SAN DIEGO, Calif. — Ryan Davis made a one-handed catch in the end zone for the go-ahead score with 13:07 left, and Randolph Kpai led UNM’s best defensive effort of the year with 15 tackles, two PBUs, a sack, a TFL and a QB hurry as UNM allowed just 341 yards to San Diego State as the Lobos stayed alive for bowl eligibility with a 21-16 win over the Aztecs in a Friday night prime time contest at Snapdragon Stadium.
The Lobos improved to 4-6 and 3-3 in the Mountain West while San Diego State dropped to 3-6 and 2-2 in conference play. The win was UNM’s third road win of the season, giving UNM three away from home for the first time since winning three road games in 2014. The Lobos also now have three Mountain West wins, equaling the number of Mountain West wins over the previous three seasons combined (3-21).
The Lobo defense allowed just one touchdown despite 88 total plays against them, including 19 plays inside the red zone and 15 plays in an and-goal situation. UNM had a season-high tying eight TFLs and six pass breakups in allowing just 341 total yards and forcing five punts.
The winning score capped a nine play, 65-yard drive that was helped at the start by a face mask penalty on a tackle of Devon Dampier. Dampier converted a third-and-4 from the 30 with a 10-yard run, giving UNM its first play in the red zone of the game. After a short pass to Luke Wysong and another Dampier first down run, he hit Ryan Davis in the end zone. The pass was a little behind Davis but he snagged it with one hand and then secured it with both for the lead that UNM would never relinquish.
The Aztecs on their next drive twice converted third downs to move into UNM territory. After a 9-yard gain to give the Aztecs second-and-1 at the Lobo 35, UNM got a pair of big defensive plays. Drew Speech, playing his first defensive snaps of the season, broke up a pass in the end zone on second down, and then Noah Avinger dropped Cam Davis for a four-yard loss, forcing a punt.
UNM was backed up to its own 2-yard line, but UNM got three first downs to flip the field, and Aaron Rodriguez pinned the Aztecs at the 4-yard line. San Diego State got one first down but Kpai knocked down a pass, one of his two breakups on the day to force a punt, and UNM was able to run out the final 3:11 of the game.
Kpai was a monster, with 15 tackles, 10 of them solo. He had a hurry and a pass breakup on a hard hit on Danny O’Neill in the second half, and he earned a sack when he forced an intentional grounding with nine seconds left in the half to knock the Aztecs out of field goal range.
The Aztecs took their first lead with just over a minute left in the third quarter as Gabriel Plascencia finished off a long 16-play, 80-yard drive with a 28-yard field goal. After that long drive the Aztecs not only were leading in time of possession, nearly doubling UNM, but also in total plays with 73 to UNM’s 33.
Sanders led UNM in the opening half with two long touchdown runs, and UNM’s defense but didn’t really break in the half. Sanders opened UNM’s scoring with a 51-yard run, and then he followed that with a 68-yard touchdown. On the 51-yard run he broke a key tackle attempt by former Lobo Cody Moon to spring him, and on the 68-yard, he was virtually untouched.
Sanders’ first touchdown capped a 99-yard drive that took just four plays and 1:24 on the clock. UNM opened with a short pass to Sanders to get off the 1-yard line, and then after a first down Devon Dampier run, he hit Caleb Medford for 35 yards to midfield before Sanders finished it off from 51 yards out.
The Lobos never ran a play in the red zone in the first half, and San Diego State ran 15, but the Aztecs only got one touchdown, that a 5-yard Marquez Cooper catch. Otherwise, all the Aztecs could muster were a pair of Plascencia field goals, one from 22 yards and one from 31.