Fresno State 35, New Mexico 24
Up Next: New Mexico at UTSA — 1:30 p.m., Saturday — San Antonio
By Richard Stevens – Senior Writer/GoLobos.com
You could almost wrap up New Mexico’s 35-24 Mountain West loss to Fresno State Friday night using two words tossed out by Lobo Coach Bob Davie: “Same script.”
To expand on that it was a Lobo offense that moved the ball well, but had too many inconsistent patches. It was a Lobo defense that came up with two turnovers and several good stops, but continued to bend and break a few too many times.
The Lobos rolled out 382 yards on offense, 285 on the ground, but the Bulldogs countered with 593 total yards — 272 rushing and 321 passing.
“We’re just not mature enough right now to execute at an extended period of time against a good team,” said Davie. “We are nowhere near where we will be on defense. Trust me. The stage was set. We’re just not yet seasoned enough.”
The Lobos threw out a pretty salty first half and carried a 17-14 lead into the locker room. A bad spell in that half came in the final seconds when Fresno went 87 yards to cut UNM’s lead to three points at the break.
“We were in a position at halftime to really make a move in the second half,” said Davie, whose Lobos dropped to 1-3 on the year and 0-1 in league play. “Things were set. We’re just not good enough yet. That’s the reality of that. That’s the truth.”
The Lobos got another monster game from Crusoe Gongbay, who ran for 163 yards averaging 5.8 yards per carry. Fresno matched that with Marteze Waller running for 163 yards on an 8.6 average per run.
“Crusoe Gongbay hit that ball up in there hard,” said Davie. “But we didn’t consistently do enough on offense.”
The Lobos also got a career-high 19 tackles from linebacker Dakota Cox.
Fresno State’s big statistical edge was getting 318 passing yards and three touchdowns from quarterback Brian Burrell. Fresno had 30 first downs to UNM’s 18, but Fresno didn’t ice this game until the final quarter when Burrell scored on a 3-yard run to make it 35-24 with 11:55 to play.
Fresno marched 80 yards in nine plays to wind down the game clock and increase the gap on the scoreboard. The Lobos still had time to scratch back in the game, but could not consistently move the football.
The Lobos’ lone score in the second half was Lamar Jordan hitting David Anaya on a play-action pass good for 36 yards. It was a perfectly thrown pass lofted over a Fresno defender. Anaya finished the play with a nifty cut to his right that allowed him to slip past the final Fresno would-be tackler.
“Offensively we have come a long way to run the dive up in there as much as we ran the dive,” said Davie. “There were a lot of positives. There really were. We were certainly in a position to win the game. We’re not yet mature enough.”
The Bulldogs attacked out of a spread offense with Burrell in the shotgun position. It was a no-huddle attack with few substitutions prior to snaps.
“I think right now, just being brutally honest, the game is too fast for us on defense,” said Davie.
The Lobos did not play Cole Gautsche Friday night on Branch Field and UNM also was short three other starters on offense: Johnny Vizcaino (OL), Carlos Wiggins (WR) and Teriyon Gipson (RB).
“I thought our offensive line did a heck of a job,” said Davie. “I thought Lamar Jordan did some good things.”
Jordan played the majority of the game after replacing starter Clayton Mitchem. Jordan ran for 35 yards and went 4-7-0 passing for 97 yards and the TD to Anaya.
“I’m really pleased with the effort and the fight of our team,” said Davie.