Trickery, fourth-down conversions and big-time plays fueled Arizona in a highly emotional 45-37 win over UNM in the 10th annual Gildan New Mexico Bowl on Saturday night.
Having appeared in four straight bowl games at the helm of the Arizona football program, Rich Rodriguez is no stranger to what it takes to win a bowl game. The head coach said he knew New Mexico was going to try to throw some new looks and some trick plays at his squad before the opening whistle sounded.
However, lack of time on the field prevented Rodriguez throwing some of his unorthodox methods at the Lobo defense.
“We’ve got a few in the bank that we didn’t use today, just didn’t have enough possessions to do it,” he said. “But we thought they were going to do something, particularly on special teams.”
Although the Wildcats did not receive all the opportunities to run a lot of the untraditional plays that UNM head coach Bob Davie drew up, Arizona was far from conservative.
On each of the Wildcats’ six touchdown drives, not one took longer than two minutes to do so. In fact, the only scoring drive for Arizona that took longer than 1:50 ended in a 37-yard field goal while the Wildcats were trying to eat as much of the clock as they could towards the end of the game.
“We knew we were going to be limited with possessions and possession times because of the offense they run,” Rodriguez said. “They did a great job, they controlled the clock, they controlled the possessions, and they snuck an extra possession on the onside kick.”
Arizona knew it was going to have to make the most out of each possession because New Mexico is no stranger to running the ball. The Lobos were ranked No. 9 in the country in terms of rushing yards per contest, and it proved to be working yet again on Saturday.
Despite New Mexico’s luxury of holding the ball for over two-thirds of Saturday afternoon’s bowl game, the Wildcats took advantage of UNM’s aggression on defense.
“Watching film, we knew pretty much their coverage was man-to-man,” Arizona quarterback Anu Solomon said. “Cayleb (Jones) and all the wide receivers did a great job of just getting open and then me just getting them the ball.”
Taking advantage of the single coverage is precisely what Jones and the rest of the wide receiving core did.
In the first half, Jones was on an absolute tear, making up for the second half effort without a single catch. However, the four catches for 182 yards, including a 72 yard touchdown catch in the first quarter, made a mockery of the Lobo secondary.
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The second half was a bit different thought, the Lobos tightened things up which forced more out of the Wildcats’ ground game and less deep balls lofted downfield. Even without relying on Jones to tear up UNM’s home turf, the Wildcats still finished the game 503 yards on 56 plays.
“We averaged nine yards a play and we had to because the limited number of plays and possessions we had; we had to make the most of it,” Rodriguez said.
In comparison, the Lobos put up 522 yards of their own on 91 plays. The ground and pound style UNM plays gave New Mexico just above a 5.7 yard per play average, but it wasn’t enough to take down the explosive Wildcat offense.
Arizona linebacker Scooby Wright III was well aware of the amount of time the Wildcats (7-6) remained on the field. Wright III was in on 15 tackles, 11 solo, while adding two sacks and an additional tackle for a loss in his final collegiate game.
Although Wright III is just a junior, the linebacker made known before the game that he would forego his final year of eligibility to enter the NFL draft.
“I feel like I’ve accomplished everything I’ve wanted to in college,” Wright III said. “I just feel like it’s the right time.
With the guidance of Wright III’s persistency the Wildcats may not have shut down the well-known UNM triple option scheme, but the defense came up with the stops when it needed to.
“I’m proud of my guys. They’ve had a lot of adversity this year and to finish off with a win on the road, a bowl win, a road win,” Rodriguez said. “For our seniors to finish off the season with a winning record, it’s pretty neat for them.”
Liam Cary-Eaves is the sports editor for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at assistantsports@dailylobo.com or on twitter @Liam_CE.
