‘Just not enough to win,’ says Davie after Lobos’ loss to Wyoming
LARAMIE, Wyo. — The limitations on both sides of the ball and the razorthin margin of error are real, tangible things for the University of New Mexico football team.
Both were on display in a 23-10 loss to Wyoming on Saturday.
The Lobos (2-5 overall, 0-3 Mountain West) converted on third down just three times and gave up 259 yards on the ground, dropping their fourth straight game and falling further into the cellar in the MWC’s Mountain Division. They were held off the scoreboard until the fourth quarter, switching quarterbacks along the way.
“Just not enough, just not enough to win,” UNM head coach Bob Davie said on his postgame radio appearance on KKOB-AM. “Back to margin of error, it’s not very high.”
Wyoming’s Sean Chambers passed for a touchdown and ran for another. Xazavian Valladay added 187 yards rushing and a touchdown. Chambers scored from the 1 as the first quarter ended to spot the Cowboys (5-2, 2-1) a lead they would never relinquish.
Valladay was the workhorse, pounding out 187 yards on 33 carries. His 3-yard touchdown run staking Wyoming to a 13-0 lead in the third quarter after the point-after kick failed.
Chambers passed to Josh Hartman for a 15-yard score and Cooper Rothke added a 36-yard field goal, both in the fourth quarter. Chambers passed 9 of 15 for 86 yards.
Valladay and Chambers each rushed for more than 100 yards, Chambers gaining 117.
Davie said the Cowboys simply wore down his defense, a unit that had been one of the nation’s worst at defending the pass but Saturday had trouble stopping the run.
“They kind of do what they do, Wyoming,” Davie said. “You’re not going to score a lot of points against them, they’re going to run the ball, they’re going to let the quarterback take off and run.”
The Lobos’ only scoring came during a 9-minute window in the fourth quarter when kicker Andrew Shelley hit a 25-yard chipshot and Aaron Molina caught a 21-yard touchdown pass from Tevaka Tuioti with 6:31 to go.
Tuioti, who declined to enter last week’s loss to Colorado State, came off the bench this time and passed for 60 yards in relief of Sheriron Jones. Jones completed 9 of 17 passes for 143 yards but was never able to get the offense moving with any consistency.
“We went back and forth whether to make the switch at quarterback at the end of the first half,” Davie said. “We wanted to give Sheriron Jones a series or two because we wanted to throw it more in the second half. Wyoming was giving us some one on ones, we did some good things but Sheriron missed a couple of throws as well. It was part of the plan, it was just when and again Tevaka gave us a spark. It’s easier to give you a spark when you are down.”
The Cowboys controlled the game by keeping their offense on the field. They converted 11 of 18 attempts on third down.
“We were a little bit on our heels defensively and we were able to stay on the field longer and had a couple of long, time consuming drives,” said Wyoming head coach Craig Bohl.
The Lobos got 86 yards on the ground from running back Ahmari Davis. Bryson Carroll had 55 but his first-quarter fumble set up a short 36-yard drive ending in the first touchdown of the game.
NOTES
UNM will host Hawaii next Saturday afternoon in its homecoming game. … The Lobos are now 0-4 on the road, having dropped seven straight away from Dreamstyle Stadium. … The Lobos’ first seven drives on Saturday ended like this: punt-fumble-punt-punt-halftime-failed fourth down-punt. They scored on two of their final three possessions.