Lobos Open season with 38-14 win over ACU
(9/2/2017) Football vs Abilene Christian
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Lamar Jordan threw for a career-high 213 yards and a touchdown as New Mexico rolled to 481 yards of offense, and combined that with a stellar defensive effort for a 38-14 season-opening win over Abilene Christian. The win was UNM’s eighth in the last nine games dating back to last season, and its third in a row.
Defensively, UNM put forth a terrific effort, scoring a touchdown and limiting the Wildcats to just eight yards rushing and 4.98 yards per passing attempt. The touchdown came in the fourth quarter after the Wildcats recovered a fumbled punt at the UNM 6-yard line. On fourth down from the UNM 5-yard line, Dallas Sealey’s pass was picked off by Jake Rothschiller, and the defensive captain weaved his way 91 yards for his first career score.
UNM’s defense actually got off to a slow start. After Richard McQuarley was stopped on fourth and goal at the 1-yard line, Abilene Christian drove 99 yards for a touchdown and a 7-0 lead. However, UNM would roll to the next 38 points in putting the contest away.
First, the Lobos answered on a five-play, 71-yard drive highlighted by a Jordan to Chris Davis 27-yard pass. Another pass, this to Delane Hart-Johnson, set up Daryl Chestnut’s first touchdown of the evening, a four-yarder for a 7-7 tie. After a missed 51-yard field goal by ACU, UNM went to the air again with Hart-Johnson hauling in a 47-yard bomb. Tyrone Owens then scored two plays later to make it 14-7, and the score stayed that way through halftime.
In the third UNM scored on its opening possession with a 75-yard drive that took eight plays. On that eighth play, Chestnut got a crucial block from Romell Jordan, springing him like a bullet for a 54-yard touchdown. Rothschiller on the next drive sacked Sealey, forcing a fumble that Alex Hart recovered, leading to a 25-yard Jason Sanders field goal, making it 24-7.
It stayed that way until the fourth and Rothschiller’s 91-yard touchdown. UNM got its last score when on fourth and six from the Abilene Christian 36, Jordan lofted a pass down the sideline that was hauled in by Jay Griffin IV for his first career catch and touchdown, making it 38-7.
ACU tacked on a touchdown with 14 seconds left to account for the final score.
UNM, now 1-0, will set its sights on New Mexico State as the Rio Grande Rivalry takes place at 6:06 p.m. on Saturday night at Dreamstyle Stadium in what should be a very festive atmosphere. The game will be broadcast via Stadium and Facebook Live, and Terance Mathis will be inducted into the Ring of Honor at halftime. Additionally, Larry Chavez, Sr. will be on hand to formally christen the stadium Dreamstyle Stadium.
Postgame Notes: New Mexico 38, Abilene Christian 14
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: Jay Griffin IV started at WR in place of RB Tyrone Owens. UNM did not start a tight end.
Defense: None
*New Mexico’s captains were Lamar Jordan, Jake Rothschiller, Alex Hart, Blaise Fountain
*Javohn Jones carried the New Mexico flag onto the field as the New Mexico Man. It was his second career honor.
*UNM won the toss and elected to receive. Last year UNM didn’t win its first coin toss until game nine.
TEAM NOTES:
*The attendance of 21,475 was the highest for a UNM regular season home game since November 21, 2015 when 21,643 attended the UNM/Colorado State game.
*New Mexico has now won three straight season openers, and Bob Davie is now 4-2 in season openers.
*UNM is now 8-1 in its last nine games, and that’s the best stretch since the end of the 2004 season and the beginning of the 2005 season, when the team also went 8-1.
*UNM is now 12-3 at home over its last 15 regular season home games.
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
*Marcus Williams took part on the opening kickoff as a true freshman. He was the only true freshman to play in the game.
*Chris Davis tied his career-high of receptions in a game with two, both in the first quarter, and he finished with three. He set a career-high with 55 yards receiving. His previous best was 26 yards against ULM last season.
*Lamar Jordan’s previous career-high for passing was 154 yards on 11/15/2014 at Utah State during his freshman year. He completed his first nine passes of the season. He ended the game with 213 yards, which is the most by a UNM quarterback in the Bob Davie era. The only other 200-yard game by a quarterback was 205 by B.R. Holbrook on November 24, 2012 at Colorado State.
*Jordan also set a career-high with 11 completions. He had never completed more than nine in a game in his career.
*Jacob Girgle’s second quarter interception was the first of his career.
*Daryl Chestnut scored two rushing touchdowns. Had scored exactly two rushing touchdowns in each of his other two seasons.
*Jake Rothschiller’s first career sack forced a fumble that was recovered by Alex Hart. Rothschiller later intercepted a fourth down pass and returned it 91 yards for a touchdown. It was the sixth-longest interception return in school history, and it was his second career interception.
*The touchdown by Jay Griffin IV was on the first catch of his career.
Postgame QUOTES: New Mexico 38, Abilene Christian 14
Bob Davie, UNM coach:
1-0, right guys? 1-0. The positives defensively once we got past the first quarter. I give that quarterback credit. They are well coached and they have a nice scheme. They made it difficult on us. Once we made some adjustments and got up on them a little bit tighter, (the defense) felt pretty good. They weren’t just going to let you rush up the field on them. Anytime you play a team that has a good quarterback and a good coaching staff, it’s going to be tough. That was a good opener for us.
We made a lot of mistakes. We roughed the punter and we dropped a punt. We gave up a play at the end – which was unfortunate with as much as the defense had settled in. We fumbled the ball at the end of the game. There are a lot of things still to work on, but we’re 1-0. I don’t take any of these games for granted.
We threw it a little more than we normally do. But we made some plays and threw it around a bit. We have a lot of work to do. But it’s good to do it at 1-0. It was a good test for our young corners. There were a lot of stack routes – that was a pretty good test for us to get the ball thrown on us as much as we did, particularly with those young DBs.
Jake Rothschiller, UNM safety
On ACU’s 99-yard first-quarter drive:
I just think it was first-game jitters. I think you saw that all over the country with teams. There are those first-game jitters. We had those first-drive jitters. We knew we had to come together as a group. We were all over the place on that drive.
On his 91-yard interception return for a touchdown:
It was kind of funny because I got to the 50-yard line and thought, “Is this really happening?” But it just fell into my lap and I had to do what I had to do.
On getting a win to start the season:
It’s a good way to set the tone for the season going into next week. We know what that is so we got to have a good week of practice. We got to come out and not make as many mistakes as tonight.
Daryl Chestnut, UNM running back
On the team’s running game:
They were stacking the whole box and we had to make an adjustment. We just ran a regular speed option, things we work on in practice so we were used to that. We were already prepared for them to come out in a bear front, that clogs the middle anyway so we just went outside with the run.
On his 54-yard TD run:
I just saw the end zone and I told myself to run as fast as possible. That’s what I did.