(11/4/2017) Football vs Utah StateBox Score | Season Statistics
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The last two matchups between the University of New Mexico and Utah State University were decided by a last-second field goal, but this year, the Lobos never led on their way to a 24-10 loss that dropped UNM to 3-6 on the season and 1-5 in the Mountain West..
UNM finished the game with five fumbles resulting in four turnovers, compared to Utah State’s two. The Aggies scored 14 of their 24 points off Lobo fumbles.
Utah State received the opening kickoff but quarterback Jordan Love threw an interception on the first play of the game as Stanley Barnwell, Jr. picked off a deflection for his first career pick. UNM turned the ball back over three minutes later on a Lamar Jordan fumble inside the 10-yard line. Both teams struggled to gain offensive momentum, trading punts before the Lobos fumbled for the second time on the Utah State 38-yard line.
The Aggies made the score 7-0 with a one-yard run with 1:03 left in the first quarter. Early in the second quarter, Richard McQuarley fumbled at the USU 10-yard line. After forcing another Aggie punt, New Mexico turned the ball over on downs with 7:26 remaining in the first half when Tyrone Owens looked to have a first down but fumbled. He recovered it but lost the yardage needed for the first.
Jake Rothschiller recovered a USU fumble at midfield to set up the Lobos’ first scoring drive of the game. Facing 4th-and-7 at the Utah State 25-yard line, Jason Sanders kicked a 42-yard field goal to cut the lead to 7-3.
.@tevakatuioti keeps it for a 34-yard Lobo touchdown! @UNMLoboFB trails @USUFootball 24-10 with 3:20 left #mwfb pic.twitter.com/DmR3KXpC8g
— Mountain West (@MountainWest) November 5, 2017
The Aggies answered 24 seconds later with a 65-yard rush to take a 14-3 lead. Tevaka Tuioti entered the game under center for the Lobos, but they punted on their last possession of the half.
Lamar Jordan took back over at quarterback to open the second half, but the Lobos went 3-and-out. Utah State entered UNM territory with a 31-yard pass from Love to Ron’quavion Tarver before kicking a 28-yard field goal to make the score 17-3.
The Lobos marched back down the field behind carries from Lamar Jordan, Romell Jordan, and McQuarley but had to attempt a field goal due to two penalties that left them facing 4th-and-28. Sanders missed the 47-yard field goal to leave the score at 17-3 with 6:40 left in the third quarter.
Utah State recovered a New Mexico fumble for the fourth time of the night andDavid Woodward returned it 70 yards to take a 24-3 lead with 8:56 left in the game. Tuioti scored the Lobos’ first touchdown of the night on a 34-yard run to bring the final score to 24-10.
Jordan and Tuioti again split time under center with Tuioti playing most of the fourth quarter. Jordan finished the night with 21 passing yards and 85 rushing, while Tuioti threw for 54 and ran for 39 yards and a touchdown. Tyrone Owens and Daryl Chestnut added 44 and 42 yards on the ground, and Jay Griffin IV compiled 35 receiving yards.
The loss drops the Lobos to 3-6 and 1-5 in the Mountain West. They will travel to face Texas A&M on Nov. 11 at 5:00 p.m. MST on ESPNU.
Postgame Notes: Utah State 24, New Mexico 10
This was the 24th meeting between the two teams.
New Mexico now leads 13-11
New Mexico now leads 9-5 in Albuquerque
Utah State leads 6-4 in Logan
Utah State has one straight in Albuquerque
Utah State has won two straight in the series
Starting lineup changes for UNM from published two-deep
Offense: None (Richard McQuarley at RB was the non-starter)
Defense: Aaron Blackwell started at NT instead of Jermane Conyers
*New Mexico’s captains were Lamar Jordan, Blaise Fountain, Alex Hart and Jake Rothschiller
*Aaron Overacker of Albuquerque, New Mexico was the New Mexico Man carried the New Mexico flag onto the field.
*New Mexico lost the toss for the second time this season, and is now 7-2 on coin tosses. UNM kicked off for only the third time this season.
TEAM NOTES:
*The Lobos wore their anthracite helmets with red tops and red pants for the first time. Normally the red over red is paired with the white helmets.
*Utah State’s missed field goal in the first quarter would have ended a string of seven straight made field goals against, but a penalty wiped it out.
*New Mexico went 0-for-4 in the red zone. In the first eight games of the season, UNM had failed in the red zone four times total, going 19-for-23.
*The four-game losing streak is the longest in-season losing streak since the 2012 season when UNM lost six straight. UNM did lose five straight from the end of the 2013 season to the beginning of the 2014 season.
*New Mexico has now turned the ball over 11 times in the last two games after doing so 14 times in the first 14. The 15 lost fumbles is the most since losing 16 in the 2010 season.
*UNM’s TD on its final drive ended a string of 27 straight drives without a touchdown, going back to the fourth quarter of the Colorado State game.
*UNM limited Utah State to just 243 yards, its lowest total of the season and the fourth time holding a team under 300 yards this year. The 114 yards passing were the fewest allowed this season.
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
*Stanley Barnwell, Jr. intercepted the opening play of the game by Utah State, his first career interception. It was UNM’s first takeaway in the last three games.
*Tyrone Owens surpassed the 1,700 rushing-yard mark in his career.
*Lamar Jordan rushed for 85 yards to move into 10th place on the career rushing list at UNM with 2,385 yards. It was a season-high in rushing yards for him.
*Jake Rothschiller recovered his team-leading third fumble of the season. It led to a field goal.
*Tevaka Tuioti had his first career rushing touchdown, a 34-yard run for a score with just over three minutes to go.
*Jay Griffin IV led the team with five catches, but they went for just 35 yards.
Corey Bojorquez was stellar again, averaging 46.8 yards per punt on five punts, with three inside the 20, including two downed inside the five. One of those was a 68-yard punt that died at the two and a 36-yard punt that landed at the three and stayed there.
*Romell Jordan had a career-long 17-yard punt return
*Jason Sanders hit a 42-yard field goal, his 24th of his career.
Postgame Quotes: Utah State 24, New Mexico 10
UNM Head Coach Bob Davie:
“I do appreciate and think we played really hard. We ran 79 plays, they ran 48. They had 243 yards offense and 65 of it on one play. But with that said, officially we turned the ball over 4 times, but we actually fumbled on a fourth and a one, too, which would be five. We dropped a punt, but they called punt catch interference on it. We missed the field goal, we jumped off-side on a field goal that gave them a touchdown, so we’re a mistake team. It goes in cycles, but it’s become an epidemic.”
“We certainly did some good things. Again, on defense, we continued to compete hard. It’s a shame, but you are what your record says you are, and you are what those turnovers and penalties say you are.
“It’s a different kind of cycle we’re in right now. We’ve got to improve offensively. You take a look at the offense we have last year and the offense we have this year, and wow, it’s frightening. But again, we did do some good things. We did move the ball a little bit, but you just can’t leave points out there turning the football over.”
Running Back Daryl Chestnut:
“You know, it can make or break our season, but we’re a team, we’re a family, so we stick together. I know the majority of those turnovers happened in the red zone, and that killed us a lot, but we’re just going to stick together as a family and move forward.”
“You get put in that position, and it just happens, and it’s just part of game. You see those guys out there fighting for extra yards, trying to make a big play, and it just happened. So we just have to move forward as a team.” (On the turnovers in the game)
Defensive Back Jake Rothschiller:
“It’s a team game. The defense fought hard, the offense fought hard, we just can’t have self-inflicting mistakes. We just have to keep fighting.”
“We just take it each day at a time, really. Like [Coach] said, take each hour at a time during practice and focus on how you can get better.”
USU Head Coach Matt Wells
“I thought our team came ready to play, I thought they were emotionally ready to play. I thought we played tough and we played physical football and played smart on offense. I thought it was a good performance on offense, not great, and I’m really proud of our defense and how they played.”
On forcing four fumbles: “I think it was a tremendous performance by our defense. Great scheme, and great job by our coaches but I give all the credit to our players. Horrible field position for the defense, [they] really got put in a lot of bad positions early in the game and I thought they rose up.”
On bowl eligibility: “Certainly we’re looking forward to the bye week, we’ve had 10 straight and [we can] get these guys a little bit healthy and get some guys back. We have a game at home, it will be a big game, senior day, and [we’ll] try to send these seniors out as winners. Certainly, we have bowl eligibility in our sights.”
Running Back LuJuan Hunt
“They [Utah State defense] were lights out, I don’t think they could have played any better than they did. New Mexico has a good offense and a great rushing attack and it’s really hard for most defenses to shut that down and that’s exactly what they did. It was all preparation throughout the week, they studied extra in the film room to watch their tendencies everything and they just came out and executed.”
“It’s very important, it’s hard in Division I to win games, and then again to win games on the road, it’s been very gratifying and very important for us to win on the road.”
Defensive Back David Woodward
“It was crazy, I just knew all my guys were blocking for me since no one ended up catching up to me I was pretty tired, but it was a cool experience.”
“Last time I had the ball that long in my hands was in high school, so it’s been a while.”
“It was just that everyone was doing their assignment. This game was especially important for us to have everyone do their assignment, that’s what we did and we caused a lot of fumbles.”