PUEBLO, Colo. – Colorado State University Pueblo football impressively opened its 2026 season here Thursday evening as the ThunderWolves used four touchdown passes from sophomore quarterback
Navi Bruzon (Peoria, Ariz./Highland CC) and a strong defensive performance that saw the nationally sixth-ranked Pack record five sacks and score two defensive scores to post a 44-25 victory over Central Missouri at the CSU Pueblo ThunderBowl.
The season-opening win moved the Pack to 1-0, while Central Missouri fell to 0-1. CSU Pueblo scored 30 points over the second and third quarters and led by as many as 26 points in the fourth quarter. The Pack is now 16-2 all-time in season openers since 2008 and has won three straight openers since falling 12-6 at home to Texas A&M-Commerce.
"I am proud of these guys; all the hard work that they've done put us in a position to win this game the way we did tonight," CSU Pueblo fourth-year head coach
Philip Vigil said following his 29th win in 36 games as the Pack coach. "Obviously, it was not perfect, but wins are hard to get, so we're going to celebrate it and going to learn from it tomorrow and continue to find a way to get better."
Bruzon, who made his Pack debut on Thursday night, finished the night 18-for-29 passing for 321 yards and four touchdowns, while senior receiver
Dedrek Taylor-Akins (Fontana, Calif./Northeastern State) was his favorite target as he caught nine passes for a career-high 200 yards and three touchdowns. Taylor-Akins averaged 22.2 yards per reception and had touchdown catches of 76, 27, and 40 yards. In two games as a member of the Pack against UCM, Taylor-Akins has caught 16 passes for 370 yards and has had four touchdown catches and averaged 23.1 yards per catch.
Bruzon was the 13th different quarterback to start a season opener since the Pack football program was rebooted in 2008. The Pack's first-time starting quarterbacks are now 12-1 in season openers, including 4-0 under current head coach
Philip Vigil.
"Navi is an elite processor. He can see it well, and no matter what happened tonight, he didn't get shook at all," said Vigil. "He just kept the same attitude all the way through. He throws a great deep ball and he allows his receivers to go and make plays."
Along with Taylor-Akins' career night, junior receiver
Marcellus Honeycutt, Jr. (Aurora, Colo./Eastern Washington) caught five passes for 57 yards and a touchdown, while sophomore running back
Russell Patton (Denver, Colo./Dr. MLK Jr. Early College) rushed 14 times for 87 yards and a touchdown.
Defensively, the Pack, who have now won 10 consecutive regular season games, forced three turnovers, recorded five sacks and eight tackles for loss, and scored nine points of its own thanks to a second-quarter safety on a sack of UCM quarterback Jordan Pachot in the end zone and a 38-yard interception return for a touchdown by sophomore linebacker
Carter Daniels (Centennial, Colo./Mountain Vista). Daniels had a monster night for the Pack defense as he finished with a game-high 16 tackles, 1.5 sacks and an interception. Senior safety
Kahden Rullo (Denver, Colo./Grandview) added nine tackles and two pass breakups.
Daniels' 38-yard interception with 6:10 left in the game gave the Pack a 44-18 lead and was the 56th interception for a score by the Pack defense since 2008 and the first since
Bryson Torrie returned an interception 49 yards for a touchdown last season at Black Hills State. The 16 tackles are the most in a game by a Pack player since Jon Nuschy tallied 17 tackles in 2024 at home against Grand Valley State.
Central Missouri wasted little time getting on the scoreboard as the Mules marched 75 yards in six plays on the opening possession as Damien Brown capped the drive with an 18-yard touchdown run to give UCM a 7-0 lead just 2:23 into the game. Brown finished the night with 18 carries for a game-high 163 yards and two touchdowns.
The Pack answered explosively later in the opening quarter. After taking possession at its own 20-yard line, sophomore running back
Jaedon Matthews (Goodyear, Ariz./Cal Poly) gained four yards on first down before Bruzon connected with Taylor-Akins for a 76-yard touchdown strike. Senior kicker
Jackson Smith (Centennial, Colo./Santa Barbara City College) extra point tied the game at 7-all with 7:29 remaining in the opening quarter.
CSU Pueblo's defense then came up with the game's first turnover on UCM's ensuing possession as senior defensive end
Jaylen Booth (Merced, Calif./Merced College) sacked Pachot for a 19-yard loss and forced a fumble that was recovered by junior defensive tackle
Ian Ortiz (Deming, N.M./Deming) at the CSU Pueblo 46-yard line.
The Pack took its first lead of the night midway through the second quarter when its defense pinned the Mules deep in their own territory and recorded a safety to give CSU Pueblo a 9-7 advantage with 9:42 remaining in the period. The safety came when Pachot was sacked in the end zone by senior defensive lineman
Micah Lutu (Kalihi, Hawai'i/Saguaro) and sophomore defensive lineman
Aiden Alefosio (Temecula, Calif./Chaparral).
Following the safety, Bruzon and Taylor-Akins went back to work. The Pack drove 75 yards in six plays, with Bruzon finding Taylor-Akins for a 27-yard touchdown pass that pushed CSU Pueblo's lead to 16-7 with 7:05 left in the first half. On the drive, Bruzon was 3-for-3 passing for 57 yards.
UCM pulled within 16-10 on Will Peacock's 20-yard field goal with 1:09 remaining before halftime, sending the Pack into the locker room with a six-point lead.
After being held scoreless on its opening possession of the second half, CSU Pueblo put together one of its best drives of the night on its second possession. Starting at its own 8-yard line, the Pack marched 92 yards in 10 plays and took nearly five minutes off the clock. Bruzon capped the drive by connecting with Taylor-Akins on a 40-yard touchdown pass to extend the Pack's lead to 23-10 with 5:57 remaining in the third quarter.
The Mules defense would pick up two points on a safety with 3:06 left in the third quarter after Bruzon was flagged for intentional grounding in the end zone.
The Pack defense, though, quickly created another scoring opportunity as on the first play of UCM's ensuing possession, senior safety
David Houston III (Austin, Texas/South Alabama) picked off a Pachot pass and returned it four yards to the UCM 40-yard line. Five plays later, Bruzon tossed his fourth and final touchdown pass of the night as he connected with Honeycutt on a 26-yard scoring strike. Smith's extra point gave CSU Pueblo a 30-12 lead with 1:08 left in the third quarter.
The Mules attempted to climb back into the game early in the fourth quarter as Pachot connected with Marlon Lindsey for a 25-yard touchdown with 10:19 remaining. The ensuing two-point conversion failed, leaving the Pack with a 30-18 lead.
CSU Pueblo responded with another lengthy scoring drive, marching 75 yards in six plays and taking nearly four minutes off the clock. Patton provided the finishing touch as he broke loose for a 48-yard touchdown run to push the Pack's advantage to 37-18 with 6:33 remaining.
Just 23 seconds later, the Pack defense effectively put the game away as Daniels intercepted Pachot and returned the ball 38 yards for a touchdown, giving CSU Pueblo a commanding 44-18 advantage with 6:10 left in the contest. The interception was the Pack's third takeaway of the night and gave CSU Pueblo 14 points off turnovers.
UCM closed the scoring with 2:42 remaining when Brown scored on a five-yard touchdown run to produce the final margin.
Despite being outgained 485-445 in total offense, CSU Pueblo averaged 6.4 yards per play and finished with 321 passing yards. The Pack also controlled the football for 31:56 and converted 8-of-15 third-down opportunities. Central Missouri finished with 318 passing yards and 167 rushing yards, but was just 6-of-18 on third down and 1-of-4 on fourth down on the night.
"Those fourth down stops were huge tonight for our defense," the Pack coach added.
CSU Pueblo's defense was especially disruptive against Pachot, recording five sacks for 48 yards in losses. Booth finished with five tackles, three tackles for loss, a 19-yard sack and a forced fumble, while Alefosio recorded five tackles and 1.5 sacks, and junior defensive tackle
Mario Rivas, Jr. (Long Beach Calif./Bakersfield College) added five tackles and a half sack.
Pachot finished the night 24-for-46 passing for 318 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions for Central Missouri and rushed 10 times for a total of minus-28 yards. Lindsey caught six passes for 113 yards and a touchdown, and Trevor Garlington added five receptions for 111 yards.
The Pack defense held Jake Pospisil to just five catches for 32 yards. Last season, Pospisil, who is from Arvada, Colo., caught 12 passes for 252 yards and a touchdown.
For the Pack, Smith was a perfect 6-for-6 on extra-point attempts, while junior punter
Caleb Harner (Erie, Colo./Erie) averaged 39.2 yards on four punts and placed three of those punts inside the UCM 20-yard line and senior kicker
Evan Lyons (Superior, Colo./Monarch) had three touchbacks on his eight kickoffs and has now recorded 139 career touchbacks, which is second-most in program history.
The Pack will look to open the season 2-0 as they return to action next Thursday, Sept. 3, for a 6 p.m. MT game in Hays, Kan., against Fort Hays State. The Tigers opened the season with a 35-14 win at Angelo State on Thursday night. Last season, Fort Hays State picked up a 36-35 win in Pueblo.
