Loss to Aztecs had its highlights
New Mexico’s football team is not one that is in disarray. Just ask Lobos coach Bob Davie.
Sure they are on a four-game losing streak, the latest a setback that saw them allow 17 unanswered points in a 31-23 loss to San Diego State Saturday night.
There was turmoil off the field as well, as UNM lost Evahelotu Tohi, its leading tackler, because he was suspended for being involved in an altercation with teammate David Brown at a party last week, accord-
ing to a police report.
As if that wasn’t enough, the Lobos also played without free safety Marcus Hayes, who is also the team’s punt returner.
The Lobos know that a victory will solve a lot of their problems or at least alleviate the pressure.
Tohi’s suspension meant the loss of a key player, but that’s all it meant, Davie said.
“I don’t think that was something that rocked the foundation enough to cause a problem (against SDSU) other than one good player didn’t play,” Davie said after the loss to the Aztecs.
Davie said his team, which dropped to 3-6, 1-4 in the Mountain West Conference, needs to play perfectly to win.
He saw improvements against the Aztecs (7-2, 4-1), but the Lobos made too many mistakes, especially late in the fourth quarter.
“We are a team in a new offensive system, playing with different quarterbacks,” said Davie, who went with his third starting quarterback of the season in Coltin Gerhart. “We’re a team that lost really good defensive players — Alex Hart, Trent Sellers and now Evah Tohi, and Marcus Hayes. Our two best playmakers were out (against SDSU).”
WHAT WENT RIGHT: Despite being without Tohi and Hayes, the UNM defense came up with some big plays, including three fumble recoveries that led to 16 points.
Adebayo Soremekun, the Lobos’ 6-foot-2, 298-pound defensive lineman, scooped up two fumbles. He took back his first recovery for a 44-yard touchdown that gave UNM a 7-0 lead.
Rhashaun Epting also had a fumble recovery. Alexander “Mo” Vainikolo, D’Angelo Ross and Stanley Barnwell Jr. forced fumbles. Soremekun, Vainikolo and Erin Austin added one sack each.
On offense, Gerhart did deliver touchdown passes to Anselem Umeh and Delane Hart-Johnson, who made a sensational onehanded grab.
At running back, redshirt freshman Daevon Vigilant ran hard in place of Tyrone Owens, who was nursing pain in his knee. Vigilant ran for 45 yards on 11 carries.
WHAT WENT WRONG: The Lobos gave up 17 unanswered points, including a 50-yard touchdown run by tailback Juwan Washington, who was making his return after missing six weeks because of a broken clavicle.
Davie said the defense went in a run blitz on Washington’s TD run. Washington took a pitch and got to the outside where no one could catch him.
The Lobos were down 24-23 with just under 3 minutes remaining when Gerhart threw an interception on first down.
Gerhart overthrew his receiver and the quarterback said there was miscommunication because he thought the receiver was running a deeper route.
NOTABLE: Air Force dropped to 4-6 after a 17-14 loss to Army on Saturday. Air Force gained national attention because its falcon
Aurora was injured during a prank before the annual rivarly game. The falcon has since recovered.
The Lobos will play at Air Force on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. The Falcons are on a twogame losing streak and 1-4 in the MWC
Utah State (8-1) moved up four spots in the Associated Press Top 25 to No. 14, and Fresno State (8-1) also moved up four sports to No. 16.
HE SAID IT: “I’m just glad the lights came on. I’m serious. We get to the stadium two hours before the game and there are no lights on in the stadium. I’m just glad we had lights to play the game. Rocky and I were talking about maybe going over there to Milne Stadium and playing. Or, we were just going to play out here on the grass. Put some bleachers out there for the people that were here. Probably could’ve got them out there on a couple of bleachers. So, I’m just glad we got the lights on.” — UNM coach Bob Davie