PUEBLO, Colo. – Colorado State University Pueblo opened the home portion of its 2024 schedule here Saturday evening with a hard-fought 40-23 lightning-delayed victory over 21st-ranked University of Texas Permian Basin on Red Out Night at the CSU Pueblo ThunderBowl.
 
With the victory, the Pack improved to 2-0 on the season, while UTPB falls to 1-1. The win also snapped a six-game losing skid for the Pack against nationally ranked teams as before Saturday night the most recent win over a ranked team came in the 2022 season opener against No. 24 Midwestern State as the Pack won that game, 59-27 in Wichita Falls, Texas.
 
While Saturday's home opener was the Pack's second game of the season it also marked the 400th-all time in program history since becoming a four school in 1963. The Pack has won nearly 65 percent of its all-time football games as they have posted a 257-139-4 record, including being 143-40 since rebooting the football program in 2008.
 
The teams had to endure a little over 90-minute lightning delay with about 2:57 left in the second quarter as the Pack held a 29-9 lead.  
 
The Pack win, which is now its ninth in the row dating to last season, was keyed by a strong opening 15-plus minutes as the ThunderWolves scored on four of its first five possessions to take a 26-9 lead just 16 seconds into the second quarter. The current nine-game winning streak is the second longest active streak in Division II football behind Harding's current 20-game win streak.
 
"I am so proud of these guys. We've had a lot of adversity through fall camp, but they guys have just stood up and kept battling," CSU Pueblo head football Philip Vigil said following the game. "There's a lot of things we need to clean up and get better at, but we're going to enjoy this tonight. These guys earned it all week long and did what they needed to do to win this football game against a very good UTPB team."
 
UTPB, who won the Lone Star Conference last season and advanced to the NCAA Division II Playoffs, got onto the scoreboard on its first offensive play from scrimmage just 93 seconds into the contest as Jeremiah Cooley caught a 66-yard touchdown pass from Dylan Graham.
 
On the ensuing possession by the Pack, senior quarterback Devin Larsen (Gilbert, Ariz./Western New Mexico) hooked up with senior receiver Reggie Retzlaff (Corona, Calif./Riverside City College) for a 70-yard touchdown on the first play of its second possession. The 70-yard pass play is the longest offensive play of the season for the Pack. The Falcons, though, would block the extra point and Kameron Lee returned it for a safety to give UTPB a 9-6 lead with 13:12 left in the opening quarter.
 
On the next UTPB possession, junior defensive back Peyton Shaw (Savannah, Texas/Midwestern State) picked off a Graham pass and returned it 37 yards to give the Pack the ball on the UTPB 27-yard line for its third offensive possession.
 
On that third offensive possession, Larsen once again hooked up with Retzlaff for a 32-yard touchdown pass with 8:11 left in the quarter to give the Pack a 13-9 lead. Retzlaff finished the night with seven catches for 164 yards and has now recorded five touchdown catches in the first two games and has tallied 17 in his Pack career.
 
The Pack defense would get into the scoring action on UTPB's next possession as junior defensive back Keith Mckaney (Avondale, Ariz./Desert Edge) picked off a Graham pass and returned it 48 yards for a touchdown to give the Pack a 20-9 lead with 6:57 left in the quarter. The interception return for a score by Mckaney was 53rd by the Pack since the program rebooted in 2008 and the first since sophomore linebacker Gary Seidenberger (Fredericksburg, Texas/Fredericksburg) returned an interception 40 yards for a score last season at Grand Valley State.
 
The Pack would cap its offensive flurry just 16 seconds into the second period as senior running back Howard Russell V (Phoenix, Ariz./Eastern New Mexico) ran 46 yards for a touchdown to give the Pack a 26-9 lead. The extra point, though, by sophomore Evan Lyons (Superior, Colo./Monarch) was blocked. The 46-yard run helped Russell finish the night with 102 yards rushing on 15 carries and averaged 6.8 yards per carry.
 
CSU Pueblo, who is now 12-4 in home openers since the 2008 season, pushed its lead to 29-9 following a 22-yard field goal by Lyons with 5:11 left in the second quarter. The field goal capped an eight-play, 55-yard drive for the Pack that began after senior defensive lineman Makeah Scippio (Colorado Springs, Colo./Harrison) sacked Graham for an 8-yard loss to end the Falcons' sixth offensive possession of the game.
 
The lightning delay came after sophomore defensive back Donovan English (Pomona, Calif./Colony) was called for a pass interference penalty that gave the Falcons the ball at the CSU Pueblo 13-yard line. The interception came two plays after UTPB picked off Larsen to stall the eighth drive of the game for the Pack.
 
For the game, Larsen finished the game 21-for-35 passing for 287 yards with three touchdown passes and one interception. On the season, the NCAA Division II leading active leader in both passing yards and passing touchdowns is 51-for-80 for 795 yards and has thrown 10 touchdown passes and two interceptions.
 
When play resumed at just after 9:00 p.m., the Pack defense would hold the Falcons out of the end zone as senior two-time All-American defensive Daniel Bone III (Colorado Springs, Colo./Pine Creek) tackled Graham a yard shy of a first down following a 3-yard run on a fourth-and-four play from the Pack seven-yard line.
 
"That was a big stop for our defense at that moment in the game," Vigil said. "Our defense played phenomenally all night long. They scored for us tonight, had a couple of takeaways and got after the quarterback, which was huge for us."
 
The only scoring in the third quarter came on a Graham 3-yard touchdown pass to Cooley with 1:29 left in the quarter. The touchdown pushed the Falcons within 29-16.
 
CSU Pueblo would answer that UTPB score with 9:19 left in the fourth quarter on a 4-yard touchdown pass from Larsen to senior receiver Taylor Tosches (Temecula, Calif./Southwestern Oklahoma State) to give the home team a 35-16 lead and senior tight end Curtis Luckadoo (Reno, Nev./Bishop Manogue Catholic) added a two-point conversion on a run to make the score 37-16.
 
UTPB, though, wouldn't go away as they came right back and drove 87 yards in 13 plays and capped the drive with a 1-yard touchdown run by Kory Harris with 5:07 left in the game.
 
The Pack, though, would get the ball near midfield on its next possession following a failed on-side kick attempt by the Falcons. The drive would end with a 27-yard field goal by Lyons with 1:45 left in the game to cap the scoring.
 
For the game, the Pack offense gained 414 yards on 56 plays and averaged 7.4 yards per game and along with passing for 287 yards, the Pack rushed for 127 yards.
 
The Pack defense held the Falcons to 341 yards of offense as they rushed for 134 yards on 53 carries and passed the ball 37 times for 207 yards. UTPB ran 90 plays in the game but averaged just 3.8 yards per play. UTPB also held a 28-15 edge in first downs, including gaining nine of them by penalty as the Pack was called for 21 penalties for 181 yards in the win.
 
CSU Pueblo also finished with four sacks for the game, including three by Scippio and picked off two passes and had 10 tackles for loss. Bone led the way defensively with nine tackles, while Seidenberger and senior linebacker Jon Nuschy (La Junta, Colo./Northern Colorado) each added seven tackles in the win.
 
Despite its struggles on special teams in the game, junior punter Regan Baker (Brisbane, Australia/Idaho State) drilled a 73-yard punt just a little bit before halftime. That punt is the longest play of the season for the Pack.
 
The Pack defense held UTPB's top two pass catching threats – Jeremiah Cooley and Ben Patterson – to a combined five catches for 91 yards, with all 91 of those yards going to Cooley, who also had two of his team's three touchdowns in the loss.
 
Graham finished the night 16-for-37 passing for 207 yards and had two touchdowns and two interceptions, while Harris gained 106 yards rushing on 27 carries.
 
The Pack will look to continue its winning ways at home next Saturday, Sept. 14 as they will host fourth-ranked Grand Valley State for Throw Back Night at the CSU Pueblo ThunderBowl. Kickoff for the Grand Valley State is set for 6 p.m. Last season, the Pack suffered a 57-49 double overtime loss to the Lakers in Allendale, Mich. The Pack will celebrate its first-ever game as a four-year school against GVSU as the Pack hosted Emporia State on Sept. 14, 1963, a game the Pack would lose that game 21-20.