EL PASO, Texas — UTEP used a big third quarter to wrest control, and ultimately the game as New Mexico’s offense struggled in the second half as UTEP won 17-13 at the Sun Bowl in El Paso. The Lobos dropped to 2-2 and now return home to host Air Force in UNM’s Mountain West opener. Game time is at 4:30 pm on FS2.
The Lobos played the game without six of its top eight receivers due to a positive COVID test and contract tracing within the program, and while UNM moved the ball in the first half, the Lobos couldn’t get anything going offensively in the second half.
UTEP took the lead with a third quarter that saw the Miners outgain UNM 178-9 and outscore the Lobos 14-0. The Miners took the opening kickoff and it looked like they would be stopped when Joey Noble sacks Gavin Hardison for a 9-yard loss to force a third-and-21, but Hardison found Jacob Cowing for 34 yards. UTEP punched it in four plays later when Deion Hankins scored from four yards out.
After a punt by UNM, UTEP scored again when Cowing took advantage of a Lobo defender running into a different receiver, freeing him up for a 55-yard touchdown.
After a field goal with 2:20 left made it a 20-13 game, UNM got one last drive to try to tie things up. UNM started at its own 25 and quickly faced a fourth-and-nine, but Terry Wilson hit Connor Witthoft for 18 yards and a first down. He hit Witthoft against to get into UTEP territory but faced a fourth-and-one. On that Bobby Cole rushed up the middle for 13 yards to convert and get UNM to the 34, but UNM couldn’t convert from there. A pair of incompletions and a scramble left UNM in another fourth down, and this time Wilson’s pass in the end zone to Luke Wysong was a touch too long.
The Lobos picked up the only touchdown of the first half when Wilson finished off an 8-play 67-yard drive with a tough 12-yard touchdown run. The drive was highlighted by a third-and-10 conversion to Jace Taylor which went for 17 yards. It was the sophomore’s first career catch.
UNM had a chance to expound on that lead on the next drive, but on a fourth-and-2 from the 14-yard line, Wilson kept and ran right, but he could only get one yard, not the needed two. UTEP turned that into its first points when Gavin Baechle hit a 33-yard field goal.
UNM answered with a 43-yard field goal from Andrew Shelley, and it looked like the half would end at 10-3, but true freshman Ronald Wilson picked off Gavin Hardison with 49 seconds left and UNM took over at its own 39-yard line. Terry Wilson was able to drive UNM all the way to the UTEP 19-yard line, where Andrew Shelley hit a 36-yard field goal to give UNM a 13-3 lead at the break. However, Wilson went from that drive until the fourth quarter without a completion, missing 11 straight helping UTEP score 17 unanswered in the second half.