Homecoming didn’t go as planned for head coach Bob Davie and his University of New Mexico football team, as they fell 52-43 to the Liberty Flames at Dreamstyle Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
After being down 42-10 at one point, the Lobos managed to rally back within striking distance in the second half with a resurgent offense that saw junior quarterback Sheriron Jones take over for redshirt sophomore Tevaka Tuioti, who fractured his clavicle early in the second quarter. Davie said Tuioti will have surgery on Monday and is likely to miss the rest of the season.
In his place, Jones threw for a career-high 312 yards, four touchdowns and had 44 yards rushing. However, he had three interceptions, one of which sealed the Lobos’ fate.
“Credit to Liberty,” Davie said. “The quarterback put on a performance… they deserved to win the game.”
UNM started off its first drive of the game with swag and charisma — and it all started with Tuioti. After missing a game, Tuioti was able to complete a short pass on the first play before breaking away for a nice 28-yard rush to set up his running back, Tyrone Owens, for a 19-yard touchdown run. The drive took less than a minute and a half.
But Liberty followed suit on its first drive, going 75 yards on seven plays to score a touchdown and tie the game up at seven points apiece.
For the rest of the first quarter, UNM’s offense faltered and looked nothing like the offense that scored on the first drive of the game. Meanwhile, Liberty quarterback Stephen Calvert had New Mexico’s secondary looking confused — his team went on to score two more touchdowns in the quarter, thanks to his 116 yards through the air.
But the Lobos’ found a spark on defense nearly four minutes into the second quarter when safety Stanley Barnwell, Jr. intercepted Calvert. The turnover put the Lobos at Liberty’s 19-yard line, though they were forced to settle for a field goal, bringing them within eleven points.
Calvert didn’t falter, however, and led his team on a scoring drive soon after. He capped the drive with a 20-yard touchdown pass to wideout Antonio Gandy-Golden to make it 28-10 in favor of Liberty.
Tuioti then injured himself on a 24-yard run, ultimately making Jones the leader of the offense for the time being.
Liberty added another touchdown later in the second quarter, stretching its lead to 35-10. They finished the half with one more touchdown with 22 seconds left, as Calvert hit his wide receiver, B.J. Farrow, for 24 yards to give his team a 42-10 advantage over UNM.
Calvert finished the first half with three touchdowns and 264 yards — more yards than the Lobos’ offense combined.
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New Mexico’s big break came during its opening drive of the third quarter. On a blown coverage by Liberty’s secondary, Jones was able to find wideout Patrick Reed for 79 yards to the end zone. However, the Lobos still found themselves down 42-16.
Jones said the momentum swing motivated every member of the team.
“When you have that tempo and you have that drive, you look to (your) guys and they look at you, and they want to win,” Jones said. “We got into that mindset, and we started scoring.”
Liberty struggled as Calvert missed portions of the third quarter with injury. The Lobos capitalized, making key stops on defense which helped the offense gain confidence. Jones and his offense were able to put together another good drive, highlighted by a 31-yard pass to wideout Anu Somoye, and then finding wideout Delane Hart-Johnson for a four-yard touchdown pass.
Then, at the start of the fourth quarter, the Lobos' offense struck again. Jones found tight end Marcus Williams for a seven-yard touchdown pass, cutting the Flames' lead to 42-29.
On the ensuing drive for Liberty, Calvert came back into the game and did what he did best all night — tire out UNM’s defense, especially its secondary. After a four-yard rushing touchdown, Liberty momentarily silenced New Mexico’s comeback as it got its lead back up to 20 points.
But UNM’s offense didn’t stop. The Lobos managed to score two touchdowns, one on a 31-yard pass from Jones to running back Tyrone Owens and then later a three-yard rushing touchdown from Owens. Both of his touchdowns came in the fourth quarter, and brought New Mexico within a touchdown, 49-43.
Liberty drove the ball down the field after that, and settled for a field goal after a big stop from UNM made it fourth-and-three with a little over a minute left in the game.
On their last drive, the Lobos attempted to make a comeback, although they were already down nine points. Jones had a big run, going 32 yards to put the offense on Liberty’s 26.
But a couple plays later, Jones threw his third interception, sealing the game. The Flames went on to extinguish the Lobos 52-43 on homecoming night in Albuquerque.
Owens finished with 93 yards rushing and two touchdowns for the Lobos.
For Liberty, Calvert finished with a game-high 417 yards and three touchdowns through the air.
New Mexico will open up conference play next Saturday, Oct. 6 at 2 p.m., as they travel to Las Vegas to face the UNLV Rebels.
Matthew Narvaiz is a sports beat reporter and senior writer for the Daily Lobo. He primarily covers football and also contributes content for other sports. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @matt_narvaiz.
