Box Score | 2017 Season Statistics
Caroline Pineda, Special to GoLobos.com
(9/30/2017) Football vs Air ForceALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Senior Richard McQuarley tied a 21-year-old program record with five rushing touchdowns on Saturday night to lead the Lobos to a 56-38 rout of the visiting Air Force Falcons. The 18-point margin of victory marks the first time in the Bob Davie era that a matchup between the two teams was decided by more than 12 points.
With the win, New Mexico improves to 3-2 on the season and 1-1 in the Mountain West.
In his first game back from an injury against Boise State on Sept. 14, Lamar Jordan threw for 146 yards and two touchdowns, in addition to rushing for 68 yards. Tyrone Owens compiled 84 yards on the ground, while Romell Jordan added 28 yards and a touchdown. New Mexico finished the night with 509 yards of total offense, while the defense recorded four sacks for a loss of 29 yards.
The Lobos went three-and-out on their opening possession, but forced Air Force to punt on its first two drives of the night. McQuarley put the Lobos on the board with a three-yard rush with 2:22 remaining in the first quarter, set up by a 15-yard carry by Tyrone Owens. After the 61-minute weather delay, the Falcons answered with a 15-yard run by Tim McVey to tie the game at seven with 12 minutes left in the second quarter.
A minute later, facing third-and-six on his own 29-yard line, Jordan found Jay Griffin IV for the 71-yard touchdown pass to take a 14-7 lead. Air Force tied the game again at 14 with a 28-yard pass from Arion Worthman to Geraud Sanders, and then forced the Lobos to punt on their following possession.
Following a fourth-and-one conversion at the New Mexico four-yard line, the Falcons took their first lead of the night with 1:39 remaining in the half on a one-yard rush by Worthman.
After the teams traded punts to open the third quarter, Jordan connected with Delane Hart-Johnson for a 49-yard score on the first play of the Lobos’ next drive, tying the score at 21. Two minutes later, Garrett Hughes forced an Air Force fumble, which was recovered by Jake Rothschiller on the Falcons’ 21-yard line. After two 10-yard carries from Owens and Lamar Jordan, McQuarley capped off the drive with a six-yard run to give the Lobos a 28-21 lead.
Check out the highlights from the @UNMLoboFB win against Air Force! #GoLobos pic.twitter.com/jLPMXGtjd1
— New Mexico Lobos (@UNMLOBOS) October 1, 2017
On its following drive, New Mexico seemed to stop Air Force in a fourth-and-three attempt, only to have the play negated by a facemask penalty. Three snaps later, an incomplete pass by Worthman left the Falcons facing fourth-and-10 on New Mexico’s 16-yard line, and Air Force kicked a 33-yard field goal to slim the Lobo lead to four, 28-24.
After a touchback gave New Mexico the ball on its own 25-yard line, Lamar Jordan ran the Lobos into Air Force territory on a 39-yard carry. Romell Jordan finished the drive with a four-yard touchdown run to give New Mexico a 35-24 lead.
An Air Force fumble on the ensuing kickoff gave the ball back to New Mexico to end the third quarter, and the Lobos scored on a five-yard, McQuarley rush to make the score 42-24 Lobos.
The Falcons cut the lead to 42-31 on a 21-yard pass from Worthman to Ronald Cleveland, but McQuarley made the score 49-31 on a 63-yard rush, the longest of his career to that point. In nearly identical fashion, Air Force scored again on its next possession, only to have McQuarley break his career-long rush again with a 65-yard touchdown three minutes later.
Worthman finished the night with four total scores for Air Force as he threw for 158 yards and ran for 90 more. Teammate Tim McVey added 74 yards on the ground and another Falcon touchdown.
New Mexico will have a bye week before traveling to face Fresno State on Saturday, Oct. 14 at 8 p.m. MT.
Postgame Notes: New Mexico 56, Air Force 38
This was the 35th meeting between the two teams.
Air Force now leads 21-14
New Mexico now leads 10-9 in Albuquerque
Air Force leads 11-2 in Colorado Springs
UNM leads at neutral 2-1
New Mexico has won three straight in the series
New Mexico has three straight in Albuquerque
Starting lineup changes for UNM from published two-deep
Offense: 23 Jay Griffin IV started at receiving for 3 RB Richard McQuarley. 18 WR Chris Davis, Jr. was the non-starter,
Defense: 96 Johnny Williams started at NT for 92 Jermane Conyers
*New Mexico’s captains were Lamar Jordan, Blaise Fountain, Alex Hart and Jake Rothschiller
*Derek Martinez was the New Mexico Man for this game, his first career honor
*New Mexico won the toss to improve to 5-0 on coin tosses, but UNM deferred to the second half for the first time this season.
TEAM NOTES:
*There was a 61-minute lightning delay between the first and second quarters. Last year New Mexico went through an 89-minute lightning delay against Nevada on Nov. 5 and Air Force went through an 88-minute delay in the second quarter against San Diego State.
*To accommodate things, halftime was reduced to five minutes.
*UNM’s recovered AFA fumble in the third quarter was the first lost fumble of the season by Air Force. Overall UNM forced two turnovers (both fumbles) and UNM turned them both into touchdowns.
*New Mexico rushed for a season-high 363 yards and recorded nine runs of 10 or more yards. UNM now has 22 in the last two games after just 15 in the first three.
*UNM’s 56 points were the most this season, and the most since scoring 56 against Wyoming last year in a 56-35 win.
*UNM averaged 10.2 yards per play.
*New Mexico recorded season-highs in sacks (4) and tackles for loss (11).
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
*Richard McQuarley’s scored his first four rushing touchdowns of the season, and he now has 29 for his career, moving up to a tie for sixth in school history with Willie Turral.
*Jay Griffin’s 71-yard touchdown catch was the longest in his career.
*Delane Hart-Johnson’s 49-yard touchdown catch in the third quarter was his first since the 2015 Gildan New Mexico Bowl against Arizona.
*Romell Jordan’s rushing touchdown was his first since Nov. 29, 2014 when he scored against Wyoming in a 36-30 win.
*McQuarley rushed for 114 yards, his second 100-yard rushing game (121 against Wyoming last year). The 63-yard touchdown rush in the fourth quarter was a career-long for McQuarley.
*Corey Bojorquez averaged 51.4 yards per punt, with a long of 71 yards.
*DaQuan Baker recorded his first career tackle and forced fumble on the same play.
*Jacob Girgle recorded a career-high 13 tackles, and Jake Rothschiller had a career-high 12.
Postgame QUOTES: New Mexico 56, Air Force 38
UNM coach Bob Davie
Opening statement:
I’m really proud of our team. Not to go back and reminisce but it wasn’t that long ago tht I don’t think this was a series. It wasn’t very competitive. I think we’ve won three in a row now and are 4-2 since we’ve been here. That’s an Air Force team you guys know I have a lot of respect for. … We’ve tried to mirror ourselves here in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in very difficult situations very much like them as much as we can. To beat them under some really crazy situations (is a positive). We came out in the first quarter and played well on defense then it was almost like a halftime (due to the weather delay) and Air Force made adjustments offensively. They had us going. Then there was no halftime to go back (and make changes). … We had no real halftime to make adjustments, but I’m real proud that we hung in there. … We’ve gone through a stretch where we played Boise State with nine wins last year, Tulsa 10 wins and Air Force with 10 wins last year. To be sitting here 3-2 and get a chance to rest is very important.
On the UNM players kneeling during the national anthem during the abbreviated, five-minute halftime:
We’ve never been out there for a national anthem. The agreement was made that there was going to be no national anthem played (at halftime) between Troy Calhoun, myself and the referees. I didn’t know it was going to be played when it was played – I don’t think our players knew. So again, I’d like to have the opportunity to visit with our players, talk about what our stance would be unified as a football team. I kind of was shocked by that, but it’s not the first thing I’ve been shocked about being the head coach here at New Mexico – I can promise you that. It’s one of a line of long things. Again, I wouldn’t want to judge – at least speaking from my standpoint as a total football team because in fairness to them, we never really talked to them about it. It’s the first time for me during a game that the national anthem was played at halftime. There was a lot of confusion. But I’m not making excuses or know who did what honestly. It was kind of bizarre to me how it all kind of happened. Again, you can talk to the players and ask them what they thought or what they knew or if they knew what was going on. It definitely was a bit confusing to say the least, particularly because we were told they weren’t going to play the national anthem. I wish I would’ve had a chance to talk to our football team before.
On McQuarley’s five-touchdown performance:
(McQuarley) even said it down there (in the locker room), it was the offensive line. Moving Teton Saltes to tackle, Chris Estrella to guard – we made some progress. There was some opportunities to get to the second level there. If Rick gets to the second level, he can go. … I’m really happy for Rick because he’s been really grinding.
How New Mexico dealt with the rain delay:
It was kind of like Nevada last year. It turned into a music fest in there (in the locker room). The music was playing pretty good in there and guys were really loose and having fun. It was a little different not having a halftime because Air Force made adjustments when we came out for the second quarter. We didn’t have a halftime and we were kind of adjusting on the run. … But this football team has proven that they’ve been able to adapt and that is what I’m most excited about.
On the run-pass balance (New Mexico rushed for 363 yards, threw for 146):
That’s us. When we are at our best is when we throw it about 10 times right now. When we can get the running game going like we did tonight, we are a handful. I think we could be more balanced … but lets face it, the big games we’ve won around here is when we are going to run it and people know we are going to run it and they can’t stop it. … Especially, to do it tonight against an Air Force team that is No. 1 in the conference in defense. You look what Air Force’s defense did against Michigan. You look at what Air Force’s defense did against San Diego State. They were No. 1 in the conference so that was a big win for us.
On heading into a week off:
It’s always big to go into the open date with some juice and some confidence. … It’s coming at a great time for us. This has been a roller coaster this early part of the season. It’s a good time for us.
UNM Running back Richard McQuarley
On bouncing back for a big game:
I know I fumbled early in the season – but that’s part of the game. Those things happen and I felt like I needed that. It humbled me as a player because I came in thinking it was going to be easy. In life nothing is given. The fumbles really helped me for the future.
On what opened things up tonight:
All it was tonight was being patient. Lamar was making sure I got good handoffs and the offensive line did an outstanding job. They were just telling me how they were playing and we had plans on the sideline what we were going to do. What they showed on defense, our offensive line had an answer for it. All I had to do was stay patient, keep my head down and run between the tackles.
On teammates kneeling*:
To be honest, I didn’t see anything. I was just standing up focused, pledging myself. I really don’t want to get into it, to be honest.
UNM Linebacker Alex Hart
On defending Air Force:
It was a long week of preparation. The coaches have put a lot of time and effort to coach against (Air Force). In the past we hadn’t been as prepared and the coaches were really focused on that. We worked during the summer and fall on it. It wasn’t a huge shocker this week getting ready. … It was just getting our checks, getting guys lined up and just putting your feet in the ground and playing.
On dealing with the weather delay after the first quarter and not having a halftime:
That is a challenge because we came out really strong and stopped them right away. They had some things they wanted to improve on and obviously made some checks and their quarterback made some big plays and their running backs did too. It’s tough in those situations … but we have to adjust to them.
On UNM players kneeling:
Honestly, I didn’t know (the national anthem was going to be played at halftime). It’s not something I really want to talk about but I wish we would’ve known about it – being out there at halftime and them playing the national anthem – just so we can talk about everyone’s opinions with me being a team leader. That’s important to this team. We want to make sure everyone feels comfortable in doing what they believe in and I totally respect that.
*Some players have been misidentified. The five players were Kimmie Carson, Michael Sewell, Jr., Stanley Barnwell, Jr., Elijah Lilly and Garrett Hughes. Additionally, it has been stated UNM is the first college team to have players kneel during the anthem, but three Nebraska players kneeled during the anthem last year in the Huskers’ game at Northwestern.
Air Force Coach Troy Calhoun
I was very impressed with New Mexico and, in all fairness, we got to give a team their due. They are a good football team. Moving forward, they’re going to be a real contender. They have an excellent kicker, they’re exceptionally well at defense. Offensively they’re really good. We would be remiss if we were not honest about that.
We got to be very disciplined and we’re not. You look at all three facets, we got beat in all three. Offensively, when you put the ball on the ground and you have too many minus-yardage plays, that makes it difficult.
On Halftime: “We had time, you play a full quarter and you have an hour. If you’re making an adjustment you have enough time. We should be plenty rested, we have no excuse.”