UNM’s plan nearly works in loss to Aztecs

Be clean, lean, pristine. Mistakes? Let the other guy make ’em. And, hey, it almost worked. But for a blocked point-after and a third-down catch overturned upon further review, the New Mexico Lobos might have had a shocking and redemptive upset of San Diego State.

Instead, the night belonged to the Aztecs, 31-23.

And the Lobos are 3-6, staring once again at the possibility of 3-9.

Will what almost worked for UNM Saturday against SDSU work against any of the three teams left on the schedule? Unknown.

First, a look back. The Lobos did not actually beat themselves in lopsided losses to Fresno State and Utah State the previous two weeks. Fresno State and Utah State did the beating, and did so to a fare-thee-well

Yet, in losing badly to superior teams that needed no help, the Lobos helped. A lot.

Then, Saturday at Dreamstyle Stadium, came the San Diego State Aztecs, another of the Mountain West Conference’s elite. Though SDSU hasn’t been playing at the level of a Utah State or a Fresno State, they’re another team that needs no help.

The question: Could the Lobos cancel the comedy of errors that hurt them so badly the previous two weeks and make a game of it against the Aztecs?

After three quarters that bordered on the bizarre, the answer was yes. In fact, it was SDSU that made the mistakes and it was the Lobos who capitalized.

Two Aztec fumbles, both forced by the UNM defense, led to 10 New Mexico points. That UNM defense held SDSU to a single touchdown.

Yet, was this the kind of football that would result in an upset victory, bring disaffected fans back to Dreamstyle and quiet the calls for coach Bob Davie’s ouster? The Lobos managed 44 yards total offense, a minus-8 yards passing, in the half. The Aztecs ran 50 plays from scrimmage, the Lobos 23.

In the third quarter, San Diego State took a 14-10 lead on a 34-yard Juwan Washington run. But yet another Aztec fumble, this one recovered by UNM linebacker Rashaun Epting, led to a 12-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Coltin Gerhart to wide receiver Anselem Umeh.

Then, wow. After a 3-and-out forced by the UNM defense, a real, actual sustained drive led to a spectacular touchdown catch by Delane Hart-Johnson and a 23-14 New Mexico lead.

But then, the Aztecs abandoned their run game and scored a quick touchdown through the air. And after an apparent diving, first-down catch by Hart-Johnson was overturned, SDSU moved back ahead with a 32-yard John Baron II field goal.

A Gerhart interception, the Lobos’ only turnover of the game, and a 50-yard Juwan Washington run sealed UNM’s doom. The post-mortem is not that promising. In relief against Utah State, though against mostly Aggies backups, Gerhart had run offensive coordinator Calvin Magee’s scheme the way it is supposed to be run. Against the Aztecs, the two touchdown throws notwithstanding, he did not.

Defensively, for most of the night, SDSU’s insistence on running the ball worked in the Lobos’ favor. Even so, the Aztecs scored on runs of 34 and 50 yards.

As of this morning, looking ahead, the Lobos’ chances of improving on last year’s 3-9 record look problematic at best. Boise State is another of the MWC elite. Air Force and Wyoming don’t look nearly as vulnerable as they did halfway through the season.

So, what’s an athletic director to do? New Mexico AD Eddie Nunez has angry fans demanding a coaching change. He knows both the perception and reality created by paying off Davie’s buyout would be toxic, give the administration’s decision to cut programs — including men’s soccer, perhaps the athletic department’s highestperforming sport of recent years.

For some 57 minutes, Saturday’s game looked to be, if not an antidote, at least a panacea.

Then, reality set in.