FOOTBALL (9/23): Lobos Fall to Baylor in OT
Baylor kicker Daniel Andino booted a 29-yard field goal on the Bears’ first possession of overtime to give them a 16-13 win over the University of New Mexico in Waco, Texas, Saturday night. The Lobos, playing their first game in two weeks, fell to 1-2 on the season and lost their second straight contest to a school from the Big 12 conference. BU improved to 2-0 on the year.
Each team kicked field goals in the final four minutes of regulation to force the overtime, the third in school history for UNM and the first since 1998. The Lobos had the ball first in the overtime session, and advanced to the Bear 3-yard line, converting a 4th-and-1 from the BU 16 in the process. The Lobos were again faced with 4th down, this time 4th-and-2 from the Baylor 3. Jarrod Baxter seemingly had an open path to the end zone, but the ball was stripped from his grasp, and Baylor recovered, ending UNM’s possession.
The Bears then got their opportunity at the 25-yard line, and Melvin Barnett rushed three times, down to the Lobo 12, where Andino ended it with his first field goal of the game. “It never entered my mind to kick a field goal on fourth down in overtime,” said UNM head coach Rocky Long. “We were going for the win. We are on the road and we are going to be aggressive with the football. We gave the ball to the guy (Baxter) who we wanted to have it and he was going to walk into the end zone. The offensive line opened a big hole, Baylor just reached in and knocked it away. Their defense made a great play.”
The loss overshadowed a career-high performance from UNM quarterback Rudy Caamano. Caamano threw for a personal-best 258 yards on 13-29 passing, including two interceptions and one touchdown. Caamano had just 174 yards passing on 17-54 in the Lobos’ first two games. UNM outgained Baylor 360-295, but the Lobos managed just three points on three opportunities inside the Baylor five-yard line.
“We made some good progress in our passing game,” remarked Long. “But you can throw those stats out the window – they had 16 points and we had 13. Passing yards just don’t matter.”
Baylor took a 13-10 lead late in the fourth quarter thanks to a superb punt return by Bobby Hart. Two weeks after the Lobo special teams allowed Texas Tech’s Ivory McCann to return a kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown, Hall brought a punt back 41 yards to the Lobo 36. The UNM defense held, but Adam Stiles booted a 47-yard field goal with 3:29 remaining. New Mexico proved that turnabout is fair play on the ensuing kickoff, as Javier Hanson ran it back to the Lobo 41. UNM advanced the ball to the Baylor 44, but an offensive pass interference penalty pushed them back to the Lobo 44. On the next play, Caamano hit Rashaun Sanders for a 27-yard gain. On the play, the Bears were guilty of a facemask penalty and a personal foul, moving UNM all the way up to the Baylor 8. Two running plays and an incomplete pass forced UNM to kick a field goal, and Vladimir Borombozin’s 22-yard boot was true, tying the game at 13-13 with 1:44 remaining.
UNM led 10-3 entering the fourth quarter, scoring on Wes Zunker’s 43-yard field goal on its second possession of the third quarter. However, the Lobo offense stalled after that, going 3-and-out in four of their next five series. Baylor knotted the game at 10-10 late in the third quarter when Marques Roberts caught a 4-yard touchdown from Cicero.
Baylor took the opening kickoff and marched down the field to the Lobo 22-yard line, where Stiles put them on the board with a 39-yard field goal. The Bears looked to increase their 3-0 lead on their next possession thanks to a roughing the kicker penalty on UNM, allowing Baylor to continue a drive. The Bears advanced to the Lobo four-yard line, but Stephen Persley picked off a Greg Cicero pass, ending the threat and putting UNM on the offensive. Persley had a career-high 2 interceptions on the night.
The Lobos would capitalize on the turnover when Caamano found WR Joe Manning on a post route which turned into a 64-yard touchdown pass and gave UNM a 7-3 lead. The play was the longest completion of Caamano’s career and was his second scoring pass of the season. The touchdown came on 3rd-and-8, and the Lobos were 2-2 on 3rd down conversions on the drive, after going just 7-33 (21%) in their first two contests.
UNM had the opportunity to increase the lead on two occasions later in the half, penetrating the Baylor red zone both times. However, a pair of penalties on the first drive knocked UNM out of field goal range, and Caamano fumbled at the Baylor 4-yard line in the final minute of the half on another drive, and New Mexico took a 7-3 lead into the halftime locker room. UNM had been 9-9 in the red zone this season coming into the game, but was just 1-4 on Saturday night.
In addition to Caamano’s big game, Counter caught a career-high five balls for 119 yards. Baxter, who was fifth in the country with 145 yards per game coming in was held to just 44 yards rushing. The Lobo rushing defense was sterling again, limiting Baylor to just 72 yards on 37 carries. UNM led the nation in rushing defense at 4.5 ypg entering the game.
The Lobos will continue what amounts to a four-game road trip next weekend with their Mountain West Conference opener at Utah beginning at 1 p.m. (MDT.)
UNM7-0-3-3-0—13BU3-0-7-3-3—16
Scoring summary1st QuarterBU11:33, Stiles 39-yard FGBaylor 3, UNM 0
UNM1:54, Manning 64-yard TD pass from Caamano (Borombozin kick)UNM 7, Baylor 3
3rd QuarterUNM9:58, Zunker 43-yard FGUNM 10, Baylor 3
4th QuarterBU4:23, Roberts 4-yard TD pass from Cicero (Andino kick)UNM 10, Baylor 10
BU3:29, Stiles 47-yard FGBaylor 13, UNM 10
UNM1:44, Borombozin 22-yard FGUNM 13, Baylor 13
OvertimeBUAndino 29-yard FGBaylor 16, UNM 13
Rushing: UNM: Baxter 17-44, Hanson 6-32, Manning 5-21, Wiggins 4-10, Caamano 12-(-6); BU: Barnett 15-42, Golden 7-21, Cicero 11-9.
Passing: UNM: Caamano 13-29, 258 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT; BU: Cicero 25-45, 223 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT; Zachry: 1-2, 0 yards
Receiving: UNM: Counter 5-119, Thomas 4-38; Manning 1-64, Sanders 1-26, Wiggins 1-8, Robbins 1-3. BU: Newhouse 8-73, Roberts 5-60, Martin 5-39, Quiroga 3-23, Harrington 2-11.
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