Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024, was a turning point in UT Permian Basin’s season. The 3-2 Falcons desperately clung to their hopes of consecutive Lone Star Conference titles and NCAA Division II playoff appearances as they prepared to meet an Angelo State squad with a stout defense and improving offense.

Still, the Falcons were confident entering the game with a solid defense and an offense averaging 34.4 points per game behind the play of senior quarterback Dylan Graham, who spent last season learning under former starting quarterback and current offensive coordinator Kenny Hrncir.

However, everything changed for UTPB on the first play of its second drive when Graham suffered a season-ending injury. The injury left the Falcon offense and the team’s postseason hopes on the shoulders of true freshman quarterback Isaac Mooring. 

“To be completely honest, I, as a head coach, did not prepare our team for that moment,” UTPB head coach Kris McCullough said. “We often talk about ‘next man up,’ but you never talk about what happens when your starting quarterback and captain of the offense goes down for the season with a broken leg.”

The Rams departed Astound Broadband Stadium with a 36-7 victory, and the Falcons were left to regroup before traveling to play preseason LSC favorite and No. 9 Central Washington.

McCullough and the Falcons didn’t allow panic and anxiety to fester. Instead, they relied on the mantra McCullough established when he inherited the program two years ago. FAMILLY is more than a cool hashtag UTPB places at the end of social media posts. It’s a roadmap to overcoming adversity that is inevitable in everyday life.

“We have to find a way to be successful together. Adversity hits during every game and in our daily lives,” McCullough said. “We’ll never be successful if we give up, so we agree to meet adversity head-on.”

The acronym stands for Focus, Accountability, Mentality, Inspiration, Learning, Love, and Yes. Following the loss, McCullough focused on accountability.

“Self-accountability is where it starts. We have to hold ourselves accountable to our standards. Another level of accountability is player-to-player, which the great teams have,” McCullough said. “There is the coach to the player, which is common for most teams, but then there’s the player to coach. Coaches have bad days too, and it should be OK for players to hold us accountable.”

McCullough quickly points to other times throughout the last two years when he needed to be held accountable. Yet, accountability alone isn’t enough to overcome adversity. A certain mentality is also required.

“We want to have a championship mindset in everything we do,” McCullough said. “If a recruit is on a visit and we’re playing each other in ping pong, I expect that recruit to do whatever it takes to win. It doesn’t matter what we’re doing in life, whether it’s in the classroom, weight room, or community service, we want to win in everything we do.”

The Falcons responded to their head coach, upset CWU, 14-13, and finished the regular season with four wins in their final five contests behind Mooring's solid quarterback play. While UTPB’s 7-4 record didn’t earn a repeat appearance in the playoffs, they were selected to play in the Heritage Bowl on Dec. 7 against No. 25 Central Missouri and reigning Harlon Hill Trophy winner Zach Zebrowski.

Consecutive postseason appearances are another in a long line of firsts for the UTPB program during McCullough’s two years at the helm. The program earned its first LSC title and DII playoff berth last year. The Falcons have posted the first consecutive seasons above .500 since the program’s inception. UTPB owned the conference’s top scoring and overall offense and defense last year. Despite injuries at key positions, the offense again produced the top LSC scoring (34.5 points per game) and total offense (428.9 yards per game) in 2024, while the defense posted the third-best scoring (17 ppg) and total defensive stats (275.5 ypg).

“It’s taken all three phases playing well for us to be successful,” McCullough said. “All three phases have to play for each other and off of each other, as well. There will be games when one phase struggles, and the other two must carry us to victory. They must love each other and buy into this FAMILLY motto to succeed.”