New Mexico Football Report

There's still a three way tie at the top of the Mountain West Conference standings. Boise St., Fresno St. & San Diego St. head into the final week  tied at  6-1.   These three schools have all played each other splitting their games in a fashion that forces a team outside the top three to break the log jam.  Boise St. beat Fresno St. but lost to San Diego St., Fresno St. beat San Diego St. but lost to Boise St. and of course San Diego St. beat Boise St. but lost to Fresno St.

Here's the scenario for the final week of action, Boise St. plays at Nevada, San Diego St.. plays at Wyoming and  Fresno St. plays host to Air Force.  Nevada as you will read further down the page struggled with New Mexico, needing a late fumble recovery to secure a victory that snapped a three game losing streak.  Nevada was my pre-season pick to win the conference, but they fell off the pace once league play began.

In 2010, Nevada stunned  No. 11 Boise State 34-31, costing the Broncos a possible shot at the BCS title, and to win another share of the WAC Title.  Nevada is not right and their chances of a repeat upset of Boise St. are slim.   Wyoming on the other hand has won three in a row and are back on track, after struggling most of the season. History (SDSU has lost three of its last four vs. Wyo) and the fact that they'll play in frigid Laramie, makes Wyoming an easy pick as the spoiler.

Air Force has one road win this year and that was a controversial victory at Wyoming. A game best remembered because Air Force probably cheated and Dave Christensen set a new standard for post game rants.  A Fresno St. win would leave both Boise St. and Fresno St. at 7-1, with the tie breaker going to the Broncos. Here's my other scenario, all three front runners lose their games and the season then ends in a four way tie with Boise St, Fresno St., San Diego St. & Air Force all finishing at 6-2.

The only way to break a tie like that is with a steel cage death match.

UNM Lobos   24                    Univ. of Nevada Wolfpack   31

Did you know there's controversy associated with the U. of Nevada's name?  The school once competed as the Univ. of Nevada-Reno, until it was decided that as the state's oldest college it should be designated as the flagship school for Nevada's university system. Just as UC- Berkeley is called California or Cal, and the Univ. of Michigan is known as Michigan...  Nevada-Reno became Nevada. 

When the game is in Reno, they're  known as Nevada... a title that applies only in athletics, otherwise the school is designated as the Univ. of Nevada at Reno.  When they play UNLV in Las Vegas they're known as UNR.  Although, when Nevada & UNLV played earlier this year, the scoreboard simply read Rebels as the home team and Pack as the visiting team.  This matters in Nevada because the schools hate each other.

This being Nevada's first year in the MWC, UNM & UNR don't have much history. They are however very similar,  same mascot (Nevada's wolf looks like a javelina, UNM's looks like a hyena) both have that flagship thing going and both run the crap out of the ball. Nevada is what UNM was under Rocky Long, a scrappy squad capable of beating anyone on any given Saturday. 

The Lobos lost their fifth straight game and for the fourth time dropped a conference game by seven points or fewer.  UNM hung tough, played touch, made some tough mistakes and watched another winnable game slip away. The Lobos had leads of 7-0 and 14-7 before Nevada behind Qb. Cody Fajardo roared back. The Nevada Wolfpack took a 21-17 lead into the break, adding a field goal early in the third quarter to go up 24-17. 

UNM pulled even at  24-24 on Jhurell Pressley's two yard scoring run for what would be the Lobos final trip into the end zone.  UNR retook the lead when Fajardo connected with Brandon Wimberly on a short pass for the Wolfpack's go ahead and ultimately winning touchdown, 31-24. As the clock ticked down, New Mexico's defense stepped up to hand the Lobos an unexpected opportunity to tie the game.  

Dallas Bollema intercepted Fajardo's pass and returned it 37 yards to the UNR 14 yard line with 5:35 left in the game.  With a touchdown within reach, the Lobo offense stalled. On third and  seven, UNM Qb. Cole Gautsche and Rb. Crusoe Gongbay misfired on the hand off and the resulting fumble was recovered by Nevada. "Cole is trying to pull it (back). Crusoe is trying to keep it," said Coach Davie. 

Though the weight fell on Gongbay, other factors contributed to the loss. UNM did not complete a single forward pass and converted  just 2 of 11 third downs. UNM's lack of a passing game in effect telegraphed their every move on offense, “Everybody wants us to throw a little more, probably,” Coach Davie said “That’s not really an option.” Which tells me that UNM has no confidence in So. Luke McCown whatsoever.

UNM finished with 352 yards rushing, while Nevada had 358. Kasey Carrier carried 18 times for 145 yards, but he wasn't the best rusher on this day, Cody Fajardo (who as a Freshman in 2011 passed for 203 yards and ran in two td's as Nevada waltzed past the Lobos, 49-7) ran 20 times for 186 yards.  Stefphon Jefferson added 128 yards on 23 carries for the Pack.  For UNM Cole Gautsche tacked on 72 yds. on 15 carries.

 Lamaar Thomas had 65 on three carries out of the wildcat formation (that's an amazing 31.5 yards per carry) Crusoe Gongbay picked up a respectable 61 yards on 9 carries.  The Lobos rushed for 352 yards, Nevada tallied 358 rushing yards. The Wolf Pack added 133 passing yards and UNM had no yards passing and no completions. Gautsche and UNM were 0-for-2 on the day. Two attempts, zero completions, zero passing yards... nada, zilch, bumpkiss, dick, diddly-squat, fuck all, jack shit, jack squat, nunya, shit, zip, zippo. 

Nevada had 22 first downs to UNM's 14. Nevada totaled 491 yards in offense  to UNM's  352. The time of possession battle was amazingly close, when you consider that UNM couldn't convert thirds downs, 30:20 for UNM and 29:40 for Nevada. UNM fell to 4-8 on the season and 1-6 in conference play. Nevada improved to 7-4 and 4-3, and likely earned an invite to the New Mexico Bowl on Dec. 15. The Lobos finish the season next Saturday at Colorado State.

Having accumulated 1,410 yards rushing, Kasey Carrier needs just 41 yards to break DonTrell Moore's single season mark.   How far have the Lobos come this year? As I noted above, last season Nevada rolled the Lobos 49-7. The Wolfpack (the Nevada variety) has had its woes this year, I had them picked as the favorite to challenge Boise St. for the MWC crown. UNM has improved by leaps and bounds, even as the conference record shows otherwise. 17,290 attended the game (a season low) they're the fans that should be commended and the ones that stayed at home.... we'll see you next season when the Lobos start winning.