Box Score | 2016 Season Statistics
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — It wasn’t exactly “Easy Like Sunday Morning”, but it sure finished on Sunday morning. Thanks to a hellacious thunder storm that knocked out power briefly at University Stadium and delayed the game at halftime nearly two hours, the University of New Mexico Lobos clinched bowl eligibility for a second straight season with a 35-26 win over the Nevada Wolf Pack, a team that soundly defeated UNM a year ago.
The win moved the Lobos to 6-3 overall and 4-1 in the Mountain Division of the Mountain West, keeping pace with Boise State for a tie for second place. The Lobos remained one game behind Wyoming for first place in the conference. It also gave UNM its first four -game winning streak since the 2004 season, when UNM won five straight.
The Lobos will now go bowling for a second consecutive year, only the fourth time that’s happened and the first since the team went three straight times, in 2006 and 2007.
Play resumed after a one hour, 49-minute delay at 10:43 p.m., and UNM’s defense immediately forced a three-and-out, setting up UNM’s offense. Under Austin Apodaca, the Lobos moved the ball right down the field as Apodaca mixed the pass and run well. However, on a fumble at the 4-yard line, Apodaca got hurt on the recovery, and Lamar Jordan, who started, entered back into the game. He promptly dashed into the end zone from the four to give UNM the lead for good.
Apodaca returned on the next series and hit Emmanuel Harris for a 44-yard touchdown on a third-and-six play, giving UNM a 28-14 lead. Nevada however, would answer with the next two touchdowns, but Nevada’s kicking game, once a major strength, proved its undoing. After a Brandon Scott 19-yard touchdown catch, Spencer Pettit’s extra point was blocked by Ryan Santos, keeping the margin at eight, 28-20.
Nevada’s next offensive play went for a 57-yard touchdown to Ahki Muhammad, this with 11:31 to go. Needing a two-pointer to tie, Tyler Gangi’s pass was knocked away by Nias Martin, keeping UNM in the lead at 28-26.
After another punt, UNM’s defense, as it did when needed against San José State and Air Force during this streak, came through. Down just two and starting at its own 20, Nevada went nowhere in three plays. First, Kimmie Carson blew up James Butler on an inside handoff, and then he got in Gangi’s face and forced an incompletion. On third down, Jadon Boatright knocked away a pass intended for Jerico Richardson, forcing a punt.
That was all UNM needed. Apodaca led a brilliant eight play, 57 yard drive for a touchdown to ice it away. After a run for no gain on the first play, he scrambled around, buying time until he found Cole Gautsche for a short gain. Apodaca than hit Dameon Gamblin with a big completion for a first down to the Nevada 43-yard line. From there, Gipson, who finished with 121 yards on the ground, gained three, and then Apodaca went for 29, sliding at the end to stay in bounds.
He then capped off the drive with a bruising four-yard run for a touchdown. Jason Sanders’ extra point made the lead nine at 35-26 with just 2:54 to go. Any hope of a comeback was thwarted by Austin Ocasio, who picked off his second pass of the year to end a Nevada comeback bid. UNM then ran out most of the clock for the win.
For a while, it looked like there would never be a conclusion to the game. While the UNM Marching Band was on the field late in halftime, the lightning detectors went off, and University Stadium was basically in the midst of a shooting gallery with lightning hitting all around the stadium. One rather large bolt knocked out the lights and power (including all of ESPN’s cameras). However, the cell eventually passed, and the teams returned to the field at 11:30 p.m., and with a 10-minute warm-up, action resumed.
The Lobos opened the game with a touchdown drive of 75 yards, capped off by Richard McQuarley’s 12th TD of the season. UNM looked to go up two TDs, but Jordan was picked off in the end zone. Nevada turned that turnover into a touchdown, and then later in the second quarter, Jordan fumbled at the Nevada nine. The Wolf Pack turned that one into points as well, and suddenly lead 14-7.
UNM answered behind Apodaca, as he drove UNM 75 yards in eight plays, all on the ground with Tyrone Owens scoring from 25 yards out on fourth-and-one. Nevada eventually got into long field goal range at the end of the half, but Pettit’s 47-yard attempt was wide right, and possibly short as well, setting up UNM’s second straight 14-14 tie at the break.
NOTE: The winning 50/50 # was 013653 and the $1,122 prize was claimed.
Postgame Notes: New Mexico 35, Nevada 26
This was the seventh meeting between the two teams.
The series is now tied 3-3-1
New Mexico now leads 3-1 in Albuquerque
Nevada leads 2-0-1 in Reno
New Mexico has won 1 in a row overall, ending Nevada’s three-game winning streak in the series.
Starting lineup changes for UNM from published two-deep
Offense: UNM started Richard McQuarley as a third running back instead of Cole Gautsche at TE.
Defense: UNM started Cody Baker at DE instead of Garrett Hughes
*New Mexico’s captains were Lamar Jordan, Dakota Cox, Daniel Henry and Austin Apodaca
* Javohn Jones was the New Mexico Man for this game. It was his first career honor.
*UNM won the toss for the first time this season and took the opening kickoff for the sixth time this year.
TEAM NOTES:
*New Mexico converted two 4th and 1s in the first half, making UNM 10-for-14 on fourth down this season.
*UNM’s streak of scoring a touchdown on the second drive of every game ended when Lamar Jordan threw an interception in the end zone. It also marked the first time this season UNM didn’t score after a takeaway.
*The game featured a lightning delay at halftime. Due to it occurring while halftime was happening, the official delay lasted from 9:54 to 10:43 for a one hour, 49 minutes.
*UNM and Nevada were tied 14-14 at the half, and that marked the second straight game UNM was tied 14-14 at the half. It was the same at Hawai’i.
*UNM as a team has now hit 100 extra points in a row.
*The Lobos will play in a bowl game in back-to-back seasons for just the fourth time, and UNM will play in its 13th bowl game overall.
*UNM is now 10-3 in its last 13 regular season home games. The last time UNM went 10-3 over a 13-game regular season stretch was from 2001-03, when the team actually went 11-3.
*New Mexico went over the 4,000-yard mark for the season in the game, moving to 4,184 total yards. UNM has broken 5,000 yards in a season just seven times.
*UNM controlled the ball for a season-best 40:09.
*Over UNM’s four-game winning streak, its opponents are just 15-for-51 on third down, just 29.4%.
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
*Richard McQuarley scored on a 3-yard run on the opening possession, giving him 12 touchdowns on the season. That ties him for 10th place on the single-season rushing touchdowns list, and it was his 19th career touchdown.
*Tyrone Owens scored a rushing touchdown in the second quarter, giving him a rushing touchdown in each of the last six games.
*Lamar Jordan moved ahead of teammate Cole Gautsche on the all-time rushing chart into 18th place with 1,862 yards. He passed him on his 4-yard touchdown run.
*Emmanuel Harris’s 44-yard touchdown reception was his first career touchdown and the longest of his career.
*Jason Sanders moved into second place for the most extra points in a single season, with 46. He moved ahead Pete Parks, who hit 45 in 1982 and he is three from tying Justus Adams for the single season record. He now has hit 68 in row, second all-time at UNM, also behind Justus Adams who had 76.
*Gipson rushed for 121 yards, his fourth 100-yard game of the season, and the sixth of his career.
*Bob Davie improved to 24-35 as the coach of New Mexico, tying with Rudy Feldman for seventh on the all-time wins list. Feldman was 24-37-2 from 1968-73.
*Corey Bojorquez averaged a career-best 52.8 on four punts, including a career-long 66-yard kick that was downed at the 4-yard line in the final minute.
Postgame Quotes: New Mexico 35, Nevada 26
UNM coach Bob Davie
Opening Statement:
These guys’ goals is to play Sunday football, well these college guys got to do it. It’s 1:21 a.m. (Sunday morning). … I told our guys … this is about the same time we finished in Honolulu last week. But you want to talk about guys competing and going back-to-back after last week’s game with the kind of energy that was put out. There was a lot of fight. It’s not always pretty though, that is for sure.
We’re still building. We aren’t there, but there is some fight and there is some pride.
On Austin Apodaca:
Austin played well. Austin came in and ran the ball. I do think he’s an improved runner. He had a couple of key third-down plays – especially the one to Emmanuel Harris down the middle for the touchdown. … I told him that, ‘We started the season with you and at some point you are going to be a key component in us finishing this season.’ That was before we made the move in Hawaii. He’s paid his dues and loves football so it’s good to see him have some success.
On dealing with the delay at halftime:
I was glad we were in our locker room. I’ve actually never been in the visitor’s locker room, but I doubt that it is as big as ours. It was different when those lights went out and it was raining. … I’m just glad we got to play and finish the game. I actually thought we had more energy in the second half than we had in the first half. There is really no plan for that. I’ve only had that happen one other time and I was broadcasting a game with ESPN at Auburn. … But I’ve never had one when we’ve had a delay and I’m sure it helped us being at home. We had a lot of snacks and a lot of space. It was a neat atmosphere. It was just a bunch of guys hanging out down there just seeing what was going to happen.
On a key fourth-quarter stop by the defense with UNM holding a 28-26 lead:
Our defense has stepped up at times and that was a case right there because momentum was clearly on their side. We had a couple of big stops.
On building momentum for road games at Utah State and Colorado State:
This is big because going to Utah State and Colorado State back to back is tough. It’s really tough. We have another night game next week – which we are used to now and I kind of like them – but there is no question this was a big win for us. Getting to play for that sixth (win) in our stadium was important to us.
Linebacker Dakota Cox:
On becoming bowl eligible again:
I think everyone understands that we did get this sixth win and we get an extra game for the second year in a row – so everyone’s pretty excited about that. Having four straight wins is huge for us and is a momentum builder. It’s a big party down there (in the locker room). … The guys are really excited and looking to build off of this game.
On how they stayed focused during the halftime weather delay:
It definitely felt like we were getting ready to play another game with how long that delay was. Everyone was staying loose – rolling out and stretching. It was mostly just going over scheme and going over plays that they got some yards on us. It was more of an opportunity to have an extended halftime and fix what we were trying to do and fix the bad things that happened and understand that we have to finish the game.
Quarterback Austin Apodaca:
On handling the delay:
We definitely had a lot of energy in the locker room. It was a close game at that point and we felt like we could take over the game. But it was a long wait in there. I couldn’t even take off my cleats or my shoulder pads off because I felt like I’d become un-energized. We had a lot of energy in there and maybe it helped us. You always got to take adversity as it comes and I think we did a good job of that tonight.
On becoming more comfortable with the option offense:
I’m really confident in my abilities – throwing or running and just lead the offense in general. It was fun to do a little bit of everything tonight. I give a lot of credit to my teammates. (Emmanuel Harris) stepped up on that pass, we had a lot of great runs by our running backs, the offensive line did a heck of a job, the receivers blocked well on the outside and our defense played good when it mattered. They came up with some big stops. It was a fun win.
On if the team has a growing sense of confidence:
I think we do. Anytime you win four in a row you get a sense of confidence so we are excited. But still we don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves because we still have a long way to go this season. We have three tough games left. But we’ll enjoy this win and get back to it on Tuesday.
Nevada Head Coach Brian Polian
I have no problem with the fight our kids put up today. We had to many opportunities to makes plays and get off the field and we don’t do it. I think we’re guessing about what the route is going to be. We’re there and we’ve got to make plays.
We didn’t take care of the ball and the two interceptions hurt us. We really did a nice job covering kick-offs. It’s not a fight issue, it’s a details issue and New Mexico did a better job tonight. It’s really frustrating. I have to remind myself that a lot of our players are young and still have some lack of experience.
We did the best we could. I was not happy about the communication for the first part of the game. We managed the game as best we could and the other team was ready much more than we were.
Why can we execute at such a high level for the two previous series and we can’t snap the ball? The bottom line is that New Mexico is really good at what they do, but that’s not an excuse and you have to make the plays on third down.
We have to be smart enough to see the ball and we have to cover on third down.
We are so depleted on defense and have a very difficult time stopping the run. We made some plays but it was not enough.
Linebacker Alex Bertrando
It was a rough game. We played well at times and we needed to make plays but we couldn’t do it. Offense did pretty well but defense didn’t do that well. We really needed to make some plays on third down and we just couldn’t get it done.
Third down was the biggest thing and I feel like we defended the run pretty well but we just couldn’t get them off the field. We knew they were going to come out and run the ball.
I knew our offense was strong and could get it done. I think everyone out there is competing and running the ball as best as they could. There’s just little details out there that we need to fix.
We have to take it one game at time, stay positive, and learn from this game.
Lobos Clinch Bowl Eligibility 35-26 Over Nevada
