Oct. 1, 2005
Recap | Final Stats | Quotes
New Mexico had its 6-game Mountain West Conference winning streak snapped with the loss tonight…the Lobos had also won 3-straight MWC road games and were 6-1 in their last 7 conference games away from home…UNM has played 2 of its last 3 games on the road and is 1-2 in that span with a 45-35 win at Missouri…TCU leads the series 4-3, including a 3-1 mark in Fort Worth.
Senior tailback DonTrell Moore rushed for 129 yards on 21 carries(6.1 avg.) with a pair of scores…it was Moore’s third straight 100- yard game this year and the sixth in his last 7 regular season road games…Moore scored 3 touchdowns, including 2 rushing, to become the Mountain West Conference’s all-time leader in rushing TDs (42), total TDs (50) and points (300), passing former BYU RB Luke Staley in each category…it was Moore’s first 3-TD game since rushing for a three scores vs. Colorado State on Nov. 7, 2003.
Moore established career-highs with 9 catches for a game-high 99 yards, including a 41-yard TD reception deep across the middle to knot the game at 28 midway through the 3rd quarter…after his first two catches went for a combined loss of 9 yards, he picked up 108 yards on his next 7 receptions (15.4 avg.)…the Doak Walker Award candidate finished with 228 all-purpose yards on 30 touches (7.6 avg.), the second-highest total game of his career (242 yards, all rushing, vs. Colorado State 11/7/03).
Senior wide receiver Hank Baskett III tallied 7 more catches for 78 yards…Baskett also caught his fifth TD pass of the year and 13th of his career, tying Pascal Volz for sixth on the UNM all-time list…the Biletnikoff Award candidate also drew 2 more pass interference penalties, the fourth and fifth times he has been hit early this season…Baskett has caught the ball twice on plays where interference was flagged, including a 28-yard grab tonight.
Redshirt freshman safety Blake Ligon, a San Angelo, Texas native, finished with 7 tackles, including a career-high 3 for loss…Ligon also broke up a pass and had a QB hurry…he has 16 tackles, 4 TFLs and2 hurries in his last 2 games, both in Texas.
True freshman linebacker Zach Arnett blocked a TCU punt in the third game of his collegiate career…Arnett, a product of Albuquerque La Cueva HS, was given a scholarship during the summer after originally signing with the UNM baseball team and made his debut vs. New Mexico State on Sept. 17…the Lobos have blocked 16 punts since the start of the 2000 season, including 2 at Air Force last year…New Mexico’s last5 punt blocks have come on the road (at SDSU and Utah in 2003, at Air Force).
Junior quarterback Kole McKamey had a career-high in pass completions(25) and attempts (43), and had the second-highest yardage (245) and passing TD (2) totals of his career but also threw a career-high 4 INTs, 2 of which came under intense pressure in a disastrous first quarter and the final 2 in the 4th quarter when UNM was attempting to rally exclusively via the pass…McKamey started the night 2-8 for -9 yards and 2 INTs…he kept his composure, however, and hit 5-6 passes for 88 yards and a TD in the 2nd quarter…he was 23-35 (66%) for 254 yards with 2 TDs and 2 INTS over the final 3 quarters of play…McKamey complete passes to 7 different WRs.
Junior kicker Kenny Byrd missed his first field goal of the year, a career-long 51-yard attempt that was pushed wide right late in the 3rd quarter…Byrd did another fine job on his kickoffs, however, hammering 4 into the end zone to limit the nation’s leading returner, Cory Rodgers, to just a single run-back for a gain of 19 yards.
New Mexico lost its first fumble of the year when DonTrell Moore had the ball stripped from him following a 49-yard run in the first quarter…the Lobos lost the ball again on a wild snap in the 4th quarter…the team’s 6 turnovers matched its highest under head coach Rocky Long, most recently occuring vs. UNLV in 2003…New Mexico had committed just 2 turnovers, tying 7 other teams for the 7th-lowest total in the nation, entering tonight’s game…this was the first time UNM had committed more turnovers than its opponent…the Lobos caused more miscues than their opponents en route to a 3-0 record in their first 3 games, before matching UTEP (1-1) and losing 5 more than TCU in back-to-back losses.
UNM had outscored its opponents 34-3 in the first quarter this year, allowing just a field goal at Missouri, before being blitzed 28-0 in the opening period tonight…the Lobos did not record a sack or an interception for the first time this year.