached. We’re excited for this opportunity. Like you said, we never beat a top-25 team, and this will be a great test for us. Like coach (Traylor) said earlier, they are similar to us. They’re scrappy. A great test for us.”
This game will mark the Roadrunners’ final contest as a member of Conference USA before joining the American Athletic Conference on July 1, 2023. Birds up would love to exit C-USA on a high note.
“All we got to do is go finish,” UTSA safety Rashad Wisdom said. “I think that’s the biggest thing for us, you know, leaving a conference like that. Like Dadrian said, we finished with the conference championship. It’d be a great thing to go finish with our first ball game too, especially heading into the new conference, to have that momentum for next season and go in full guns-a-blazing.”
Before they finish the fight, UTSA will get to have some fun on Wednesday when they visit Universal Studios and Universal Islands of Adventure.
UTSA will play Troy on Friday at 2:00 p.m. in Orlando.
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UTSA Roadrunners preparing to face off against Troy Trojans in Cure Bowl