8th straight loss
Lobos fall to 2-9 with loss to Air Force
The University of New Mexico’s eighth straight football loss on Saturday could be seen as a snapshot of its season.
The Lobos began their game against Air Force with such promise, yet ended it in nightmarish fashion and with a 44-22 loss.
The second half for UNM was brutal.
UNM lost its starting quarterback, Tevaka Tuioti, to a hamstring injury in the third quarter. The Falcons achieved rare passing feats, numbers that appeared just as silly as the Lobos’ pass coverage.
UNM’s announced attendance was 13,844 at Dreamstyle Stadium, but appeared to be closer to 6,000 and less than half of that by the end of the third quarter. It was telling tale for a football team that fell to 2-9, 0-7 in the Mountain West Conference.
UNM coach Bob Davie said it is fair to say that the Lobos have that feeling of ‘let’s just get the season over with.’
“There’s not a guy involved in this all the way down to players, trainers, coaches, all of us, that doesn’t look at that finish line,” said Davie, whose team finishes the season against Utah State at Dreamstyle Stadium next week. “With that said, we will finish this thing off the right way, with class, with pride, and some grit to us. I don’t even blink about that. It’s hard to say, I wish we had five games right now. I don’t think anybody would say that.”
Saturday was UNM’s first home game since the unexpect
ed death of 21-year-old defensive lineman Nahje Flowers on Nov. 5. A moment of silence took place for him before the game. The game against Air Force was originally scheduled for Nov. 9, but was moved to Saturday due to Flowers’ death, which Albuquerque police determined to be by suicide.
Davie was concerned about his team’s lack of depth heading into the game against Air Force (9-2, 6-1).
He said UNM was down to 57 scholarship players available for the game from the 83 who started the season. The Lobos were without their top two running backs, Ahmari Davis and Bryson Carroll.
Davie was also worried Air Force would exploit the Lobos’ weaknesses in pass coverage even though it is a triple-option team. The Falcons did.
Air Force quarterback Donald Hammond III threw for a careerhigh 327 yards and four touchdowns on 9-of-10 passing. It was Air Force’s most passing yards since 1976. Hammond became the Falcons’ first 300-yard passer since 1989.
He hit but two pass-catchers, Geraud Sanders (five catches, 156 yards, 2 TDs) and Benjamin Waters (four catches, 171 yards, 2 TDs).
As for UNM’s quarterback situation, it became more challenging in a season mired in adversity. The Lobos lost Brandt Hughes to a shoulder injury in the season opener. Sheriron Jones was indefinitely suspended because of an accusation of indecent exposure. He was removed from the team a couple of days after UNM’s 23-10 loss to Wyoming on Nov. 19.
Tuioti rushed for 79 yards, including a career-long run of 48 yards. He suffered the hamstring injury at the end of an 8-yard run on the Falcons’ sideline.
Trae Hall threw his first career touchdown pass on his first pass attempt, a 13-yard touchdown to Jordan Kress to cut Air Force’s lead to 21-16 with 5:24 left in the third quarter.
But the Falcons scored 23 straight points, beginning with Milton Bugg’s two-point PAT return after Andrew Shelley’s kick was blocked, and including three touchdown passes from Hammond.
Davie called it “scary down the stretch,” with regard to UNM’s quarterback situation, as there really wasn’t a backup for Hall.
Carroll had been the No. 3 QB, but he was out with an ankle injury. Davie said he will get walk-on quarterback Connor Genal ready as Hall’s backup against Utah State.