LOBO FOOTBALL RECAP
Flashback: The New Mexico Lobos make a few plays on both sides of the ball, but UNM mistakes and San Diego State’s physical superiority lead to a 35-10 loss to the Aztecs in the finale of a disappointing and disturbing UNM season on Friday.
What went right: The Lobos (3-9 overall, 1-7 in Mountain West Conference games) played well in stretches. They outscored and outgained the Aztecs in the third quarter, scoring on a field goal set up by a Patrick Reed fumble recovery and a 62-yard Tevaka Tuioti-to-Jay Griffin IV pass. The defense sacked SDSU’s Christian Chapman three times and forced a second-quarter Jordan Flack interception when nose tackle Aaron Blackwell hit Chapman as he threw.
What went wrong: San Diego State star running back Rashaad Penny rushed for 203 yards, two touchdowns and runs of 41 and 51 yards, but he’s done that to a lot of teams. More important, the Lobos failed too many times to take advantage of opportunities. After Flack’s interception, setting UNM up with a first down at the SDSU 46, the Lobos went threeand-out and punted. Later in the second quarter, UNM appeared to have a defensive stop while trailing just 7-0 — but a personal foul penalty on a late hit out of bounds gave the Aztecs a first down at the SDSU 20. From there, SDSU drove for a touchdown scored with 54 seconds left in the first half. On the sixth play of the fourth quarter, senior kicker Jason Sanders missed a 35-yard yard field goal attempt that would have cut SDSU’s lead to eight points. Later in the quarter, UNM gave up a touchdown pass of 47 yards and a touchdown run of 60 yards.
Injury report: No injuries that would linger until next September were reported or observed.
Quoting Davie: “What do we have that we can do consistently? Around here, for years, we knew we could line up and run it consistently. Well, now the run game doesn’t work, so we’re gonna go to Tevaka and throw it around and kind of get excited about that, but in the end it’s not enough to do anything.”
Next Up: The Lobos open the 2018 season at home against Incarnate Word, an NCAA Football Championship Subdivision team from San Antonio, Texas. The Cardinals were 1-10 this season. The following Saturday, the Lobos play at Wisconsin (12-0 this year).