New Mexico Lobos Football On The Mountain West Road
Utah State Aggies 28, New Mexico Lobos 21
Up Next: New Mexico at Colorado State
By Richard Stevens – Senior Writer/GoLobos.com
Close – again.
The New Mexico Lobos’ Tyler Duncan pulled down a Lamar Jordan pass and then muscled his way into the end zone behind a mighty stiff arm to pull the Lobos to 28-21 with 4:17 to play.
But the Lobos could not get the ball back.
Utah State came up with three first downs on the final possession of the game to run out the clock to leave the scoreboard with that 28-21 count. The Lobos put the Aggies in a third-and-two situation on the Aggies first set of downs, but a 5-yard run kept the ball in Aggie hands.
“We gave up too many big plays,” said Lobo Coach Bob Davie after the Mountain West loss that dropped New Mexico to 3-7 and 1-5 in league play. “To come up here and win this game, we needed to play great defense and we couldn’t do that.
“We are good enough to keep it close, but we aren’t good enough to win a game like this yet.”
The Lobos’ got the 59-yard Jordan-to-Duncan pass in the final frame, but did not score in the third quarter. Jordan’s touchdown ended a 99-yard drive by the Lobos.
The Aggies put their only points on the board in the second half in the third quarter, but could not crack the Lobos’ defense in the fourth. The difference came in the first half when the Aggies went into the locker room with a 21-14 lead.
The Aggies, boasting the best run defense in the Mountain West, gave up 272 yards to the Lobos on the ground, but held the UNM option in check enough in the second half to raise Utah State’s record to 8-3 and 5-1 in the MW. The loss ended any hopes that the Lobos could reach bowl eligibility in 2014.
“It’s been in the second half of games …. teams have a little bit more than us and they put the pedal down,” said Davie. “It’s a lot of things, but we are a little bit closer and everyone can see we are closer.
“But right now, we are only good enough to keep it close. It’s going to take some more time (to get wins).”
The Aggies took a 7-0 lead in the first quarter before UNM’s David Anaya bulled over from a yard out to help produce the 7-7 tie. The Aggies went up 14-7 on a 59-yard run by Devon Robinson, who slipped a tackle near the line of scrimmage and tip-toed down the sideline for the score.
UNM again knotted the score at 14-all behind a 72-yard sprint by Romell Jordan. Utah State claimed the halftime lead marching 79 yards in nine plays with Wyatt Houston scoring on a 10-yard pass off the fingers of Kent Myers.
Myers went 13-of-21 passing for 150 yards with the lone TD pass. He also ran for 54 positive yards, but lost 39 yards on sacks. However, the quick freshman did come up with several big scrambles during the game.
The game was close statistically. Utah State had 19 first downs and the Lobos had 18. Utah State had 422 total yards and UNM had 400. Utah State had 272 rushing yards and UNM had 246. Utah State had 150 yards passing and the Lobos had 154 through the air.
UNM’s Jordan went 8-of-18 passing for those 154 yards. Jordan and Myers both gave up one interception with UNM’s SaQwan Edwards getting the pick for the Lobos. The Aggies got solid defensive efforts from linebackers Nick Vigil and Zach Vigil, who had 13 and 10 tackles, respectively. UNM, playing without leading tackler Dakota Cox, got seven tackles from Tevin Newman.
Jordan added 80 yards on the ground and Romell Jordan, behind his 72-yard burst, paced UNM with 96 yards. Teriyon Gipson had 42 yards rushing and Anaya had 27 on only four carries.
“I thought Lamar Jordan did some really good things,” said Davie. “We had opportunities and Lamar made some plays to keep things alive for us.
“We did some good things on offense against a good defensive team. We continue to earn respect, but I want to win …. I want to win.”
The Lobos next play at Colorado State against a Rams’ team that is playing the best football – especially on offense – in the Mountain West.
“We have now played two of the best teams (Boise State and Utah State) close, but it’s frustrating because we are not yet there,” said Davie. “We’ll keep grinding. That’s what I told our players after the game. I told them I feel bad. I feel sorry that their efforts aren’t good enough to win, but I appreciate the effort.
“But we have to come up with a way to give more and find a way to win. We need that extra.”