UTRGV football blanks Sul Ross State in historic game

The recipe for near perfection was right there.

If all the tell-tale signs were of any indication, mostly everyone knew that it was going to be a heck of a night for the UTRGV Vaqueros.

With tickets being sold just minutes from being put up for sale and crowds flocking to the Robert & Janet Vackar Stadium in Edinburg on Saturday, the color orange never looked so good.

One wouldn’t be able to tell that it was UTRGV’s first football game as they put up a whopping 66 points against visiting Sul Ross State.

The Vaqueros had 674 total yards on the night with 438 coming from the passing game, and the rest from rushing. To add some flair to the impressive statline — five TDs were thrown and four came from the ground game.

Fans who attended the game — more so, fans who enjoy high school football — may argue that in a way, this game was similar to Friday night lights with squads battling with pride.

Eddie Lee Marburger — who is a notable alum of Sharyland Pioneer — looked reminiscent of his scoring days in high school.

The starting QB went 18-19 on passing — with 365 yards under his belt. The first touchdown for UTRGV in its newfound history was to Xayvion Noland, who is a redshirt sophomore from San Diego, California. Marburger earned Southland Conference Offensive Player of the Week honorable mention — as college, along with high school — started football this past weekend.

On the defensive side of things, the Vaqueros swarmed the Lobos time and time again.

Sul Ross State — who is a Division II squad from Alpine — was held to 74 total yards. More so, they only had six first downs on the night. Quarterback Andrew Martinez — who is from El Paso — threw 9-12 passes with a gain of 41 yards.

On the rushing side of things, running back Jose Trevino carried the ball seven times for 30 yards.

UTRGV will play their first away game against Prairie View A&M this Saturday.