UTRGV Head Coach Travis Bush waited 992 days to see his dream realized: The Vaqueros winning in front of a sold-out home crowd. 

Instead of leading the team onto the field for the inaugural game, Bush watched from the sidelines as the Vaqueros – dressed from head to toe in the school’s signature orange and white – stormed in alongside the band, drill team and a flurry of smoke and pyrotechnics. 

“I actually snuck out, because I wanted to watch them,” Bush said. “And I watched them come out of the tunnel and it was electric. I snuck out here this morning and walked around all the stadium and the concessions, you know all the stuff that we don’t get to see, just to take it all in.” 

Watching alongside the crowd, Bush was seeing years of planning and waiting finally payoff in a single moment. 

In their inaugural home opener, the Vaqueros put up 66 points and held Sul Ross State University scoreless. While historic, the win is something Bush says he expected after trusting the process and committing to a sustainable football future. 

“Saturdays in the Rio Grande Valley will never be the same in the fall,” Bush said. “College football, Division I College football, is here, it’s here to stay. 

Patience was part of the process. 

The sustainability of a Division 1 football team has been a topic of conversation in the Deep South Texas region since 2016. 

Legendary Texas Head Coach Mack Brown chaired a committee for the university on the subject. In 2017, it was still a question, but by November of 2022, the answer was a resounding: “Let’s make this happen.”

Before the end of the year, the Vaqueros found their visionary in Bush. Naming him the program’s first-ever head coach. 

His first hurdle: Getting people to buy in fast. 

His first team wouldn’t play its first game for nearly another three years. Everyone who signed with the Vaqueros in that first year would have to redshirt. A pro for a team that did not yet have its own practice facility or stadium, but a con for any transfer or high school signee looking to make an impact on a team or play immediately. 

Waiting for his time under the lights, armed with PowerPoint slides and a dream, he made his pitch to coaches, players and the broader Rio Grande Valley community about what August, 30, 2025 would be like. 

Before winning the coin toss to decide possession in their first game, luck would be on the Vaqueros' side as another team severed ties with the region. 

Nearly a year after Bush officially took over the program, in 2023, the RGV FC Toros announced that they would shut down all soccer and business operations in Edinburg after eight seasons.

For about a year, the stadium left behind by the Toros was like a ghost town in the backyard of the university’s main campus four miles away. 

UTRGV bought the complex the following year in 2024 and then named it to honor Robert and Janet Vackar. The family owns the Bert Ogden Auto Group and gave the university’s athletic department $20 million dollars after they were pitched Bush’s dream of college football in the Valley. 

“We’ve talked about August 30, 2025 it seems like for so long,” Bush said. “But you couldn't draw it up any better. So proud of those guys. I’ve coached for 25 years, I don’t know if  I’ve ever been more proud of any group that I have had the chance to be around than these guys.” 

The inaugural game also served as a proving ground for athletes who previously left the RGV to play on Saturdays. Mission born and raised quarterback Eddie Lee Marburger made a statement with his first possession of the game: A 50-yard bomb to Xayvion Noland for the first touchdown in program history.

Marburger played a nearly perfect game, throwing 18-for-19 with 365 yards and five touchdowns. Marburger is one of 11 players on the roster from the Rio Grande Valley. 

“It’s a blessing. It’s like a full circle moment, honestly,” Marburger said. “This is home for me… It was awesome, honestly, to do it in front of my family and friends.” 

The stadium roared during the big plays and gritos echoed across the concourse as Tejano music hits blared over the loudspeakers. A machine gun-style t-shirt cannon was used to keep the crowd engaged throughout the blowout. 

The sell-out crowd of 12,726 was just a fraction of those who cheered the team on throughout the day. UTRGV’s athletics department estimated as many as 20,000 had been on the stadium grounds for tailgates throughout the day in the triple-digit heat. 

“This is an FBS atmosphere, man,” Bush said. “From the morning, the tents, the tailgates, the people all day long, you know, pulling that bus around. About a thousand days have been anticipating that bus coming down Freddy (Gonzalez Drive) and seeing that stadium packed and the smoke in the pits. It was just surreal to finally see it.”

From sunup to sundown, there was a buzz at the intersection of South Raul Longoria Road and Freddy Gonzalez Drive. The fajitas, hot dogs and veggies on the grills were just the appetizer – the appetite for college football in South Texas was finally satisfied when the first whistle blew. 

“It’s special for a lot of people, it’s special for the Rio Grande Valley, but it’s special for these guys too,” Bush said. “They were excited; they knew there was some weight on their shoulders. They’re representing a lot of people…but they were up for the challenge.” 

Leaning on his time on staff at UTSA for the build of that program, Bush says his focus now returns to making sure the team does not fall into a second game daydream trap. 

“Going back to our time at UTSA, we did the same thing, you talk so long for this first game and play a dang near perfect game,” Bush said. “It was hard for them to come back and get ready and D 3 McMurry came to our place and beat us.”

Bush says he celebrated the win by sleeping, which is actually how he mentally prepared for the game, envisioning a 66 to 14 win. 

“We talk about visualizing, playing the game in our head,” Bush said. “I played the game all night last night in different scenarios. But it was really weird, we talked about half time, it was really weird, cause in the vision it was 28 to nothing after the first. It was 49 nothing after the half. It ended up 66 to 14 in my vision. But when we came in, we talked about half time and then for the score to end up the way it is, it was kind of creepy, but now we gotta do it again next week.”

The team will take Labor Day off and hit the road in Week 2 to take on Prairie View A&M. Kick off is set for 6:00 PM at Blackshear Field.