Lobos Fight Tough in 45-14 Loss at No. 5 Wisconsin
MADISON, Wisc. — New Mexico was in it for much of the game, but paced by three All-Americans on the offensive line, the No. 5 Wisconsin Badgers rushed for 417 yards and pulled away in the second half to win 45-14 over the Lobos, dropping UNM to 1-1 on the season.
UNM took the opening kickoff and drove 87 yards in 17 plays with Tevaka Tuioti playing brilliantly, helping UNM convert four third downs on the drive. UNM rushed for 33 on the drive and passed for 44, and the final play was an 11-yard strike to Delane Hart-Johnson on third down for a 7-0 lead.
That lead held for most of the half, with UNM’s defense bending but never breaking. On Wisconsin’s first drive, the Badgers drove inside the Lobo 10 but could only come up with a field goal. Later in the second quarter on a second-and-goal play, freshman Marcus Hayes, playing close to his hometown in Illinois, forced and recovered a Jonathan Taylor fumble at the 5-yard line.
“We lost our rhythm offensively when Tevaka went out in the second quarter,” said Bob Davie. “We needed to play really well, and we needed to get some breaks, and we got a few. I would have liked to have seen what Tevaka could have done playing the whole game, but that’s not how football goes.”
What a pass from Tevaka Tuioti to Delane Hart-Johnson and UNM leads No. 5 Wisconsin 7-0 #GoLobos pic.twitter.com/6DTGpvOgBu
— New Mexico Lobos (@UNMLOBOS) September 8, 2018
Wisconsin eventually took a 10-7 lead at the break and on its first drive of the second half, the Lobos got a big stop when Evahelotu Tohi picked off a pass as Alex Hornibrook got hit by Jordan Flack, and Tohi returned it to the Badger 26. UNM couldn’t score however when Sheriron Jones, in for an injured Tuioti, went for the lead. He was looking for Elijah Lilly, who had a step, but safety Scott Nelson picked it off at the 2-yard line. That led to the first of two third quarter touchdowns for Wisconsin, the first an A.J. Taylor 10-yard catch, the second a Jonathan Taylor 5-yard rush.
Wisconsin made it 31-7 on the opening play of the third quarter, but Jones led a nice 75-yard drive that saw Tyrone Owens rush for over 30 yards on it. Jones capped it with a third-down toss of five yards to Elijah Lilly to make it 31-14. The Badgers’ Taylor tacked on a third rushing touchdown in the fourth to make it 38-14, and then with just 22 seconds left and the game well in hand, Wisconsin threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to account for the final margin.
UNM threw for 134 yards and went 14-for-24 combined with two TDs and two interceptions. Alex Hart led the way with 13 tackles, Stanley Barnwell added 12 and freshman Marcus Hayes had 10 with a fumble recovery. Tyrone Owens led the way with 57 yards on just 13 carries.
Elijah Lilly scores off a Sheriron Jones pass and it’s No. 5 Wisconsin 31, @UNMLoboFB 14 #GoLobos pic.twitter.com/ILl0YSE5VR
— New Mexico Lobos (@UNMLOBOS) September 8, 2018
Postgame Notes: No. 5 Wisconsin 45, New Mexico 14
This was the 1st meeting between the two teams.
Wisconsin now leads 1-0
Wisconsin now leads 1-0 in Madison
Starting lineup changes for UNM from published two-deep
Offense: Anselem Umeh started for Patrick Reed at receiver. Elijah Lilly was the receiver who didn’t start.
Defense: Epting started as a second rush LB instead of Michael Sewell at nickel.
*New Mexico’s captains were Aaron Jenkins, Alex Hart, Aaron Blackwell and D’Angelo Ross
*New Mexico lost the toss for the second straight week. Wisconsin deferred.
*Gabe Ortega carried the New Mexico flag onto the field.
TEAM NOTES:
*New Mexico scored on its opening drive for the second straight game.
*UNM went 4-for-4 on third downs on its opening drive, which took 7:38 off the clock and was 17 plays and 87 yards.
*When UNM forced a fumble and recovered, stopping a goal-to-goal drive, it was the first Lobo stop on a goal-to-go situation since September 2, 2017 when UNM intercepted a fourth-and-goal and Jake Rothschiller ran it back 91 yards against Abilene Christian.
*Wisconsin at No. 5 was the highest-ranked opponent for the Lobos since playing No. 3 TCU to close out the 2010 season.
*The attendance of 77,503 was the fifth-largest to ever see a Lobo football game. It was the largest since 99,051 watched UNM and Texas A&M in College Station on Nov. 11, 2017.
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
*Hart-Johnson’s touchdown was his fourth career TD catch.
*Marcus Hayes recorded a forced fumble and fumble recovery on the same play in the second quarter, both being the first of his career.
*Willie Hobdy forced a fumble on the final play of the half, his second force of the season.
*Evahelotu Tohi’s interception in the third quarter was the first of his career.
*Tevaka Tuioti left the game in the second quarter, and Sheriron Jones finished. Coltin Gerhart missed the game with a foot injury. True freshman Trae Hall was the emergency quarterback for UNM.
*Tyrone Owens surpassed Rocky Long and Jarrod Baxter to move into 13th place on the career rushing list.
*Elijah Lilly’s touchdown was his fourth career touchdown, and he now has two on offense and two on kickoff returns.
Postgame Bob Davie Quotes: No. 5 Wisconsin 45, New Mexico 14
Opening Statement:
“What a great opportunity to come up here to Madison, Wisconsin. To be able to experience this atmosphere in an impressive place with an impressive football team that we played against. Everybody saw what it was. I really felt offensively that we had a great rhythm early in the game. I thought honestly schematically there were some things that we could do. When our quarterback went out, I don’t know exactly what time it was in the second quarter, we didn’t get much done after that.”
“For the people who don’t follow us, we had a heck of a quarterback battle in camp between Colton Gerhart and Tevaka Tuioti. Colton Gerhart got hurt last week in our game against Incarnate Word so what ends up happening is Sheriron (Jones) is your third quarterback. Sheriron had a hamstring all through camp. He was a guy who just got in here this summer and didn’t practice a whole lot in summer camp because he had a hamstring (injury). So all of a sudden in a situation like this against a team like this, you don’t have quite the confidence, quite the rhythm, and that was apparent.”
“We couldn’t stop them running the football. We knew that was going to be an issue and I think most teams will have a hard time stopping them running the football. But the bottom line, it was 10-7 in the third quarter and we create the turnover and we have a chance. Then we turn the ball over three times in the second half. Defense got worn down. They kept continuing to pound us but then they took advantage of a couple of play-action passes when you’re running the ball so successfully.”
“I’d like to see what would’ve happened if Tevaka would’ve played the whole game, but that isn’t the way football goes. We had to play our absolute best. We had to get some breaks. We actually had a couple of those things happen but we just lost our rhythm offensively once the quarterback went out. Even though we made a couple plays, we turned the ball over three times in the second half.”
“I’m proud of our effort. I think this is a great experience for us. In a lot of ways our season starts next week quite honestly. If you look at Incarnate Word, our first game, most people would think we would beat them. If you look at Wisconsin, obviously most people would think we would lose to them. Now we start into the meat of our schedule. We’ve got a lot of concerns. Sheriron Jones will most likely be our quarterback next week, but at least we have a week here of practice with him to work on doing the things he can do.”
“I talked to Barry Alvarez before the game and talked about how you don’t develop an offensive line like they have overnight. That is a consistent recruiting effort, consistent development effort, and you don’t solve problems against their offensive line overnight. That’s impressive. That’s impressive the length they have, the size they have, and then they take advantage of it with the scheme.”
“We leave here disappointed because I know we could have played better but in the end we are who we are and they are who they are and it was neat to come up here and see what the Big Ten experience is. I don’t take this for granted. This is a heck of a setting, heck of an environment, heck of a football program we got to compete against.”