Sept. 5, 2005
Recap | Final Stats | Quotes
The Lobos’ 24-22 victory gives head coach Rocky Long 41 wins at UNM, tying Roy Johnson for the all-time lead…Long is 41-45 in his career at New Mexico, but 29-22 since 2001, the second-best four-year record in school history…Johnson was 41-32-6 from 1920-30…The win is also UNM’s sixth consecutive conference win, establishing a school record…New Mexico also improves to 71-32-4 in home openers, including 8-3 in the last 11 years…This is the Lobos’ first win in a conference opener in five games…Their last conference-opening win came in 2000 against Wyoming in Albuquerque.
Junior QB Kole McKamey was 20-29 passing for 288 yards and two touchdowns…he established career highs for completions, yards and passing TDs…his previous highs for completions and yards were 16 and 229 against Washington State in last year’s ESPN-televised season-opener in Albuquerque.
Senior CB Gabriel Fulbright notched his 10th career interception, giving him sole possession of 10th place on the UNM all-time list…he has recorded 3 INTs against UNLV over the past two years.
Senior RB DonTrell Moore had 16 carries for 39 yards and a rushing TD in his first game back after suffering a torn ACL in his left knee in first quarter of the 2004 Emerald Bowl…he needs 147 yards to pass Mike Williams’ Lobo record of 3,862 career rushing yards…Moore had three receptions for a career-high 64 yards and a receiving TD…he finished with 103 all-purpose yards on 19 touches.
Senior WR Hank Baskett had six receptions for 132 yards and a TD. It is his second most yards receiving in his career…Baskett had 9 catches for 165 yards in last year’s season-opener against Washington State.
UNM improves to 25-2 when leading after three quarters under Rocky Long. The only losses were in 2001 (led BYU 13-10 but lost 24-20) and last year’s opener against Washington State (led 14-7, but lost 21-17)…The Lobos are also 19-2 when scoring first…The two set backs came against Utah State in 2002 and Navy in last year’s Emerald Bowl.
New Mexico is now 7-1 over the past 2 years when both DonTrell Moore and Kole McKamey are healthy for an entire game…The only loss came against Washington State last year.
Today’s attendance of 37,533 is the fifth highest in the history of University Stadium. All of the top-6 attended games at UNM have come since the 2001 season.
-UNLV opened a season vs. a conference opponent for the second time in history and first since 1984.
-New UNLV punter Kip Facer, who walked on to the team this fall out of junior college, narrowly earned the starting job over Brian Pacheco during game week. Facer’s first career I-A boot went for 55 yards and a touchback.
-New starting CB John Guice made a nice diving catch to pick off his first pass as a Rebel but the turnover was negated by a UNLV roughing-the-passer penalty. UNM went on to score a touchdown on the drive to take a 17-0 lead.
-Redshirt freshman WR Casey Flair made his first career catch, an 11-yarder that gave UNLV its first first down of the season.
-UNLV had a play reviewed for the first time in its history (there were no calls reviewed last year while playing at Wisconsin under the Big 10 system) when head coach Mike Sanford threw the flag to signal a coaching challenge. The call on the field of incomplete pass was overturned and the Rebels recorded a 29-yard reception for Donell Wheaton and first down. UNLV went on to score a touchdown to make it 17-6.
-QB Shane Steichen hit Erick Jackson from 16 yards out for the team’s first touchdown of the season. After misfiring on his first three pass attempts, Steichen hit nine of his last 10 to finish the first half 9-13 for 85 yards and a TD.
-UNLV PK Sergio Aguayo missed his first extra point attempt of the season, which marked the first of his career after he set a school freshman record by hitting all 27 of his PAT tries in 2004.
-Aguayo opened the second-half scoring with a 31-yard field goal. Counting last season, Aguayo has hit nine of his last 10 attempts.
-Erick Jackson also posted UNLV’s first rushing TD of the year with a three-yard rush in the fourth quarter that brought the Rebels to within 24-16.