UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT SAN ANTONIO FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 30, 2025

Jeff Traylor

Press Conference

UTSA 48, Tulane 26

Q. You guys pick up an upset win over Tulane. What does this one mean to you?

JEFF TRAYLOR: Yeah, it was big. Those kids have taken a lot the last 11 days. They don't ever change. They have worked their tails off every day to keep getting better.

Real happy for them. Shut some people up until the next time they don't do something people don't like.

Q. This seemed to be one of the more complete games, offense, defense, special teams. What do you think you'll see when you watch the film of this one?

JEFF TRAYLOR: A team that felt extremely disrespected. A coach that said we basically been cheating the last six years, which disrespects everything we've done in this place for six years, in my opinion. A quarterback that for them that disrespected us unbelievable, mic'd up before the game. Some spoiled rotten media, some fair-weather fans. Shut them up for a week.

But the loyal ones, the true ones that have been there since day one and always staying there, that's who we play for. Them chirping birds, we don't really give a crap about, but shut them up for a week.

Q. Jeff, what does it say about this team that you guys can rebound from a low moment in the season and have a performance like this?

JEFF TRAYLOR: They're tough-minded kids, and they don't listen to you and all the podcasters.

Q. Do you have any idea now what it is about playing in the Alamodome that allows you guys to have so much success here and why this streak has continued the way it has?

JEFF TRAYLOR: I'll let you tell me.

Q. Coming in as underdogs, despite your undefeated tenure here at the Alamodome, what did you tell your team before kickoff to set the tone for the kind of dominant game that we just saw?

JEFF TRAYLOR: I really didn't have to. I mean, the negativity that our kids have gotten is just unbelievable. You know, I did not appreciate what Coach Sumrall said, and I told him. Jon is a good man and a good friend of mine. I just thought it was disrespectful.

And, again, the way their quarterback spoke about us before the game, the way our kids have been treated for the last 11 days, a really frustrated group. We've felt we've done as much right as any group I've ever had here since January and we all came together, and we haven't seen the results we wanted.

We've been extremely injured in the passing game, and all those guys are somewhat getting healthy, and you saw them all out there tonight. I just can't always tell you all every single nicked up thing about a kid because the other teams knows, but we're getting better at the right time. I'm happy for my kids.

I'll just say a lot of frustration, a lot of negativity, a lot of disrespect for a group of kids that have never lost a home game in conference in six years, for a coach that chooses to stay and doesn't choose to hop, tries to fight and build something. We got so many people that want to sling instead of step up and help.

Q. Coach, Owen McCown was nearly perfect throwing the ball today. What impressed you the most about his poise and decision-making throughout the game?

JEFF TRAYLOR: 31 for 33. Had a drop, and he threw one away. That's pretty much perfect. I mean, the play he made on fourth and two, they had the flat covered, they had the corner covered. He throws the late release. The kid's clutch, man.

I can't wait until he gets totally, totally back to his normal self physically. The kid is John Wayne through this thing all year long and taking a million bullets for this place. I'm happy for that kid, man. I really am.

Q. Going off Owen, how much do you think that 42-yard vertical shot to Overmyer on that first possession kind of sparked that near perfect performance he had tonight?

JEFF TRAYLOR: Yeah, I think the protection on the play. They brought Sassy from the field, too. I was terrified we would get smashed, and our guys up front picked that thing up. It was unbelievable.

Any time that kid has just a little bit of something to throw into, just a little bit, he's pretty fricking accurate. I agree, that was a good way to get us going, but we already were behind. I was, like, this is not the way I drew this up for our revenge frustration game, because I really thought North Texas did a great job of bouncing back after their South Florida embarrassment, right? I didn't think we handled the Rice deal very well.

So now we're going to get all this sunshine pumped up us for the next seven days, which isn't true either. It's somewhere in the middle there. How are we going to handle that against the most talented team in our league? The most talented.

I mean, what Alex has done there with that roster, how they've invested in that roster, do some real research on how much they've invested in that thing. Then all the people that like to gripe, let's step up and invest in our roster the way they invested in their roster.

Q. Then defensively, you went down 6-0 right away, but that stop on that two-point attempt, that give you guys kind of the momentum to force all those takeaways and just routine stops throughout the night?

JEFF TRAYLOR: Again, I thought it was slightly disrespectful. I mean, shift to one side, shift to the other side. Come on, man.

Q. Jeff, did you challenge your defense this week, and did they answer the call for you?

JEFF TRAYLOR: Did Greg text you and tell you to ask that question? We challenge our defense every fricking play. Sometimes they make plays. Sometimes they don't, J.J. Come on, man.

They're embarrassed man. They had 37 missed tackles last week. They're competitors. Most teams check it in. These kids have done it for six straight years. Winning college football games is hard. It's fricking hard. That was bold-ass rotten.

Q. I'm sorry to go back to it, Coach, but I'm just honestly curious. It was Dana Holgorsen two or three years ago before that season opener that insinuated crowd noise and then the Tulane coach. Why do you think those accusations happen?

JEFF TRAYLOR: You know, Dana was kind of in fun, you know. He kind of made a little quip. I thought Jon was a little more personal. I mean, European, sticks, piping in fake noise, investigations, illegal. I just told my guys, man, we already living in his head. We already living there.

I wish I worked for a boss that would let me do all those things. Our crowd is loud. Our band is loud. I mean, I don't know, Vinnie. I wish I could tell you.

I hate that for Jon, because I personally like him a ton. He was probably just trying to -- he even got it where our band was scared to play tonight. I had to go tell our band -- I had to send Mike over there to get our band playing again. Our band director is the nicest guy in the world. He didn't want anybody mad at him, but they told him he was playing too close.

When the offense gets over the ball, you're not supposed to make any more noise. I mean, exactly when is that? Everybody is no fricking huddle, so nobody can make noise ever? When is that really?

Our band director was scared to death to play with the band. SOSA is probably one of the main reasons we haven't lost a game here. Those dudes rock every time we're here. I had to send my GM over to my band director because Jon got what he wanted, and he got the officials -- they're undefeated in our league, man. Come on.

Q. To follow up, you mentioned it today at the ESPN event on campus. I'm not trying to be creative or clever here, but is there something, Coach, to the black uniforms and the way your team plays?

JEFF TRAYLOR: Yeah, you know, I don't know. It's just kids love that stuff. They love it everywhere I've ever been. I wish we could play in it every week. We did last year. We got hot and kept wearing that thing.

I don't know Alex is going to let me put them on if I were to call him and ask for an exception. I think he's going to tell me not worth a darn, follow the rules.

Q. Jeff, you got a game ball there. I think this is your 50th win. What does that mean to you?

JEFF TRAYLOR: That's crazy. I mean, it's gone by very fast. I told you how much I love this place. I hurt for this place, and what's scary about these kind of deals when we punch up like this, people love to say do less with more. It's impossible.

We need help. We've got to have help. You're not going to regularly beat Tulane, Memphis, Florida. We got to step up.

I begged for this when we were winning unbelievable. Honestly, we need to go 2-10 about four more years and then we'll step up, but you have to raise money to fire me. You have to raise money to hire another staff, and you could have just raise the money and got some help now and invest and not have to worry at all about what's coming down the road.

That's the scary thing about doing this. My guys do punch up. We are proud doing more with less, and we're in Conference USA. I get it, man. We were up in that thing. We had done a really good job moving up there. This league is another monster, and I really want this place to be like this. I do.

We've got to get that. We've got to have some help, and the last time I did that, I had an unbelievable gift from Harvey, and we had that for a while. We're going to have to have that kind of stuff, help, to stay in this hunt. People don't understand how hard it is to win a college football game, and people are all going for it right now.

We've seen what it can be like here, but we've got to really invest. We need a lot of people to help.

Q. Coach, you seem very emotionally conflicted, and the way that you're talking about it kind of speaks to the state of college football in general, but how do you balance that emotion? You guys just won. You played a great football game, but you're obviously frustrated and having to deal with a lot of other stuff. Can you enjoy this win with the team? How do you balance that out?

JEFF TRAYLOR: I understand it. When you won at the level we've won at, when you've won championships, your crowd, they expect that, and the goal post is moved. We worked our tail off to get the new facility. We didn't even get the overhead. We still don't have an overhead. We still are practicing in 100 degrees. It's still fricking hot right now in October, and everybody talks about it's not raining. It's the heat you're in every day. It adds up, right?

Now you can pay the players, and she's got to try to take care of her girls basketball team. She got a baseball team needs this. We got stuff everywhere we need. If we don't invest in this sport right here, like big-time now, I hate to think what's going to happen to this place.

I'm in it to win it. I got seven years left here, and it's going to be expensive no matter which way we go, but we've got to invest. It's just hard right now on everybody. On her, on my president, everybody. It's hard, because that goal post is moving.

The reason I'm doing this tonight, again, I'm just praying someone out there will be moved of our loyalty to this place, our commitment to this place, and maybe somebody has it and can. If we don't, we'll just keep chopping wood, what we got, but it's going to get expensive one day. It's going to be.

One way or the other, we're going to have to pay. I would rather pay up front, but can we get a loan? Let's just win. We'll pay them back later. Got to be some way.