New Mexico Football Report

UNM 21   UNLV  14

On these rarest of days,  a glorious Saturday in November when both of New Mexico's FBS schools pulled out improbable victories, let us reflect on the young men who ultimately pay the price and suffer the slights. It was New Mexico's final home game of the year, Senior Day.  This group wraps up their careers at UNM having savored victory just seven times.  Not since the dark days of Mike Sheppard had  a graduating class departed with fewer wins.  

 These were the last of Rocky Long's recruits, young men who committed to a program that still showed flashes of promise.   To quote Mark Anderson of The Las Vegas Review-Journal: "The Rebels lost to perhaps the nation's worst major-college football team, falling 21-14 to New Mexico when Demarcus Rogers scored on a 2-yard touchdown run with 1:15 left."  

Strike that that Mark,  if we go by who beats who, then UNLV not UNM is the worst football team in the land.  That's a title The Lobos will gladly relinquish and one that The Rebels richly deserve. This game has been penciled in as a "possible win" for the Lobos since the season started.  So, it's hard to see how Anderson or anyone else at UNLV thought that a Lobo win wasn't possible.

I think the message is loud and clear:  "We may be terrible, but overlook us and we will beat you."  College football is  a fickle bedfellow, I still think that if The Lobos had found a way to get by Colorado St. in the season opener, the entire 2011 season would have gone a lot different.  A win over an equally bad team is still a win and having gone over a year without a victory, UNM celebrated as if it were a conference title. 

The Lobos opened with a bang, as B.R. Holbrook hit Deon Long for an 80 yd. td.  barely nine seconds into the game.  That got UNLV's attention, they came right back and tied the game on  Dionza Bradford's  45 yd. td.  Not to be out done, UNM used over 8 minutes on the clock to go 80 yds, capping that long drive with a 1 yd. td. run from Demarcus Rogers.

The Lobos who had scored just 10 first quarter points all season, could have built on their lead if not for a missed field goal by James Aho and a UNLV defensive stand that stopped Holbrook cold on a  4th. and goal from the 1 yd. line.  For  Aho it was his fifth consecutive miss. The once reliable kicker has not made a field goal since Mike Locksley's final game against Sam Houston St.

After the first quarter fireworks, The Lobos and Rebels both sputtered on offense.  UNLV did not get back on the scoreboard until early in the fourth quarter when a 4 yd. td. run by Tim Cornett pulled them even at 14-14.  This set up the final series of downs that saw the Lobos pull out their unlikely win.  

With UNLV Qb. Taylor Barnhill fighting for 1st. down yardage, Lobo Middle Linebacker Carmen Messina stripped the ball away and it was recovered by UNM's Jaymar Hutchinson. From that spot the Lobos drove 34 yds for the game winning touchdown by Demarcus Rogers. The Lobo defense slammed the door shut on The Rebels to seal the victor

 "I never felt like we were in jeopardy of losing the game," UNLV coach Bobby Hauck said. "I wasn't nervous about it until we fumbled at the end." Quoting Mark Anderson again: "This loss could go down with the Rebels' 41-16 defeat earlier this season to Southern Utah as one that is nearly impossible to explain."  I can explain for you Mr. Anderson, The UNLV Rebels suck and are the new bottom feeders in FBS football.  Damn! it feels good to say that about someone else for a change. 

NMSU 48  Fresno St. 45

The Aggies and Bulldogs had faced off 17 times previous to Saturday, with Fresno St. winning all of them, usually in convincing fashion.  However, the red faced rummies of the San Joaquin valley will have to wait awhile for win #18, for this time it was NMSU that came out victorious.  In a game where no lead was safe and very little defense was played, The Aggies came out on top 48-45.  

Pat Hill is no slouch and DeWayne Walker is no Pat Hill, but this line from the Fresno Bee's report on the game is unwarranted.  "The Fresno State Bulldogs may have hit the lowest of lows on Saturday when they lost 48-45 to the New Mexico State Aggies."  This game came down to the most basic of all principals, if you score more points than your opponent, then you win every time.

Losing to the Aggies went down like a big ol' shitburger in Fresno, after all it was just two years ago that The Bulldogs were being described as BCS bowl busters. Now, the fickle gods of football have brought down the thunder and it's the 'Dogs getting busted.  Fresno St. is leaving the WAC for the Mountain West, so the bad taste will linger without any shot of redemption next year.

NMSU scored first with Matt Christian connecting with Kenny Turner for a 29 yd. td. The Bulldogs responded with a touchdown from Robbie Rouse to tie it at 7-7. Kenny Turner added another touchdown to give The Aggies a 14-7 lead before Fresno St. closed to 14-10 with a field goal.  Then things really got going, NMSU's Taveon Rogers returned Fresno's ensuing kickoff 99 yds. for a touchdown, though the Aggies missed the extra point.  Up 20-10 the Aggies couldn't keep The Bulldogs out of the end zone as Rouse scored again, this time from 20 yds. out.  The Aggies kicked a successful field goal to go in at the half up 23-17.

Fresno St. wasted no time in the second half as Jalen Saunders scored from 15 yds. out to give them their first lead of the game, 24-23.  The Aggie offense stalled and Derek Carr came right back with a 59 yd. td. strike to Saunders, Fresno was rolling 31-23.  Normally this is when the Aggies start to fold it up, but instead Kenny Turner scored his third touchdown, the Aggies added a  two point conversion to tie the game at 31-31. However, it only took Carr a few seconds to connect with Saunders again for a 69 yd. touchdown pass, pulling Fresno back up 38-31. 

The Fresno St. coaching staff will remember Kenny Turner for a long time to come. Turner  scored his fourth touchdown of the game, to tie the game at 38-38. The Aggies scored on a field goal early in the fourth quarter to retake the lead  41-38.  Fresno St. pulled back in front 45-41, on a touchdown by Robbie Rouse.  NMSU got the ball back with three minutes left to play,  Matt Christian then found Taveon Rogers for a 37 yd. touchdown pass, that would prove to be the game winner.  Fresno St. got the ball back for one last try, but three dropped passes doomed their effort.