UTRGV Fell 31-28. The Loss Was Close. The Questions Aren’t.
Before UTRGV ever stepped on the field at Nicholls, DITV laid out a pretty simple assignment:
Make them defend. Stay on schedule. Don’t hand them the football.
UTRGV made Nicholls defend.
The Vaqueros outgained the Colonels 327-322, finished even at 21 first downs and nearly erased a 17-point fourth-quarter deficit.
The other two?
That’s where this one got sideways.
Ten penalties. Three turnovers. Four sacks allowed. Only 63 net rushing yards.
From the outside looking in, I’m hitting the panic button.
Not on the season.
On how many important questions are still sitting there three games in.
The QB competition keeps trucking Down in the Valley
Garret Rangel started and finished 12-of-28 for 127 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. Aidan Jakobsohn took over in the fourth and went 7-of-17 for 137 yards and two touchdowns, helping turn 31-14 into 31-28.
My preference is one quarterback.
Coaching appears comfortable with two.
Maybe those roles are crystal clear inside the building. That’s what coaching is for. From our side of the fence, we just don’t know.
Saturday only made it more interesting.
Rangel was dealing with pressure, penalties putting the offense behind schedule and almost no consistent run-game help.
Jakobsohn entered with UTRGV chasing the game and gave the offense a different spark.
Both can be true.
But at some point, does one quarterback need to know:
This is my offense.
If the rotation changes against McNeese and the offense hits a rough patch, does the other quarterback come back in? Does Rangel remain QB1? Does the rotation keep rolling?
Until we know, the QB competition Down in the Valley keeps trucking along.
The run game might be the biggest concern
On paper, this looked like a matchup UTRGV could lean on.
UTRGV entered averaging 224 rushing yards per game and 5.5 per carry. Nicholls had allowed 6.2 yards per carry through two games.
Instead, UTRGV netted 63 yards on 33 rushing attempts.
And this wasn’t only sack math.
The running backs combined for 65 yards on 21 carries — about 3.1 per carry. Brennan Carroll had 36, TJ Dement 21, Broderick Taylor seven and Fabian Garcia one.
That’s not about putting one back on blast.
It’s an identity question.
Different backs. Different skill sets. Plenty of options.
But when it’s 3rd-and-3 in a Southland game and everybody knows you need three yards, what does UTRGV trust?
Saturday was supposed to give us a little clarity.
It didn’t.
The offensive line went from strength to storyline
Nicholls entered Saturday with one sack through two games.
UTRGV entered allowing only 0.5 sacks per game, eighth-best in FCS.
Nicholls got four — two on each quarterback.
That doesn’t suddenly mean this veteran line forgot how to play football.
But the game kept stacking problems.
Penalties created long downs. The run game never forced Nicholls to consistently respect it. Once UTRGV became predictable, the Colonels could stop guessing and start hunting.
That’s how four sacks become part of a much bigger offensive conversation.
The WR room showed some real juice
Kyran Lee deserves full credit because this wasn’t just comeback-ball production.
Lee had 73 receiving yards in the first half, including the 29-yard touchdown from Rangel, and finished with eight catches for 125 yards.
Jaydon Smith’s night developed differently.
He had 18 yards before halftime, then added 72 after it, including fourth-quarter catches of 26 and 36 yards. The 36-yarder came on 4th-and-23 with UTRGV trying to stay alive.
Corey Holmes finished with just one catch for four yards, and Lee and Smith still combined for 215.
That’s a positive.
Maybe the matchup problem changes every Saturday. Holmes one week. Lee another. Smith when the field starts opening vertically.
There are dudes in this room with Cord, Glenn and Green not heavy in the stat sheet.
Now UTRGV has to find that production while dictating the game instead of digging out of a hole.
Rodrigue changed the math on defense
Here’s where the box score needs some eyes on it.
UTRGV held Nicholls to 87 rushing yards and 322 total yards.
So this wasn’t some defensive collapse where the Colonels ran wherever they wanted.
But Ean Rodrigue made the defense work differently.
He finished with only 28 net rushing yards on 14 attempts, but his ability to escape and keep the ball forced UTRGV to respect the edge and defend after the original play started breaking down.
From the outside, the effect looked pretty simple:
Attack too hard and Rodrigue has an exit.
Protect the edge and he gets another beat to scan the field.
That extra beat matters.
The rush works longer. The secondary covers longer. Receivers get another chance to uncover.
And Nicholls made UTRGV pay for those extended moments.
Rodrigue threw for 235 yards and four touchdowns, while Jackson Dufrene caught three of those scores. The Colonels converted 8-of-17 third downs, both fourth downs and all five red-zone opportunities.
That tells the story better than Rodrigue’s rushing yards.
The 17-play, 75-yard touchdown drive to open the second half was the clearest example. Rodrigue converted with his legs, later ripped off a 14-yard keeper, and Nicholls eventually scored on fourth-and-goal.
He didn’t run wild.
He made UTRGV defend one beat longer than it wanted to.
UTRGV did create pressure. Nathan Huerta and Abdon Mata each recorded a sack, and the Vaqueros were credited with four quarterback hurries.
That’s where the next question lives.
Can UTRGV keep a mobile quarterback contained without taking the teeth out of its pass rush?
And when the pressure gets there, can it finish?
That’s not doom but lots of bad angles, missed coverages and missed tackles. The "is this defense elite" question.... well that quesiton may have been answered but lets see how they respond.
That’s film for the next one.
The penalties are officially a thing
UTRGV had 10 penalties for 85 yards Saturday.
That came after 13 for 105 yards at UTSA.
Twenty-three penalties in two games.
That isn’t noise anymore.
A flag doesn’t just cost five or 10 yards.
It changes what you can call next. It changes protection. It changes what the defense knows is coming.
Before Nicholls, DITV said stay on schedule.
UTRGV spent too much of Saturday trying to get back on it.
So where are we?
UTRGV wasn’t outclassed.
It looked unfinished.
That’s what sticks with me.
There’s talent here. Lee showed it. Smith showed it. The fourth-quarter comeback showed there’s fight.
And defensively, there were positives too.
Spencer Rich had 15 tackles, Alijah Prosser broke up three passes, and UTRGV shut Nicholls out in the fourth quarter to give the offense chances to get back into it.
But three games in, the questions are real.
Who owns the offense?
What is the run-game identity?
Can the offensive line get back to being the strength we expected?
Can the defense contain mobility and still finish the quarterback?
And can UTRGV stop making the game harder on itself?
That’s why I’m hitting the panic button.
Not because this team can’t be good.
Because you can see exactly why it could be.
Now the pieces have to start clicking.
Sunday at 8 PM CST on DITV956 — The Valley’s Only Live Sports Talk Show.
We got plenty to talk about Down in the Valley.
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