New week, new opponent for the UTPB football team.
The Falcons return home after two weeks on the road to face Simon Fraser University, from Burnaby, British Columbia, at 6 p.m. Saturday at Ratliff Stadium.
It is the first-ever meeting between the programs as the Red Leafs are one of the newest members of the Lone Star Conference.
UTPB was set to play Simon Fraser last year in a nonconference game that was scrapped because of pandemic travel restrictions.
The Falcons take the field following a 28-27 loss against West Texas A&M last week in Canyon after the host Buffaloes kicked a field goal with four seconds remaining.
“It was a good game, we were just on the wrong end at the end,” UTPB head coach Justin Carrigan said. “That was a tough loss, one of the toughest since we’ve been here because it’s the first one we’ve lost at the end of time.
“But we were on the other end of that a few weeks ago when Carson Roberts kicks the field goal in overtime to win against Western Colorado.”
The Falcons (2-3 overall, 1-2 in conference) were slow getting out of the gate against West Texas A&M and trailed 16-0 before quarterback Dylan Graham connected with wide receiver MJ Link for a pair of second-quarter touchdowns to cut the deficit to two at halftime.
It was back and forth the rest of way and Carrigan was pleased with the way Graham settled in after the opening 15 minutes to put UTPB back in a position to win.
“He’s getting better every week,” Carrigan said. “From the first game and the conversations he and I had after the game, he continues to get better every week which is what you want.
“It’s his first season with us, there’s a lot of learning and expectations from the play call. He was good against Western Oregon two weeks ago, better this week other than the first quarter; he completed 71 percent of his passes and threw for over 300 yards.”
This week, the Falcon face a team that is the only NCAA institution in Canada.
According to Carrigan, the Red Leafs (0-3, 0-3) are a bit of a throwback as their quarterback takes most of the snaps from under center, as opposed to the majority of programs these days that start in the shotgun formation.
Defensively, Carrigan expects to see Simon Fraser vary its fronts as it looks for its first conference victory.
“It’s a little bit different, but nothing unique,” Carrigan said of the Red Leafs’ offense. “They use a lot of I formation stuff and are run heavy.
“Defensively, they have some good athletes who can make plays.”
One of the biggest obstacles facing Simon Fraser is the travel.
Vancouver is more than 1,600 miles from Odessa and there is a pass through customs as well.
For their home conference games, the Red Leafs are playing across the border in Blaine, Wash., to accommodate the Texas teams that travel to the Pacific Northwest.
The Falcons made that trip two week ago to face Western Oregon in Monmouth, Ore., so Carrigan knows some of logistics Simon Fraser faces.
“There were a lot of unknowns,” Carrigan said. “But the team was good.
“It was the first time for me traveling two time zone behind for a game and it was a 1 p.m. kickoff, which was different. In 18 years of coach, had never traveled like that. But for them (Simon Fraser), every trip is a long trip.”
Against the Red Leafs, Carrigan wants his team to get back to basics on defense.
Stop the run, take care of the assignment, make tackles.
It helps, as well, that defensive back D’Ondre Robinson is expected to return to the field after missing last week’s contest with injuries suffered against Western Oregon.
“Getting D’Ondre back will help,” Carrigan said. “He missed last week because he wasn’t cleared in time and I think that if we have him on the field, we could have stopped some of the long scrambles by West Texas.
“This is another opportunity and we’ve had a good week of practice.”
