MONMOUTH, Ore. (October 18, 2025) – The No. 13-ranked University of Texas Permian Basin football team trailed 17-0 before a touchdown late in the first half, and then after a back-and-forth fourth quarter, a fumble on the Falcons' final drive sealed their fate in a 31-28 defeat at Western Oregon University.

WOU started the game with a 25-yard field goal on the first possession. The Wolves then came up with an interception to end UTPB's first possession and later finished the first quarter with a 42-yard touchdown pass from Jordan McCarty to running back Jermaine Land to take a 10-0 lead. In all, the Wolves totaled 112 yards of offense in just the first quarter.

WOU took a 17-0 lead when a three-yard rush by Carson Workman capped an eight-play, 58-yard drive with two minutes remaining in the first half. From there, UTPB's final drive of the first half started with an 11-yard run by quarterback Kanon Gibson, followed by a 25-yard pass to Kylin Mathis and a 15-yard pass to Ben Patterson to get the Falcons into the redzone in just three plays. After two pass interference calls against the Wolves, UTPB finally got into the endzone as Gibson took it in from two yards out to make it 17-7 with 21 seconds left.

In all, UTPB was outgained 206-127 in the first half and saw WOU rack up 112 yards on the ground. The Falcons, meanwhile, punted four straight times after the interception on their first drive of the game.

However, the UTPB offense came out on a mission to start the second half as Gibson hooked up with Patterson for 39 yards on the very first play, and then after the third pass interference call of the game against WOU, Gibson passed for 36 yards to TJ McKenzie, who finished the play with a back-shoulder catch for a touchdown on just the third play of the drive.

The second Falcons' drive of the second half saw UTPB go 68 yards in 12 plays, but the offense ran out of gas at the end as Gibson was sacked on first down from the 24-yard line. The Falcons ultimately had to settle for a 46-yard field goal attempt that was missed wide right by Angel Diaz. UTPB's third drive of the second half then started with another sack to put the Falcons behind the chains and back them up into their own redzone.

UTPB had 138 yards of offense in the third quarter, but had just seven points to show for it. WOU made the Falcons pay for not taking advantage of their dominant third quarter as a one-handed catch by Keyvaun Eady went a 23-yard touchdown catch from McCarty to start the fourth-quarter scoring.

The next UTPB drive again featured big plays, starting with a 12-yard pass to McKenzie and later featuring a 25-yard run by Gibson, a 15-yard pass to Mathis to get into the redzone, a 10-yard pass again to Mathis to get to first-and-goal from the four, and a four-yard touchdown pass to Traylen Suel to make it 24-20. It was a seven-play, 72-yard drive that took only two minutes and 22 seconds.

The UTPB defense would force a three-and-out on the next WOU drive to get the offense back the ball with a chance to tie the game with a field goal or take lead with a touchdown.

The ensuing UTPB drive featured the fourth pass interference call of the game against the Wolves' defense. That was followed by a 16-yard pass to McKenzie and then a 14-yard rushing touchdown by Gibson to give UTPB its first lead of the game. After an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on the Falcons, Diaz converted on a 35-yard extra-point try to make it a four-point game (28-24) with 6:46 left to play.

On the next drive by WOU, the Wolves charged into the redzone thanks to a pass interference call on the Falcons, and just two plays later, McCarty took it in himself from 10 yards out to give WOU back a 31-28 lead just five seconds after the two-minute timeout.

Facing a do-or-die drive for the Falcons, Gibson rushed for 11 yards and a first down on second down to get the drive moving, and then two plays later a 17-yard pass to Mathis got the Falcons into Wolves' territory. A 22-yard pass to McKenzie got UTPB within the redzone, however, the Falcons' second turnover of the game came at the most in-opportune time as after a 12-yard pass to Suel to get the ball down near the five-yard line, Suel fought for additional yardage but had the ball punched out. It was recovered by Tamaaulelei Ma'alona to end the game.

UTPB would finish 3-for-4 in the redzone while WOU was 3-for-3, and the Wolves were also 1-for-1 on field goal tries while the Falcons were 0-1.

After adding 189 yards of offense in the fourth quarter and averaging over nine yards per play in the second half, UTPB would finish with 454 yards of offense for the game compared to 335 yards for WOU. Rushing yards were a 169-106 edge for the Wolves while passing yards were a 348-166 advantage for the Falcons. UTPB also led 28-21 in first downs.

Gibson passed 28-for-40 for 348 yards and two touchdowns, while on the ground, he ran it 17 times for 84 yards and two more touchdowns. Mathis had eight catches for 118 yards; McKenzie had six for 109 yards and a touchdown; Patterson had four for 66 yards, and Suel had five for 33 yards and a touchdown.

Defensively, Tristan Exline followed up his 19-tackle performance last time out with eight total tackles and 2.5 tackles for loss this time. McKyle So'oto, David Walker and Will LeBlanc each had five tackles.

With the loss during WOU's Homecoming this year, it was the second three-point loss in as many seasons for the Falcons against the Wolves after falling 30-27 in overtime during UTPB's Homecoming last year.

After beginning the day in a three-team tie for second place in the Lone Star Conference with WOU and West Texas A&M University, UTPB falls to 5-2 overall and 3-2 in the LSC. In addition, UTPB fell to 3-1 on the road this season as Head Coach Kris McCullough suffered his first road loss in conference play (10-1) as the leader of the Falcons.

WOU, meanwhile, improves to 5-2 and 4-1, and is now 4-0 when playing at home this season.

Next up, UTPB returns home to close out the month of October against West Texas A&M University. The Falcons and Buffaloes will square off starting at 6 p.m. on Saturday, October 25, to cap off UTPB's Homecoming and Hall of Fame Weekend.