Gipson had a great night on the ground following the Pressley injury, rushing the ball 24 times for 205 yards, both career highs. In Saturday’s 60-49 loss to Boise State (7-2, 4-1 MW), UNM’s rushing attack stayed strong despite losing a key contributor.
“I thought he was good, I thought our entire power offense was pretty impressive,” head coach Bob Davie said of the running game. “We had 400 yards of offense in the first half ... That’s with a redshirt quarterback, a true sophomore running back, and a redshirt freshman tailback.”
After Pressley couldn’t return, Gipson took the brunt of the carries for New Mexico, becoming the every-down runner for a banged-up backfield. UNM is already missing its big, bruising senior halfback Crusoe Gongbay, who suffered a foot injury on Oct. 4 against UTSA (2-7, 1-4 C-USA).
Gipson and Pressley had been splitting the carrying duties almost down the middle: Pressley had seven carries while Gipson had eight. Gipson took 16 of the 21 remaining handoffs.
Despite running over the 200-yard mark, Gipson didn’t even account for a majority of UNM’s rushing yards. Three separate rushers had carries of 50 yards or more, two coming off of 75-yard touchdown runs.
Gipson, the sophomore back out of Dallas, rushed in three of the team’s seven touchdowns. Huge plays were UNM’s theme of the day. Gipson’s longest run of the day came on a 57-yarder in the first quarter that was called out of bounds at BSU’s 3-yard line.
Gipson said he felt good getting the amount of touches he did throughout the game because of the way Davie prepared the team and the way the offensive line executed.
“I was comfortable,” Gipson said. “We just had to step up. With a man down, the next one steps up.”
Although UNM’s offense utilizes the triple-option offense, UNM (3-6, 1-4 MW) was running the ball right through the teeth of BSU’s defense. Gipson said Davie knew right where the holes were going to be, which is why the Lobos had so much success running right up the middle.
“The offensive line was dominating their defensive line, so we can take that as a positive,” Gipson said. “The holes were there ... it was just an awesome job by the offensive line.”
Davie’s hunches did well for UNM. The team averaged 10.3 yards per carry while exploiting several huge plays on the ground. Gipson alone had 8.5 yards per carry.
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Even with averaging a first down per carry, the Lobos are still winless in front of their home crowd.
Davie didn’t comment on the severity of Pressley’s injury.
Liam Cary-Eaves is a sports reporter for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @Liam_CE.
