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Lobos Cruise to 59-17 win over ULM

Jadon BoatrightJadon Boatright

Box Score | 2016 Season Statistics

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — In an amazing coincidence that defies statistics, the Lobos lost the opening coin toss for the seventh time in seven games this year.  That was about the only thing that didn’t go UNM’s way on this night.
 
The Lobos picked off a pass and scored on the third play of the game and the squad got eight touchdowns from eight different players as New Mexico rolled to 622 yards of offense and an easy 59-17 win over ULM.  The win pushed UNM to 4-3 on the season and dropped ULM to 2-5, and it sets up a big game on Saturday night in Honolulu against Hawai’I, a 34-27 double-overtime winner over Air Force on Saturday.
 
The 622 yards for UNM marked the second time this season that the team eclipsed the 600-yard mark, and the third time under Bob Davie. It tied for the 11th-most yards in school history, equaling the amount UNM picked up against Utah in 1971.  It was the most yards since getting 633 against Utah in 2003.

ULM had the opening possession, and on third-and-1, Will Collins, a freshman making his first career start, was picked off by Jadon Boatright right at the 40-yard line.  Boatright raced in from there with a touchdown on his first career interception.  UNM then forced a three and out and UNM wasted little time making it 14-0 as Richard McQuarley scored to cap a four-play, 72-yard drive, and the rout was on.
 
UNM would score two more times in the quarter, on a 6-yard Teriyon Gipson run and an 83-yard run by Tyrone Owens, the fifth-longest run in school history, to give UNM a commanding 28-0 lead after one quarter, and it was basically on cruis control from there.  Even when things didn’t go right, they sort of went right.
 
After a 10-yard catch with 12 second left in the half for a touchdown to make it 34-3, UNM picked up a 15-yard penalty and then a 10-yard penalty, making the extra point the equivalent of a 45-yard field goal.  Didn’t matter to Jason Sanders, who went 8-for-8 on PATs, hit a 36-yard field goal and 10 touchbacks on 10 kickoffs.

Up 35-3 at the break, UNM received the opening kickoff for the second half, and Elijah Lilly made ULM pay, taking the kick at the 7-yard line, racing around the left side, breaking a tackle and scampering in for a 93-yard touchdown.  The reigning Mountain West Special Teams Player of the Week, Lilly extended UNM’s streak to seven straight years with a kickoff return touchdown.
 
UNM got the lead all the way up to 52-3 after a Diquon Woodhouse touchdown and Sanders’ field goal before ULM scored two fourth quarter touchdowns within a minute of each other on a 1-yard run and then a 30-yard pass after a fumble, UNM’s third lost fumble of the game.
 
Daryl Chestnut capped the scoring with a 4-yard touchdown run.
 
Overall, UNM rushed for 476 yards on 51 carries, and Lamar Jordan and JuJuan Lawson combined to throw for 146 yards through the air.  Defensively, UNM allowed just 235 yards, the lowest total to an FBS opponent since a 16-14 loss at New Mexico State when UNM allowed just 208 yards to the Aggies.
 
Postgame Notes:  New Mexico 59, ULM 17
 
This was the 1st meeting between the two teams.
New Mexico now leads 1-0
New Mexico now leads 1-0 in Albuquerque
 
Starting lineup changes for UNM from published two-deep
Offense: None
Defense: RUSH-58 Maurice Daniels for 54 Donnie White
                                                                                                            
*New Mexico’s captains were Lamar Jordan, Dakota Cox, Daniel Henry and Austin Apodaca
*Steven Steele carried the New Mexico flag onto the field as the New Mexico Man.  It was his first career honor.
*UNM lost the toss for the seventh time this season, and that’s every game.  UNM received the kickoff for the fifth time this season (only Boise State won and elected to receive).
 
TEAM NOTES:
*New Mexico’s 28 points in the first quarter tied for the 2nd-most points in the opening quarter.  The only time the Lobos scored more points in the first quarter was in 1948 when UNM scored 33 against New Mexico State.
*New Mexico scored on offense, defense and special teams, the first time that has happened since the final game of the 2014 season against Wyoming.
*UNM tied Kansas State for the most kickoff returns for touchdowns over the past five years with its ninth.
*New Mexico broke the 50-point barrier for the first time this season, marking the first time since scoring 66 against Mississippi Valley State on September 5, 2015.
*UNM had eight touchdowns from eight different players, and five different Lobos had a rushing touchdown, the most different players since the 2015 season opener when six Lobos ran for touchdowns.
*New Mexico scored a touchdown on its second offensive possession for the seventh straight game.
*New Mexico’s 235 yards allowed were the fewest to an FBS opponent since October 9, 2010 when New Mexico State had 208.
*The 622 yards of offense tied for the 11th-most in school history (622 vs. Utah in 1971).
*UNM has now hit 91 straight extra points dating back to November 22, 2014.
*UNM is now averaging 40.0 points per game.  The school record for a season is 34.0 points.
 
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
*Jadon Boatright picked off a ULM pass on the third play of the game and returned it 40 yards for a touchdown, UNM’s second pick-six of the season.  It was UNM’s first defensive takeaway since October 1 vs. San Jose State when Austin Ocasio returned an interception 37 yards for a score.
*Richard McQuarley’s touchdown in the first quarter was his 10th rushing score of the season.
*Teriyon Gipson’s first quarter touchdown run was his 26th career rushing touchdown, tying his with Kasey Carrier for seventh all-time.
*Due to a pair of penalties, Jason Sanders was forced to kick a 45-yard extra point to keep his PAT streak alive.  The kick would have been the second-longest field goal of his career.
*Elijah Lilly’S 93-yard kickoff return for a touchdown was the first of his career.  It gave UNM a kickoff return for a touchdown in seven straight seasons, trailing only Kansas State, which has one in 12 straight.
*Jake Rothschiller a former walk-on, intercepted his first career pass in the third quarter.
*Tyrone Owens ran for 171 yards on nine carries.  It was his third 100-yard game in the last four.  For Owens, he rushed for 309 yards in his first 14 career games, and then 496 in his last four.
*Jason Sanders hit eight PATs and now has 37 on the season, which is tied for ninth on the single season list with Joe Hartshorne (1970).
*Owens’ 83-yard touchdown run was the fifth-longest in school history, and it was the longest since James Wright went for an 84-yard touchdown against Air Force in 2009.
*Jason Sanders now has 37 extra points this season (in 37 attempts) and is currently tied for ninth on the single-season list.  He also has hit 59 in a row.
 Postgame Quotes:  New Mexico 59, ULM 17

New Mexico Coach Bob Davie:
“We had some improvement. Defensively, to be able to get two turnovers, two interceptions, particularly the first one for a touchdown by Boatright.  For the first time this season we felt like we got into a bit of a rhythm on defense and it was good to see.”
 
“Offensively, being able to throw the football, we had two key third downs in the first half, third and longs. I think we had a 40-yard gain and a 45-yard gain on third downs, and then we had the touchdown pass to Gamblin.  So the improvement, to be able to get a couple of turnovers on defense, to be able to get into a rhythm on defense, and then to be able to throw the football, particularly on third down right there when the game was still in question.”
 
“It was good to see Lilly again, you know he’s explosive, he is fun to watch.  So a good overall performance. We know it’s going to get much more difficult here with five straight games.”
 
UNM Cornerback Jadon Boatright:
“It was a great feeling, I mean, I was looking forward to getting a pick before the game even started, so just to get one and be able to do that was awesome and it just felt great. Preparation helped me get it done.”
 
On the need to create turnovers:
“We definitely needed turnovers. We have struggled turnover-wise, but that definitely helped us out especially at the beginning of the game. We started off the game with a pick-six to get us already up 7-0, that helped us a lot.  Our defense played great all night, then we got another pick. So we got two turnovers and that was great. “
 
 
UNM Wide Receiver Damien Gamblin:
“We want to make plays, and to make a play for my team and for my family that comes out here every week, driving 10 hours out here, when they see me make a play like that it really lifts their spirits up as well.”
 
“After we had that bad loss to Boise, we all came together and we basically said it’s not happening anymore and we need to win every game from here on out. That’s the mindset we’re going into the game, we’re not scared of anybody, we’re just going to come in and play our game and the chips will fall where they may.”
 
“We clicked tonight, we click next week, we clicked last week, we need to keep it rolling, we’re on a roll right now.”
 
UNM kick returner Elijah Lilly:
“Well, the call was to go, I think to the boundry side, and then when I got it, I saw the hole and then I just tried to make the best of it and get what I could get.”
 
“When we were at the hotel, (coach) came up to me and brought up Vanilla Ice – I don’t know anything about Vanilla Ice – but he asked me if I was a one-hit wonder and I told him no. I think what he meant by that was, at the Air Force game, because I had a big game returning kicks, he wanted to see if I could replicate it and do the same thing.”
 
ULM Head Coach, Matt Viator:
“Just got out coached, out played, really didn’t have enough juice, not near enough juice and that’s on me. We got be more ready to play than that, we got to have more juice than that and we didn’t. It’s nothing really in particular because it was really the whole thing when you look at it. To come in and play a team like this, you better have some juice and we didn’t. We just need to be more ready to play at the start and we weren’t. You have to make your own breaks and we didn’t do that really and stuff so hat’s off to New Mexico, I thought they did a nice job after a big win last week, you know, for Air Force to come in like they did and execute like they did, I give them credit.”
 
On the decision to put in second string QB, Caleb Evans:
“It was not in any shape or form anything with Will, we need to play a lot better around Will, we just felt that we are going to have to have two guys for the rest of the year and we might as well put Caleb in and give him some experience like Will got last week. Other really than the first interception, it was just a bad read, but other than that we got to play better around that.”