Those who worried about New Mexico football stumbling in a “trap” game didn’t need to do so. The Lobos scored on their first offensive — and defensive — possessions and never looked back in a Saturday night win against Louisiana-Monroe.
The defense hadn’t created a turnover since game four of the season against San Jose State, an Austin Ocasio interception return for touchdown in a 48-41 win.
Jadon Boatright wasted no time doing the same against LMU, jumping in front of a third-down pass on the opening drive and hurrying down the field for a 40-yard interception return. The score put the Lobos up 7-0.
Head coach Bob Davie said Boatright’s score, which put the Lobos on the board before the offense even took the field, helped set the tone for the defense.
“For the first time this season, we felt like we got into a rhythm on defense — and it was good to see,” Davie said.
On the first offensive series, Tyrone Owens and Richard McQuarley combined to cover 72 yards on the ground, culminating in a 12-yard touchdown run by McQuarley.
On the Lobos’ next possession, running back Teriyon Gipson looked to be stopped in his tracks, but shook his defender with a nice spin move and walked into the end zone from six yards out to put the Lobos up 21-0.
The Lobos lost to Rutgers earlier in the season after blowing a 21-point lead, but this time New Mexico not only protected the lead, they added to it — a lot.
Owens broke free for an 83-yard touchdown run on the first play of the next drive. It gave the Lobos 28 points in the first quarter and stands as the fifth-longest run in school history.
A 59-yard TD run was erased after a review showed the ball was knocked out by a defender while Gipson was coasting into the end zone. Instead, it resulted in a touchback for Louisiana-Monroe.
New Mexico wasn’t able to do much for most of the second quarter, fumbling on its own 12-yard line in the latter moments, but the defense forced a field goal to make the score 28-3.
The defense stepped up huge this game. In the first half, the Lobos secondary scored seven points, recorded three sacks, surrendered less than 100 yards of total offense and didn’t allow a single completion on seven attempts.
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Lamar Jordan added a nice corner fade to senior wide receiver Dameon Gamblin on a 10-yard connection just before half. Kicker Jason Sanders knocked in a 45-yard PAT after a pair of penalties to extend the lead to 35-3.
It was Gamblin’s only catch on the day, but it was a spectacular one. The reception was the receiver’s first touchdown on the season after being denied last week against Air Force, when he fumbled trying to reach the ball across the goal line.
The receiver said his family drives 10 hours to see him play in home games — and the touchdown was worth the wait.
“With our offense, I might not see a lot of action, but as long as we’re winning (I’m happy),” he said of his role on the team. “It was worth the wait getting that one tonight.”
Elijah Lilly made sure the Lobos kept momentum, returning the second-half kickoff 93 yards for a touchdown. His score completed the trifecta for the Lobos, having registered touchdowns on offense, defense and special teams.
The last time the Lobos scored a touchdown in all three phases of the game was in the 2014 season finale, a 36-30 triumph over Wyoming.
The defense added a second interception and the offense tacked on a touchdown and field goal to extend the lead to 52-3 at the end of the third quarter.
New Mexico made some mistakes in the fourth quarter and committed another turnover that led to a Warhawks touchdown. But the Lobos still walked away with a 59-17 victory to improve to 4-3 on the season.
The team will head to Hawaii next week and attempt to improve on its 2-1 conference record. The top two teams in the Mountain division — Boise State and Wyoming — play each other, so an outright win against Hawaii would move the Lobos into a tie for second place.
Robert Maler is the sports editor for the Daily Lobo. He primarily covers football and men’s and women’s tennis. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @robert_maler.
