TUCSON, Ariz. — No. 21 Arizona scored two touchdowns in the opening 2:34 of the second half to give itself some breathing room and New Mexico couldn’t ever quite close the gap as the Wildcats outlasted the Lobos 61-39 at Arizona Stadium.  The loss dropped UNM to 0-2 on the year while Arizona started 1-0.

The loss spoiled a brilliant offensive day for UNM as Devon Dampier and Luke Wysong both had career days, but there was no stopping Terairoa McMillan, who had 10 catches for an Arizona record 304 yards and four touchdowns.  The 304 yards were the most ever allowed by UNM, besting the 281 by Marshall Sperbeck of Boise State, who did that on 14 catches on November 14, 2015 in UNM’s 31-24 win over the Broncos.

The Lobos went toe-to-toe with the Wildcats in the first half in what was a back-and-forth affair in the opening 30 minutes.  Arizona scored on a 69-yard pass from Fafita to McMillan in what was the start of a career-day for him.  However, UNM had an answer as Dampier led the Lobos right down the field, and two highlight reel catches by Luke Wysong, the last from 16 yards out tied the game at 7-7.

After Arizona responded with another Fifita to McMillan scoring strike, this from 17 yards, UNM again answered with Naquari Rogers scoring his first UNM touchdown on a short pass from Dampier.  That made it 14-14 at the break.  After the teams traded field goals at the start of the third, UNM got a stop when Noa Pola-Gates, who played terrific with two pass breakups, forced a tipped pass that Christian Ellis picked off.  That led to a Dampier 13 yard touchdown run and a 24-17.

That lead was short-lived as Fifita had time and hit a crossing McMillan for his third touchdown of the half, this time going for a 78-yard catch and run for a 24-24 tie.  A late 46-yard field goal by Tyler Loop gave the ’Cats a 27-24 lead at the break. The Wildcats opened the second half with the ball and on a third-and-1 from midfield, Quali Conley raced 51 yards for a touchdown and a 34-24 lead.  The back-breaker came when a Dampier pass went off the hands of a Lobo receiver and into the waiting arms of Treydan Stukes.  Arizona took that interception and turned it into six when McMillan caught his fourth TD on the next pass, this from 40 yards out for a 41-24 lead.

Dampier led UNM right back and got UNM within 10 with some nifty work.  He hit Nic Trujillo to move the sticks on third down, and then eventually scored his second rushing touchdown when he faked a pitch and scored from seven yards out.

After another Conley TD made it 48-31, UNM was forced to punt, but Aaron Rodriguez’ punt hit a Wildcat blocker and Hyrum Hatch, the long snapper, recovered for UNM.  The Lobos couldn’t capitalize on the short field and Conley eventually added his third TD to make it 55-31.

The Lobos stayed in the game with a 13-play, 75-yard touchdown drive with Dampier accounting for a fifth touchdown on the night, hitting Caleb Medford for a 9-yard score.  UNM went for two and Dampier flipped the ball to Eli Sanders for a deuce and UNM was within two scores at 55-41.  The Lobos didn’t recover the onside kick and Arizona tacked on a late TD to account for the 61-39 final.

Postgame Notes

This was the 68th meeting between the two teams.

Arizona leads the series 45-20-3

Arizona leads the series 22-9-2 in Albuquerque

Arizona leads the series 23-11-3 in Tucson

Arizona has won two straight in the series, one straight in Tucson

Starting lineup changes for UNM from published two-deep

Offense: No changes on offense

Defense: Moso Tuitle started at end for Okiki Olorunfunmi

*New Mexico’s captains were Gabe Lopez, Luke Wysong, Richard Pearce and Noah Avinger.

*New Mexico’s Michael Buckley carried the state flag of New Mexico onto the field and Charles Steinkamp carried the United States flag.

*New Mexico lost the toss and Arizona deferred. Arizona elected to kickoff and defend the east goal.

TEAM NOTES:

*The Lobos wore their home red uniforms due to a shipping issue with a few of the away white jerseys. UNM Director of Equipment drove from Tucson to Phoenix to pick up the jerseys near midnight on Friday night.

*New Mexico’s 472 yards of total offense against Arizona was more than the total offense in the last three games against Autonomous 4 schools, as UNM has 420 yards total in three games against Texas A&M (2021), LSU (2022) and A&M again (2023).

*After recording just four TFLs against Montana State, the Lobos had four in the first half against No. 21 Arizona.

*The Lobos cashed in an interception for a touchdown, meaning UNM has scored a touchdown on its first three turnovers this year.  Last year for the season UNM scored 28 points off turnovers.

*UNM’s 627 yards allowed was the 24^th-most yards allowed in school history and the most since allowing 633 against LSU in 2022.

*The 100 combined points was the eighth-most in school history.  It was the most since a 55-52 win by UNM over New Mexico State on September 21, 2019

*UNM’s 29 first downs were tied for the 18-th most in school history.

INDIVIDUAL NOTES:

*Aaron Rodriguez’ first punt of the game was 54 yards and it was downed at the 2-yard line.

*The 54-yard field goal for Arizona’s Tyler Loop was the longest against UNM since October 28, 2023 when Brandon Talton of Nevada hit a 52-yarder.

*Luke Wysong caught five passes for 94 yards in the opening quarter, one off his career-high for a game of 95, set last week.  He ended with 129 yards on a career-best eighth receptions.

*One week after recording his first career fumble recovery last week, Christian Ellis dove and recorded an interception on a tipped pass, his first career pick.

*The interception thrown by Devon Dampier at the end of the first half was the first of his career and it came in game 11 and it ended a streak of 112 straight pass attempts to start his career without an interception.

*Dampier’s 260 yards were a career-high.  His previous best was 200 yards in his lone start as a true freshman in 2023 at Boise State, his 24 completions and 42 attempts were also career-highs.

*The 42 passing attempts by Dampier were the most by a Lobo quarterback since 9/11/2010 when B.R. Holbrook threw 50 passes against Texas Tech.

*Dampier threw for 260 and ran for 130 yards, and is was the seventh time in UNM history a quarterback had a 200-yard passing, 100-yard rushing game.  It was the first since Kole McKamey rushed for 103 and threw for 218 against BYU on October 8, 2005, when current head coach Bronco Mendenhall was in his first year as head coach of BYU.  It was the first 100/100 game since Sheriron Jones had 104 rushing and 127 throwing against San Jose State on October 4, 2019.

*The 304 receiving yards by McMillan for Arizona were the most ever against UNM, and the four touchdown catches tied the record for most allowed by UNM, tying Kirk Pendleton (BYU, 1983) and Roger Garidel (Utah, 1971).