Lobos Offense Superb in 62-30 Opening Win
(9/2/2018) UNM Football vs Incarnate Word 9-2-18ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — New Mexico racked up 680 yards of total offense and Tevaka Tuioti accounted for five touchdowns including four passing as the Lobos blitzed Incarnate Word 62-30 in the season opener for both teams. The Lobos now prepare to head to Camp Randall to take on a top-10 team in Wisconsin next Saturday at 11 a.m. Central Time.
Tuioti was brilliant in just his second career start. He led UNM to touchdowns on his first four drives. After Incarnate Word opened the game with a touchdown to go up 7-0, Tuioti went to work. He tied the game up with a 10-yard strike to Marcus Williams, and then he gave UNM the lead for good with a 12-yard run, which capped off a 66 yard drive. On the next drive, Tyrone Owens went over from 6 yards out for a 21-7 lead and then Tuioti on 3rd-and-12 hit Patrick Reed for a 69-yard touchdown pass for a 28-7 first quarter lead.
Incarnate Word eventually answered with a 90-yard run by Ra’Quanne Dickens to make it 28-13, but even that didn’t work out for the Cardinals and Dickens was hit with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, his second of the game, earning an ejection.
After a field goal made it 28-16 with 1:01 to go, a wild sequence led to UNM scoring a back-breaking touchdown. Tuioti threw a deep interception, giving the ball back to Incarnate Word, but Willie Hobdy forced a fumble and UNM recovered with 14 seconds to go in the half. Tuioti took over and immediately hit Elijah Lilly with a 51-yard touchdown strike and UNM took a 35-16 lead into the break.
UNM tacked on 13 more points in the third quarter with another Owens touchdown run, this from two yards, and another Williams touchdown catch, this from 33 yards. That made it 48-16. While UNM’s offense was scoring seven touchdowns on 12 drives, UNM’s defense allowed just one over that same stretch.
In the fourth quarter, both offenses kept rolling as both teams subbed liberally. Coltin Gerhart scored on a 1-yard run, and Sheriron Jones threw a 22-yard touchdown on third down to Anu Somoye for UNM to finish off a big offensive day.
Postgame Notes: New Mexico 62, Incarnate Word 30
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. UNM started three receivers, and Patrick Reed was the Lobo who didn’t start.
Defense: None
*New Mexico’s captains were Aaron Jenkins, Alex Hart, Evahelotu Tohi and Coltin Gerhart
*Thomas Vieira carried the New Mexico flag onto the field as the New Mexico Man. It was his second career honor.
*Incarnate Word won the toss and elected to receive.
TEAM NOTES:
*New Mexico has now won four straight season openers, and Bob Davie is now 5-2 in season openers.
*New Mexico gained 680 yards of total offense, and that total is good for the fourth-most in school history. It was just 11 yards away from tying the school record for most yards in a game.
*New Mexico has seven passes of 30 or more yards in the game. Last season New Mexico had 10 such plays the entire season.
*The two teams combined for 1,246 yards and 92 points.
*The 92 combined points was the 12th most combined points in school history.
*New Mexico’s 28 points in the first quarter were tied for the third-most in an opening quarter in school history.
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
*Tevaka Tuioti threw for 327 yards and four touchdowns. The 327 yards was the first time a Lobo quarterback threw for 300 yards in a game since September 11, 2010 when B.R. Holbrook threw for 323 yards against Texas Tech.
*Tuioti entered the game with four touchdown passes in eight career games. He equaled that in this game.
*The four passing touchdowns were the most by a Lobo quarterback since 2002 when Casey Kelly threw for four touchdowns against Wyoming on November 30, 2002.
*Marcus Williams caught two touchdown passes, his first two career touchdowns. Last season he caught just one pass, for 27 yards.
*UNM had 10 different receivers catch passes in the game.
*Zahneer Shuler led UNM with a career-high 90 yards rushing, coming on just five carries.
*Tyrone Owens became the 17th Lobo to break the 2,000-yard mark for a career. He gained 58 yards and scored two touchdowns. He moved into 15th place on the career rushing list.
*Aaron Jenkins started his 39th straight game and played in his 41st. He is slated to break UNM’s career games played record this season (if he can get to 51).
*Andrew Shelley went 8-for-9 on extra points, hitting the right upright. It was the first missed extra point in regular season game since November 22, 2014 when Zack Rogers also hit the right upright. Jason Sanders had an extra point blocked in 2016 in the Gildan New Mexico Bowl.
*Tyson Dyer averaged 48.7 yards per punt on three punts. He netted 45.0 yards per kick net.
*Walk-on freshman Dylan Kelly-Romero kicked off for UNM with Danny Sutton out. Kelly-Romero is from Los Lunas High School.
*Jalin Burrell’s interception was the first of his career. Last year he had 10 passes broken up.
Postgame Quotes: New Mexico 62, Incarnate Word 30
UNM Head Coach Bob Davie
“We all know it’s not going to be like this and to be honest, we really can’t win the way we played tonight moving forward. We had a lot of big plays, a lot of explosive plays. The thing I’m most excited about tonight is that we played a new center, he went out there and basically played every down. I know we can play better, and we are going to have to play better.”
Marcus Williams – UNM – So. | Tight End
On playing as a Lobo in front of his hometown
“I think it was just good to compete with the guys and put something on tape, not try to come out here and lay an egg. It was the first game, a lot of jitters and a lot of talk about it but we just wanted to come out here and execute it, do our job that’s what we try to do. I think we did a pretty good job at that.”
On being involved in the team victory
“It’s cool to be involved with offense and being able to show my versatility and what I can do. I think a lot of tight ends went out there and did their jobs, stepped up and did pretty good.”
Tevaka Tuioti – UNM – R-So. | Quarterback
On playing a more key role this year with big plays (including seven of 30 yards+)
“First and foremost you just got to give all the glory to God, it wasn’t me it was a team effort. You saw that the offensive line did a great job doing their jobs and being able to step up tonight. They created holes for me and the receivers did as well.”
On looking forward to the Wisconsin trip
“I am pretty hyped about it – I am stoked about it. It’s not every year that you get to play a big team who also happens to be ranked No. 4 in the nation. It will be a good test for us, and it will put us where we need to be.”
Incarnate Word Head Coach Eric Morris
On the key to getting into the end zone on the first drive
“Execution. Just like all the drives that we scored on today, we executed on at high level. On offense we sputtered a couple times on penalties or self-inflicted wounds. That’s something we’ve got to get over in a hurry or we’re not going to be as good as we know we can be. The penalties killed us and made us go backwards.”
On offense tempo
“Anytime we can get a first down or a big play we start moving fast. You saw what we did after the fact, we completed a couple drives and scored. We have to execute at a high level, start these drives off, and get the team in some good plays. I was happy with how Copeland played today, he saw the field really well.”
On the team’s no-quit attitude and temperament
“We have to make corrections on film and move forward. We didn’t tackle well on defense and the penalties killed us on offense. We need to be better at coaching these things.”
On moving forward after UNM’s big plays
“Most of them were mental mistakes. We lost some coverage on the back end and that’s something you can’t do at this level. We need to communicate better on the back end.”