ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The University of New Mexico Lobos scored 31 unanswered points to wrestle away a quick lead by South Dakota, taking down the Coyotes 48-21 in the season opener for both teams. UNM’s offense rolled up 615 yards, the 15th-best total in school history.
If the opening play is any indication of how a season will go, it’s going to be explosive. Teriyon Gipson took the opening handoff and raced 75 yards for a touchdown just 12 seconds into the contest. South Dakota did have an answer, as they went 75 yards in five plays, and then after a fumble, USD went 90 yards in nine plays to make it 14-7 9:10 into the game.
To that point, the Coyotes had 165 yards of offense, but UNM’s veteran defense took charge after that, limiting the USD squad to just 158 the rest of the game, 75 of which came on the only scoring drive of the final three quarters for the Coyotes.
UNM was led by starting quarterback Austin Apodaca, who was nothing short of brilliant, rushing 41 yards on seven carries and going 12-for-16 through the air for 172 yards and two touchdowns. Both of those TDs were on brilliant catches. The first was over the middle by Matt Quarells, who caught a pass with a defender draped all over him and broke away for a 62-yard score. The second was at the end of a perfect two-minute drill as Apodaca hit Q’ Drennan near the five yard line, leaping for the grab and then spinning into the end zone for his first career catch.
That made it 35-14 at the break and it was pretty much over from there as USD never really threatened.
Gipson, who scored on that opening 75-yard run, went 84 on his next touch to make it 14-14 just 59 seconds after USD went up 14-7. Quarells’ catch gave UNM its lead for good, and then Richard McQuarley scored the first of his two touchdowns.
In the second half, Jason Sanders hit a pair of field goals sandwiched around USD’s lone touchdown, but with the game at 41-21, McQuarley scored on a bruising 14-yard run through the middle for the final score of the game.
However, while the offense was rolling, the defense did as well over the final three quarters. Dakota Cox, who is looking to become the first player to lead the team in tackles all four seasons, got off to the right start with 14 tackles, 2.0 for loss, a sack, a forced fumble and an interception. Both turnovers he had a hand in turned into second half scores.
Overall, the Lobos recorded three sacks and six tackles for loss along with forcing three turnovers. After allowing two touchdowns on the first two drives, UNM forced five punts, two turnovers, a turnover on downs and two end of halves, getting 10 stops on the final 11 possessions, only two of which saw the Coyotes gain more than 20 yards.
The Lobos, who opened 1-0 for the third time in Bob Davie’s five seasons, will look to go 2-0 as they travel to New Mexico State next Saturday for the annual Rio Grande Rivalry game, which will kick off at 6 p.m.
Postgame Notes: New Mexico 48, South Dakota 21
This was the first meeting between the two teams.
New Mexico now leads 1-0
Starting lineup changes for UNM from published two-deep
Offense: QB Austin Apodaca started at quarterback. UNM opened with only two receivers, not starting Dameon Gamblin.
Defense: None
*New Mexico’s captains were Lamar Jordan, Dakota Cox, Austin Apodaca and Daniel Henry
* South Dakota won the and elected to defer. UNM received and defended the North goal.
*Jack Lamm was the New Mexico Man for this game, his third time, tying for second-most in school history.
TEAM NOTES:
*New Mexico rushed for 428 yards, the first time over 400 yards since rushing for 401 yards against New Mexico State last year.
*UNM had 615 yards of offense, the 15th-most in school history, and the first time over 600 since getting 608 against New Mexico State in 2013. It was only the second time over 600 yards in 13 seasons.
*UNM has now had 500 or more yards of offense in each of its last three games. (Air Force, Arizona and South Dakota).
*Last year New Mexico led the nation in plays of 60 yards or more with 11. They had four from scrimmage in this game.
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
*Teriyon Gipson scored on the first play from scrimmage, a 75-yard run. It was his second-longest touchdown of his career, as he had a 79-yarder against San José State last year.
*Gipson’s 84-yard run in the 1st quarter was tied for the fourth-longest run in school history. James Wright had an 84 yarder against Air Force in 2009.
*Gipson’s 181 yards rushing was the second-most of his career (205 vs. Boise State in 2014).
*The first quarter fumble by Richard McQuarley was his first of his career.
*Matt Quarells’ 62-yard touchdown catch in the second quarter was his first career touchdown and his longest career catch.
*Steven Romero, the long snapper, recovered a fumbled punt in the second quarter, his first career fumble recovery.
*Apodaca threw for two touchdown passes in the game after having just one in the 2015 season.
*His 12 completions were a career-high. He was 10-for-12 against Nevada last year.
*Diquon Woodhouse’s first carry of the season went for 60 yards.
*Jason Sanders hit two fields goal, the first time in his career he hit two in a game.
New Mexico Quotes
Coach Bob Davie:
Opening Statement:
We talked about it all week that we just have to be the best team in the state. We don’t have to win them all. I think that message our football team handled pretty well, particularly on defense. We all saw on the first two drives that they probably had 160 yards of offense. I think from that point on they had 150 or 160 – most on that jail-break screen.
I think it is so important in these type of games that one pin doesn’t take all the air out of the balloon. I’ve been in these kind of games where you lose a game like this. I think we have a pretty mature team. The script was pretty written. They came out on offense with No. 15 – the transfer out of Minnesota – and he did a good job of keeping us off balance. Our blitz look and our bluffs with the quarterback being the extra guy on the true quarterback runs – the old single-wing quarterback runs – I thought they did a great job. He’s a big, fast guy. Then we take the ball and we score quickly but then we go down there on first and 10 and Blaise Fountain snaps the ball on the ground and then McQuarley takes it and we are about to score and we fumble. We left points on the turf. It was almost the perfect storm. They were moving the ball on us and we can’t stop them and we leave points on the field and fumble. But I think it is a credit to our team maturity wise and we stabilized. As it went on I think we started playing better. I think this is why we play these games.
It’s a good win to start the season. I think offensively we are obviously explosive and we obviously have some speed. I think with Austin Apodaca in there it adds a certain element, it really does. It was great to see Matt Quarells step up and do what he is capable of doing. Q’ Drennan stepped up too. All those backs did some great things too.
Did you change anything up after South Dakota scored those first two touchdowns?
We thought (Ryan Saeger) was going to be the quarterback. He’s more of a spread-style quarterback with the RPOs and getting the ball out in space throwing it. Then (Chris Streveler) was the quarterback and it was a true quarterback power run. They manned you up and ran the ball. He took us out of a lot of our blitz packages and kept us off balance. … They had a good plan, but that didn’t surprise me. It surprised me that (Streveler) was the quarterback. …. He took some shots, but he kept on coming. He’s a pretty tough cat.
How big were Teriyon Gipson’s two big runs early in the game?
That’s what he is. It was good his whole family was here for the game too. … It was a good start for Gip. Gip can go.
Dakota Cox:
After those first two touchdowns … what did you say to the team to keep them calm?
We have a mature defense. Everyone understands what we have to do. We saw how that QB can run. He was fast and he was physical. We just really focused on doing our job and settled in. From there on out, the defense was working like it was supposed to. Sometimes that has to happen for us to really get into it, but we need to do our job. … Guys really matured out there. It wasn’t the coaches getting on us. We knew we had to go out there and perform.
Teriyon Gipson:
How did it feel to start the season with that run?
That’s the perfect way to start your senior year. But you have to give thanks to the O-line. They made a big hole and I just followed my keys and ran through the hole.
How do you feel the offensive line performed?
I felt like they did great. I was able to find a lot of holes that the O-line was making.
How do you think the running backs performed as a whole tonight?
I felt like us as a running back group ran the ball pretty well tonight. McQuarley had two touchdowns. I had two touchdowns. Diquon almost had a touchdown on that long run. Daryl had some good runs. We still have some room for improvement, but I felt like we did pretty good for the first game.
Austin Apodaca:
How do you feel like you performed tonight?
We’ve been working really hard and I felt comfortable going through my reads. Honestly I was just playing football like I do every day.
Did you know you were going to start?
I knew I was going to start but I didn’t know what was going to happen with in-game adjustments and other things like that or how many plays I was going to get. I was just trying to do my thing and control what I can control.
To see Quarells and Drennan make the kind of catches they made tonight, how much confidence does that give you?
Those were two great grabs. To have the confidence to know you can throw it and they’ll go get it is huge for a quarterback. It was both of their first touchdowns so I was happy for them.