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New Mexico holds off UTSA to win second bowl since 1961
To beat Texas-San Antonio in the New Mexico Bowl, New Mexico stuck to its usual formula. It ran, and ran some more.
In a 23-20 win, the Lobos, who led the nation in rushing offense, put up 219 yards on the ground and threw the ball just six times compared to 52 rushing attempts. The Lobos led for much of the game, but when UTSA cut the Lobos’ lead to 16-13 early in the fourth, UNM put together a 12-play, 75-yard scoring drive that took 7:21 off the clock to put the game out of reach and seal the program’s second bowl win since 1961.
Beyond being played in its home stadium, New Mexico is familiar with the New Mexico Bowl. Saturday’s game was the program’s fourth bowl appearance since 2006 — all in the New Mexico Bowl. The Lobos fell to Arizona last year and in 2006, but beat Nevada in 2007. This time around, UNM won to give Bob Davie his first bowl win in 10 seasons as a head coach — five at Notre Dame and five at New Mexico.
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UTSA, playing in its first-ever bowl game in just its sixth season of college football, jumped out to an early 3-0 lead on the game’s first drive. That would be the only lead for the Roadrunners. After the teams traded punts, the Lobos took a 7-3 on a one-yard score by Richard McQuarley.
The teams each notched a field goal in the second quarter, and New Mexico went into the break up 10-6.
The Lobos increased the lead to 16-6 (extra point blocked) on a 10-yard touchdown run by Teriyon Gipson early in the third. The score stayed 16-6 until UTSA finally broke through early in the fourth. Facing a fourth-and-15 play from New Mexico’s 35-yard line, UTSA quarterback Dalton Sturm delivered a 19-yard strike to Brady Jones for a first down. Two plays later, Sturm hit Trevor Stevens for a 16-yard score, cutting the deficit to 16-13.
Things looked like they could swing in UTSA’s favor when the Lobos regained possession. A first down reverse play was sniffed out for a big loss. However, UNM, out of its usual shotgun triple option look, went to the air and Lamar Jordan connected with Dameon Gamblin for a 34-yard gain.
It was back to the ground attack from then on out, and McQuarley punched it in for his second touchdown of the game 10 plays later to effectively seal the win.
UTSA was able to score with under 30 seconds remaining, but the Lobos recovered the onside kick to win the game and finish the year with a 9-4 record. It’s only the fifth time in program history New Mexico has reached the nine-win mark.
For the Roadrunners, it’s a bit of a disappointing end to a solid season in year one under Frank Wilson. Still, UTSA won a combined seven games over the previous two seasons, so going 6-7 shows the program is on the right track.
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Sam Cooper is a writer for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!
