The defense looked better in the second half because the UTSA offense slowed their tempo down, imo.
It's hard to play tempo when you don't move the ball.
The key was stopping the run. UTSA ran for 28 yards on their first 4 carries.
They finished with 37 yards rushing.
They had 193 yards rushing last week at Arizona.
They simply weren't going to consistently move the ball and play tempo without a running game.