After a shaky start, New Mexico’s defense shut down NMSU in the second half, propelling the Lobos to a 38-29 victory.
Larry Rose III was on pace for a career night. The Aggies running back showcased his big play ability in the first half on three separate touchdown runs of over 50 yards.
“I have to give the credit to the O-line up front: All I had to do was run straight,” Rose III said. “They opened holes up, and I just ran. I give all the credit to them. The first half was fun, it was amazing.”
Rose III made his first big run of the day on a third-and-long play, while the Lobos were in pass coverage defense.
“We were in a pass coverage called a bracket, we’re playing man, and all of a sudden he takes that thing and breaks it on us,” UNM head coach Bob Davie said. “I was not surprised, but I was impressed with how fast he is.”
Rose III recorded his season-high with three touchdowns in the game. In each of his previous three games, Rose III hadn’t tallied more than one rushing touchdown.
However, he was eating the Lobos (3-2) alive in the first half. The back took 14 touches behind the line of scrimmage for 238 yards, and tallied touchdown runs from 63 yards, 67 yards and 51 yards out.
“He’s like that every week. Larry Rose is one of the better backs in the country, and he showed that again tonight,” NMSU head coach Doug Martin said. “He shows up every day in practice. He’s just a joy to have around.”
The Aggies headed into the locker room with a 26-14 lead, coming primarily on the back of Rose III.
Despite the sophomore back’s monster success in the first half, the Lobos tamed the Aggies’ explosive run game and completely muted their air attack as well. NMSU (0-4) only accumulated 62 yards of total offense in the second half after gathering 354 yards in the first half.
Davie said the Lobos didn’t make any adjustments at halftime, but the team prevented the big plays and held the Aggies to just a field goal at the start of the third quarter. UNM’s defense appeared to be in a bind after the NMSU drive started at the New Mexico 34.
The Aggies wouldn’t score for the remaining 26:40 of the contest, and weren’t able to ignite any sort of rhythm.
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“They just came with more enthusiasm,” Rose III said of the Lobos. “Once they got in the game, their guys just played harder. They just started coming harder on the D-line.”
Davie was already playing with a thin lineup on the defensive side of the ball after Taylor Timmons received the start at nose tackle for an injured William Udeh, and sophomore Kene Okonkwo starting for Nik D’Avanzo at the defensive end spot. The line got even thinner after Okonkwo went down in the first quarter with an ankle injury, and Davie was forced to test the depth of the defensive line with freshman Cody Baker.
Davie said he didn’t change anything on the defensive side of the ball to compensate for his banged-up defensive linemen.
“We were up against it up inside. We really didn’t make any adjustments,” Davie said. “We felt schematically we were in pretty good shape. When you got out of a gap against him, (Rose III) took it. They took advantage of it.”
Whatever started clicking for UNM made Martin abandon the run game, which Martin said he attributed to a lot more third-and-long situations forcing the Aggies to take the ball to the air. Even though NMSU led for the majority of the third quarter, the Aggies passed the ball much more than in the first half.
Rose III only received seven carries in the final 30 minutes of the game, half of his 14 carry load he administered in the first half.
The Lobos were able to hold the Aggies to three points in the final two quarters of the contest primarily because the squad was having success disrupting any kind of rhythm in the backfield. Both of UNM’s interceptions came in the second half, primarily because of the amount of pressure placed in the backfield.
“They did what they were good at. We knew coming into the game they were a blitz team, and they did that well,” Rose III said. “They brought more pressure, and we had more people to protect.”
Liam Cary-Eaves is the sports editor for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at assistantsports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @Liam_CE.
