SILVER CITY, N.M. (November 1, 2025) – In a game that was billed as a matchup between the best defensive team in the Lone Star Conference and one of the more explosive offensives in the nation, instead, both sides of the ball shined for The No. 20 nationally-ranked University of Texas Permian Basin football team. In the end, UTPB victorious 66-7 over Western New Mexico University in its final road game of the 2025 season while the Falcons' offense accumulated 658 total yards of offense in the win, the third-most in program history.

UTPB (7-2 overall, 5-2 LSC) scored at least two touchdowns in all four quarters and scored 24 points in the second quarter to answer an eight-yard quarterback run for a touchdown by WNMU (2-7, 1-6) in the final seconds of the first quarter.

The second-quarter scoring opened with a 60-yard touchdown pass from Kanon Gibson to Jaylon Tillman, who made a contested catch near the sideline, stiff-armed his defender and somehow stayed in bounds before outrunning the rest of the defense.

On the very first play of the next Mustangs' drive, a pick six returned 35 yards by Jalani Jefferson breaking tackles and following a convoy of teammates made it 28-7. Jamarion Ravenell would later add a second-quarter interception in the final minute of the period for the Falcons' defense as well. It was the team-leading third interception of the season for Ravenell.

The final points of the first half came on a five-yard touchdown run by Kory Harris, who had previously opened the scoring with a 12-yard touchdown run just two plays and 30 seconds into the game. Setting up that scoring drive at the end of the half was an 18-yard sack fumble caused by Tyreek Curley and a 23-yard return by Will LeBlanc to get the ball down to the 12-yard line.

In the second half, two other UTPB running backs would find paydirt, Camden Tyler from 39 yards out to make it 45-7 early in the third quarter, and Adrian Cormier from nine yards out to wrap up the scoring with five minutes remaining.

The second half also featured a 31-yard touchdown pass from Gibson to Ben Patterson, who finished with three catches for 115 yards, the fifth 100-yard receiving game of his career and his first of the season.

Gibson was 16-for-27 for 323 yards and three touchdowns. It was his fourth 300-yard game of the season and third game with three passing touchdowns.

Harris ran it 17 times for a season-best 112 yards, the first 100-yard rushing game of the season for the Falcons, while Tyler ran nine times for 95 yards and Cormier ran seven times for 37 yards.

UTPB's combined 278 rushing yards were a season-high by over 100 yards. 123 of those yards came in the fourth quarter. Combining that with 380 passing yards, the 658 total yards of offense were the team's third-most in program history, each of which have come during the Kris McCullough era.

In addition to its three takeaways, the shutdown UTPB defense held the high-powered WNMU offense to just 104 passing yards, a total of 182 yards, and an average of just 2.8 yards per play. It was the least amount of yards given up by the Falcons this season, and was the fewest since allowing just 118 yards in last year's season opener vs. WNMU (Aug. 31. 2024).

UTPB's second-quarter total of 201 yards surpassed what WNMU had for the game.

Coming into the game, WNMU ranked second in the league in total offense at 443.8 yards per game while quarterback Connor Ackerley topped the nation with 2,692 passing yards. The Falcons' defense limited Ackerley to 13-for-24 passing for 104 yards, zero touchdowns and two interceptions.

Jerrod Cameron and Champ Mathis both recorded five tackles for the UTPB defense while David Walker had four tackles, 3.0 tackles for loss, and 2.0 sacks.

UTPB Head Coach Kris McCullough spoke on this team's performance, saying "This was a great team win. I was very impressed by our execution on offense and defense with scoring 66 points and only giving up seven. Having over 650 yards of offense and holding the number one passing offense in the country to 104 yards is pure domination."

UTPB will close out the regular season with back-to-back home games. First, it will be Eastern New Mexico University starting at 7 p.m. on Saturday, November 8, followed by Sul Ross State University for Senior Day also starting at 7 p.m. on Saturday, November 15.