UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT SAN ANTONIO FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 22, 2025

Owen McCown

Press Conference

UTSA 58, East Carolina 24

Q. Owen, what does it mean to have this win under your belt and to be going bowling for a sixth straight year as a program. What does that mean to you?

OWEN McCOWN: Yeah, it's huge. Obviously everybody in the locker room wants to be undefeated this season, win an American Championship, all that. That was the main goal. But to have some adversity in the season and to bounce back the way we did, just beat a really good ECU team who was on the verge of trying to win an American Championship, so we got the very best. To have a dominant win like this is huge. I think it says a lot about our program.

Q. To that point, what does it say to be able to bounce back from some of those low points that you mentioned? What do you learn about your group when you see that they're able to deliver a game like this?

OWEN McCOWN: Yeah, I just think it's a testament to our program. It really starts top down in the building. It always starts can Coach Traylor and the program he preaches and then filters down to offensive coordinator coaches and the leadership we have as players.

Q. Owen, what did you see out of this defense to get into an offensive flow so early on in this game?

OWEN McCOWN: Yeah, first of all, I thought on film they were really good. I thought on film, ECU was one of the more challenging defenses, not only in this league but in the country. I really thought that. So for us to come out and have a great plan starts with Coach Burke. Just execution as players, my job as a quarterback is to get the play-makers the ball and that's what we did.

Q. Have you ever thrown five touchdowns in one game before?

OWEN McCOWN: Yeah, maybe high school. First round of high school playoffs I did, yeah.

Q. What does it feel like when you're kind of in the zone like that?

OWEN McCOWN: Part of it as a standard, it being my job to do that just because the standard we hold as quarterbacks at UTSA is just our job is to get those guys the ball. That's really my job.

Q. You are down your number one receiver and your number one running back in this game. What does it say about the offensive group that you're able to still produce at this level despite that?

OWEN McCOWN: Yeah, have a ton of injuries, even missing the third part of our three-headed monster in the tight end room, Dan Dishman was out. So for those guys to step up -- Kamar Missouri went down. Jonah Miller stepped right up and played excellent. So whenever those guys are called due to injuries or whatever it might be, they step up and perform and that's what they did.

Q. You guys came out with a really high level of energy and intensity to start this game. Was there something that inspired that or led to that for your group?

OWEN McCOWN: Yeah, a couple of their players, one of their D-linemen go on a podcast and say they'd end the Alamodome streak and come out here and dominate us. So, yeah, I'll just leave it at that. Obviously the scoreboard says it all.

Q. Was there anything about last year's game that kind of left a sour taste in your mouth or carried? Were you thinking about that at all as a team?

OWEN McCOWN: Yep, for sure. That was another big message. We thought offensively last year they came out and just physically dominated us last year, so that was definitely heavy on our shoulders, come out here and play with a chip on our shoulder at that, so, yeah.

Q. It seemed like everything you guys dialled up offensively was working from the early gadget play to even the screens and the drop law that went for the touchdown. Everything opened up as you guys would have planned it. What can you say about the plan the staff gave you and the way you put this together during the week?

OWEN McCOWN: Yeah, like I said, this was one of the better defenses in our league I thought so with that it's all credit to Coach Burke. Called a perfect game, I thought. That play going into halftime, the fake knee was huge for us to continue to have momentum going into halftime. So, I think all credit to Coach Burke and then really my teammates for executing.