Tucson, Arizona — New Mexico would lose its first bowl game in 36 years, 20-14, on Arizona’s home field. The Catsstruck first,scoring on Kelvin Eafon’s 15-yard touchdown run midway through the first quarter.
UNM took almost no time in the second stanza to knotthe score. Graham Leigh ran 17 yardsfor a first down,then tossed a 15-yard TDpassto senior Milton Thomas. Colby Cason’s PAT tied the score at 7-7 and completed the eight-play 69-yard scoring drive.
On Arizona’s next possession, quarterback Brady Batten threw for 51 yards and Trung Canidate ran for 13 more, including a three-yard touchdown, which allowed the Wildcats to reclaim the lead, 13-7. UA missed the PAT.
The Lobos marched right back down the field,reeling off a 14-play, 45-yard drive. UNM could not cash in on its possession, however, as Colby Cason missed a 37-yard field goal.
The second half began in a disastrous fashion for the Lobo offense, as it went three-and-out on its first possession, then Leigh threw two consecutive interceptions. The resiliency of the UNM defense was the only thing preventing Arizona from increasing its lead, as the Lobos forced the Wildcats to punt on each of their first two series.
After Leigh’ssecond interception ofthe quarter- histhird of the game – UA capitalized. Canidate rushed for 30 yards, culminating with Eafon’s 1-yard TD. The score upped Arizona’s lead to 20-7 with 2:07 left in the third quarter.
Once again, UNM would not allow Arizona to keep its momentum. Leigh found Brian Messer for a 35-yard gain on the Lobos’ first play from scrimmage. Two plays later, Leigh found Chris Shelton over the middle for an 18-yard gain to the Wildcat four. Leigh found paydirt on the next play, and with the five-play, 60-yard drive,New Mexico wasright back in the game, trailing only 20-14.
New Mexico would get one more chance to stage a rally, taking over at the UA 48 with 5:31 remaining. On second-andnine, Leigh dropped back and spotted Pascal Volz flashing across themiddle downfield. His passsailed just a bit, however, landing right in the arms of Wildcat DB Kelly Malveaux to seal it for the Cats.
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Arizona | 7 | 6 | 7 | 0 | 20 | |
| New Mexico | 0 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 14 | |
| Scoring | ||||||
| UA – Eafon 15-yard run (McDonald kick) | ||||||
| UNM – Thomas 15-yard pass from Leigh (Cason kick) | ||||||
| UA – Canidate 3-yard run (kick failed) | ||||||
| UA – Eafon 1-yard run (McDonald kick) | ||||||
| UNM – Leigh 4-yard run (Cason kick) | ||||||
| Statistics | ||||||
| UNM | UA | |||||
| First Downs | 16 | 19 | ||||
| Rushing Yards | 35-140 | 59-209 | ||||
| Passing Yards | 150 | 89 | ||||
| Passing | 12-34-4 | 7-22-2 | ||||
| Total Offense | 290 | 298 | ||||
| Fumbles-Lost | 0-0 | 0-0 | ||||
| Penalties-Yards | 9-60 | 5-39 | ||||
| Interceptions | 2 | 4 | ||||
| Punts-Avg. | 7-40.7 | 9-38.7 | ||||
| Punt Return-Yards | 4-18 | 3-9 | ||||
| Kickoff Return-Yards | 4-71 | 2-50 | ||||
| Possession Time | 24:15 | 35:45 | ||||
| Third Down Conversion | 5-15 | 2-12 | ||||
| Sacks | 0 | 2 | ||||