PENSACOLA, Fla –  Game 1 of the Kaleb Nobles era goes in the books in a runaway victory of   35-3 over Kentucky Wesleyan. Friday night UWF opened up the season ranked seventh in the country after their final four finish last season. 

The Argos (1-0) delivered a one-sided performance on both sides of the ball and recorded 403 yards of offense while only allowing 168 yards from the Panthers (0-1). The efficient passing game seemed to be the difference maker as UWF had 261 yards through the air to the Panthers’ 40.

For the first time in program history, UWF brought in a new coach, Kaleb Nobles, after the inaugural coach Pete Shinnick made his departure after six seasons. Nobles was the first quarterback in program history and was also the offensive coordinator of the 2019 National Championship team for UWF.

“I’m super excited to be here because of guys like Peewee, guys like Will Breland,everybody downstairs in that locker room,” Nobles said.“I told them yesterday that I am so proud to be their head coach. I tell them all the time that I love them because I want them to know that I care about them more than just what they are doing on the field. This is a great opportunity and a great university to have the chance to be the head coach.”

Nobles brings a new approach to the Argos’ offensive game being efficient and having more plays for short gains and a run-first offense, rather than going to the deep ball early on like in recent years.

Senior quarterback Peewee Jarrett completed 19-22 passes for 230 yards and a touchdown along with two rushing touchdowns to start his second season in the blue and green.

Jarrett was known for his incredible arm when he debuted on campus last fall, being very adamant about going to the deep ball. Friday night had a much more patient approach compared to last year.

“Coach Nobles came to me right away and in one of the first conversations we had, he said I probably left 600 to a thousand yards on the field last year,” Jarrett said. “Plays I could have made getting the ball out quicker, so that was something. If the defense is going to give it, we’re just going to take it.” 

But when Jarrett decided to let it fly, it flew well into the hands of senior transfer John Jiles from 51 yards out for the Argos’ fourth touchdown of the night. 

The Panthers secondary only got beat once by the deep ball. The majority of the Argos’ yardage production came from short passes and rushes underneath.

Jarrett added, “They were playing really off, didn’t want us to beat them over the top, and we just took everything underneath.”

On the defensive side, the Argos allowed only 3 points along with 10 first downs forcing four fumbles and two sacks on Kentucky Wesleyan quarterback Christian Arrambide.

The UWF defense was led by third-year starting linebacker and captain Will Breland, the junior leading the Argos with seven tackles.

‘’I felt great,”Breland said. “We were all very eager about getting this first game. We have a lot of athletes, a lot of great players, but we haven’t played together yet. So, it was really good to get that first game under our belt playing together, rushing to the ball. Made some mistakes, but … did a lot of great things. We’re going to clean it up and come back even better next week.” 

Defensive back transfer Virgil Lemons grabbed the first interception of the season for UWF, which led to the Argos’ first touchdown of the night.

While UWF seemed close to perfection, the “foolish penalties” from Nobles’ squad were discipline issues that appeared in the team’s first game.

The Argos had multiple unsportsmanlike conduct calls along with 4 penalties on offense.

“Got to have the mental toughness to do things like that,” Nobles said. “Challenging those guys in the moment and making sure it doesn’t go untalked about, make sure they know right there this could affect us moving forward. This could change a game down the line. We got to clean these things up.”

Noble’s first night as head honcho had a crowd of 4,068 that showed up at Pen Air field.

C.J. Wilson, who was the Argos third string running back last year, now has taken over as the starter. He carried the ball nine times for 39 yards and a touchdown. 

For the Panthers, the receiver Khia Sherrard broke off a 25-yard run that led to Kentucky Wesleyan’s only 3 points. Quarterback Christian Arrambide went 4-12 for 40 yards including an interception.

The Argos hit the road for the first time this season to Lebanon, Illinois on Saturday, Sept. 9 with a visit to McKendree.