No. 13 Lamar Routs UTRGV 52-23 as Blake Thomas Scores Three Times and Ends Vaqueros' Perfect Home Record

UTRGV asked for voodoo. Lamar brought a defense that does not believe in ghosts.

The No. 13 Lamar Cardinals scored a defensive touchdown 16 seconds into the game, ran back the second-half kickoff 97 yards for another, and rolled past the UTRGV Vaqueros 52-23 on Halloween night at a sold-out Robert & Janet Vackar Stadium in Edinburg. The win snapped UTRGV's perfect home record at 10-0, gave Lamar the 250th victory in program history and locked up a fourth straight winning season for a program that has not had a run like this since the mid-1960s.

Valley Voodoo Meets a Ranked Buzzsaw

UTRGV had done everything it could to make the night feel haunted. The game was sold out, the Vaqueros debuted dark gray alternate uniforms, and head coach Travis Bush spent the week recruiting the crowd. "It's Halloween night in Vackar Stadium, so what a great night for all the Valley Voodoo we can get," Bush said before the game. "Light candles, cast spells, we need it all."

The theatrics had a track record. The program, in just its second season, had never lost at home, and it arrived at 4-4 overall and 2-3 in the Southland after its first overtime game and first road win, 30-27 at Central Arkansas. Linebacker Jaiden Haygood was coming off a program-record 20 tackles in that game, which earned Haygood Stats Perform national defensive player of the week honors.

Lamar came in at 6-2 and 4-1, alone in second place and one game behind unbeaten Stephen F. Austin, fresh off a 35-10 homecoming win over Houston Christian. The only previous meeting, in 2025, ended with Ben Woodard's 57-yard field goal with three seconds left for a 23-21 Lamar win after UTRGV had erased a 17-point deficit.

Sixteen Seconds

The spell lasted one snap. On UTRGV's first play from scrimmage, Garret Rangel threw a pass that Lamar's Bryce McDonald jumped and returned 39 yards for a touchdown. A crowd that had been told to bring the voodoo was suddenly very quiet at 7-0.

UTRGV did not flinch right away. Brysen Gardner capped a five-play, 42-yard answer with a 50-yard field goal. Then Lamar did what Lamar does, grinding out a 12-play, 77-yard drive that ate 8:09 behind Parker Jenkins and an offensive line that leans on people for a living. Aiden McCown finished it with a 2-yard keeper for a 14-3 lead.

The Vaqueros kept finding yards and kept stalling. Gardner hit from 22 yards late in the first quarter, and after McCown found senior tight end Davin Driskell, a Phil Steele second-team midseason All-American, for an 8-yard score to cap an 11-play, 53-yard drive, Gardner added a 24-yarder with 15 seconds left in the half. Three trips into scoring position produced nine points. Lamar had turned two long drives and one defensive snap into 21, and it led 21-9 at the break.

The Kickoff That Ended It

Whatever Bush said at halftime never got a chance to matter. Blake Thomas fielded the second-half kickoff at the 3 and went 97 yards, and it was 28-9 just 18 seconds into the third quarter.

It got worse fast. On UTRGV's third snap of the half, Zaylon Stoker intercepted Rangel and Lamar took over on a short field. Jenkins ripped off 11 yards, McCown hit Cam Patterson on third-and-8 to set up a fourth-and-1, Jenkins converted it, and Thomas scored from 6 yards out at 8:11 of the third quarter. A 12-point halftime game was 35-9.

UTRGV's next possession ended on downs, and Lamar went right back to work. LaDamion McDowell broke off a 20-yard run, McCown hit Patterson for 15 more, and Thomas scored again from 3 yards out with 16 seconds left in the quarter. Lamar had put up 21 points in the third without its offense needing to do anything spectacular.

The Vaqueros kept swinging. Broderick Taylor, the hero of last week's overtime win, broke a 44-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter to finish a six-play, 68-yard drive. Lamar answered with a 30-yard McDowell run and a 49-yard Andres Sandoval field goal with 10:06 left to make it 45-16. UTRGV got one more from Taylor, a 31-yard touchdown run that capped a quick three-play, 55-yard drive, but Lamar had the last word. After the Vaqueros burned two timeouts trying to get the ball back, McCown found Jenkins on a short throw over the middle that turned into a 48-yard touchdown with 6:19 left.

Blake Thomas, Everywhere at Once

McCown was efficient and Lamar's defense swarmed, but the player who turned a win into a rout was Thomas, who scored on a kickoff return and two short runs, caught four passes for 29 yards and piled up 169 yards on four kickoff returns. UTRGV's kicking game had been its best weapon in the first half, and one kickoff undid all of it.

McCown was exactly what Lamar needed, completing 17 of 24 passes for 167 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions while adding 39 rushing yards and a score on seven carries. Jenkins did the dirty work on the ground with 65 yards on 18 carries and caught the 48-yard score, and McDowell gave the Cardinals a fresh set of legs with 55 yards on six carries.

Defensively, McDonald's pick-six set the tone, Stoker added the second interception, and Etelridge McKinney made life miserable for Rangel with a sack and two tackles for loss. McDonald and C.J. Miller led the team with six tackles apiece.

For UTRGV, Haygood was terrific again in a losing cause with 14 tackles, and Spencer Rich and TJ Neal added 10 apiece. Taylor ran for 105 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries, and Gardner, perfect on three field goals, was the closest thing the Vaqueros had to consistent offense.

The Turning Point

The first snap set the tone, but UTRGV recovered from it. A 21-9 halftime deficit was not a crisis for a team that had erased a 17-point hole against this opponent a year ago. The game turned in the first 6:49 of the second half: a 97-yard return 18 seconds in, an interception on UTRGV's third play and a touchdown drive that made it 35-9. Bush had said before the game that it would come down to third downs and turnovers. Lamar won both, then won special teams on top of it.

The Numbers That Matter

Lamar ran for 212 yards against a defense that came in ranked second in the Southland in scoring defense, and it did not turn the ball over. UTRGV threw two interceptions, and both led directly to Lamar touchdowns.

Rangel completed just 7 of 23 passes for 135 yards. There were a few big ones, a 46-yarder to Braden Baize and a 38-yarder to Tavian Cord, but the Vaqueros went 2 for 10 on third down. Lamar was 9 for 14 on third down and 2 for 2 on fourth. Thomas averaged 42.3 yards per kickoff return, UTRGV's returners 13.7. Lamar held the ball for 37:05.

What It Means

For Lamar, this is the kind of road win that keeps a season pointed toward the playoffs. The Cardinals moved to 7-2 overall and 5-1 in the Southland and stayed one game behind Stephen F. Austin, which matters because the Lumberjacks come to Beaumont next on Nov. 7. That is the game the whole conference has been waiting for.

The milestones matter too. Win No. 250 also clinched a fourth consecutive winning season under head coach Pete Rossomando, the longest such stretch for the Cardinals since 1964 to 1967.

For UTRGV, the loss stings but does not define a second season that has already produced its first road win and first overtime victory. The Vaqueros fall to 4-5 and 2-4 in league play, and the schedule does not soften, with Stephen F. Austin due at Vackar Stadium on Nov. 14.

The Last Word

The Valley showed up. The gray uniforms looked sharp. None of it mattered against a Lamar team that can beat you with a pick-six, a kickoff return and an offensive line that simply leans on you for four quarters. UTRGV's home streak had to end eventually. It ended in a way that should get the attention of everybody in Nacogdoches.

Sources: ESPN box score (opens in a new tab), Lamar University Athletics, UTRGV Athletics. More college football coverage on Undrafted.

Photos: Lamar Athletics.