New Mexico blew an early 21 point first-half lead in its last game against Rutgers. On Saturday, another 21 point lead was evaporating quickly, and Lobo fans had to buckle up for a bumpy ride.
UNM’s defense tightened up in the second half, as it has all season, allowing only 28 yards and zero points in the quarter. An interception returned for a touchdown by Austin Ocasio put the Lobos up 41-20, and the game seemed to be well in hand.
But late in Saturday’s 48-41 victory, several familiar mistakes by the offense and defense allowed San Jose State to crawl back into the game, and eventually New Mexico found itself clinging to a seven point lead with 7:35 remaining.
Teriyon Gipson wasted no time making his impression. After missing the last game due to a head injury, he went over 100 yards on his first two carries and got the Lobos’ running game going.
Touchdown runs by Tyrone Owens and Gipson built an early 14-0 lead, but then the Lobos defense did something it has struggled with in each game so far — it gave up big plays.
New Mexico got burned for a 75-yard touchdown run, and although it looked like good coverage, it was flagged for pass interference on third down the next drive. That was a theme that plagued the team for much of the game.
The Lobos committed eight penalties for 70 yards, most of which were by the defense, many of which were on third downs that extended drives.
Those penalties, compounded by some big plays, gave SJSU the opening it needed to climb out of two big deficits. New Mexico allowed six plays of 20 or more yards.
In his postgame news conference, head coach Bob Davie said although the defense did some good things, he was not pleased with the mistakes.
“There are so many times where you think we are ready to turn the corner, we are ready to seize momentum and get after them,” Davie said. “But we couldn’t because of the big plays.”
The offense didn’t help the cause either. Lamar Jordan had the offense rolling, scrambling on third down early on a couple of occasions to move the chains on touchdown drives.
But after going 4-for-6 on third downs to start the game, and building a 31-20 halftime lead, the offense seemed to disappear.
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The Lobos drove for a field goal to start the second half, and built a 21 point lead off a defensive score, but then things started to unravel.
The offense did nothing with its first four possessions of the half. The team had three 3-and-outs to go with an untimely interception thrown by Jordan. The Spartans turned that mistake into seven points just three plays later to pull themselves up to 41-34, and had the ball again with a chance to tie the game.
With 7:35 remaining and SJSU in a good field position, the maligned defense came up with two huge stops when the team needed it most.
William Udeh was credited with a sack on the first series and Taylor Timmons and Garrett Hughes converged to sack Kenny Potter on the following drive, forcing the Spartans to punt.
The Lobos, finding themselves in another one possession contest in the late stages of a game, leaned on the running attack with 4:49 remaining to salt the game away.
New Mexico covered 79 yards on six plays, keeping the ball on the ground each time. On 3rd and goal, McQuarley bounced outside to find the end zone from six yards out. It was his third rushing touchdown on the day, and it put New Mexico up 48-34.
SJSU made things interesting with a late touchdown pass, but were unable to recover the onside kick. The Lobos took a knee to preserve the 48-41 victory to win its conference opener and move to 2-2 on the season.
The Lobo offense amassed 446 yards on the ground, with two running backs — Gipson and Owens — going over the century mark. Jordan had 45 yards rushing, but only put the ball in the air eight times.
On defense, Acosio’s interception was the defense’s first takeaway since the season opener against South Dakota. It also recorded three sacks and seven tackles resulting in loss of yardage.
Both sides of the ball came through when it needed to, but the team will need to be much sharper moving forward. New Mexico will get its toughest test of the young season as it prepares to take on Boise State.
The Broncos (4-0) are considered to be the class of the conference, and it will be a quick turnaround as kickoff is on Friday at 7:00 p.m. at University Stadium.
Robert Maler is a sports reporter for the Daily Lobo. He primarily covers cross country, football, tennis and track and field. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @robert_maler.
