by Daniel S. Archuleta
Daily Lobo
The UNM football team's hopes of a perfect season were put to rest in a 21-13 loss to the University of Texas-El Paso Miners on Saturday night.
A crowd of 50,425 - the fourth largest in Sun Bowl history - were on hand, most of them covered in orange with a little spot of red for the game.
UNM came into the game with a perfect mark of 3-0.
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At halftime, the Lobos' lead was 10-7, but two huge plays in the third quarter sealed UNM's fate.
Head coach Rocky Long said he knew coming into the game the team that made less errors would come out on top.
"It was a very good football game," he said. "They made two big plays that we didn't. The only difference in the entire game was two plays."
After a 17-yard loss on a bad snap between center Ryan Cook and quarterback Kole McKamey, McKamey threw an interception that was returned 68 yards for a touchdown by the Miner's Joe Fleskoski.
On the ensuing drive, following a slew of Lobo penalties, the Miners were able to block a Tyler Gaus punt and recover it in the end zone for the touchdown.
UTEP's Chris Francies was credited with the block and Nate Draughon recovered the ball for the touchdown.
After those two plays, which happened within 3:24 of each other, the Lobos were unable to recover and only added a field goal to make the final score 21-13.
McKamey said the game was decided by UTEP's two defensive plays.
"They had a good defensive scheme and there were sometimes we didn't execute," he said. "They made two more plays than we made. That's about it right there."
Kenny Byrd remained perfect on the season going 2-for-2, hitting field goals of 46 yards and 26 yards.
Gaus had a good night punting the ball placing two kicks inside the 5-yard line and booming a 67-yarder in the fourth quarter.
DonTrell Moore had the Lobos' lone touchdown in the second quarter.
Moore buried his head in the heart of the Miners defense and pushed himself into the end zone for the four-yard score.
Moore ended the game with 161 yards on 28 carries and one touchdown.
While the Miners put up three touchdowns, the Lobos' defense only allowed one of those when UTEP quarterback Jordan Palmer found receiver Johnny Higgins for a 15-yard touchdown pass.
Other than the touchdown pass, the Lobos' defense was solid.
"We did the same thing we try to do every game," UNM linebacker Mike Mohoric said. "We try to go as hard as we can and try to make as many plays as we can. In the second half we did an all right job."
But still, Mohoric alluded to the two plays by the Miners' defense that shifted all the momentum.
"We were going into this game knowing that this was going to be the hardest team we've played to date," he said.
