On the first play from scrimmage, University of New Mexico tailback Quincy Wright proved that he is a man to be reckoned with this year.
Wright shaked and baked his way through the middle of the Weber State University defense and scampered into the end zone for a 34-yard touchdown run 19 seconds into the game.
"It was wide open, it was a big old hole," Wright said about the touchdown. "I think any of our running backs could have done the same thing."
In all he rushed for 265 yards on 27 carries, shattering the 15-year old record of 236 yards set by Mike Williams.
Wright scored 3 TD's and a two-point conversion for the Lobos while averaging 9.81 yards-per-carry.
"It's a great feeling to get the school record," Wright said. "I expected to come out and have a big rushing game because I knew our offensive line would come out and dominate."
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It looked like the Lobos might run away with the game early but the Wildcats refused to give up and claimed a 10-7 lead early in the second quarter.
On the ensuing kickoff, Wright broke to the left side and seemingly put UNM in great field position with a 70-yard kickoff return.
However, the play was brought back to the New Mexico 11-yard line on a holding call.
"We can't let that get to us," Wright said. "When the situation calls for it we have to step it up and make plays."
The Lobos regrouped and moved the ball up to the 37-yard line.
That set up more heroics from the senior tailback
On second-and-three, the Lobos called a draw-play. Wright took the handoff from quarterback Casey Kelly; he busted up the middle and then cut to right sideline.
Wright turned on the afterburners as he blew past several Weber State defenders and raced in for a 63-yard touchdown run.
Rushing was not the only thing that Wright contributed to the Lobo offense.
With less than seven minutes left in the first half and facing a third-and-ten, Kelly dropped back, faked left and dumped a screen pass to Wright.
It looked as though he would be tackled short of a first down but he broke two tackles and was finally run out of bounds after a 19-yard gain. The drive fell short though and UNM was forced to punt.
In the second half UNM took some pressure off Wright. It scored a defensive touchdown on strange play involving nose tackle Hebrews Josue and line backer Billy Strothers.
The Lobos added another score on Dwight Counter's 63-yard punt return. That gave the home team a comfortable 31-10 lead.
Wright would not be outdone. In the fourth quarter, on an option play, Kelly pitched the ball to Wright on the left side.
He juked one man and was off to the races. After a 48-yard gain, Wright was tackled out-of-bounds at the 13-yard line. It was one of the only times that he was caught from behind.
"I'm gonna have to get a little conditioning because I did get a little tired out there," Wright said.
It was on that play that Wright broke UNM's all-time single game rushing record.
Wright put the game out of reach moments after his record-breaking run when he broke out to the right side and burned three defenders for his third and final touchdown.
That gave the Lobos a 38-17 lead with 9:40 left in the game.
Wright hopes that his success will force teams to focus on him and take some pressure off the passing game.
"I want every team going into the game saying 'How are we going to stop Quincy,'" Wright said. "Once we got them like that, we're gonna go over the top and pass it."
