Without its starting quarterback for most of the game, the UNM football team won the battle of I-25 with a 34-28 victory over the NMSU Aggies.
Kole McKamey injured his left knee on the third play of Saturday's game.
Backup Chris Nelson stepped in for McKamey and threw three touchdowns. He completed 11-of-26 passes for 283 yards.
Head coach Rocky Long said Nelson knows his job and performed well.
"When the starting quarterback goes down, and he went down awful early, the backup quarterback is supposed to come in there and execute," he said. "Now Chris has a little more experience than a lot of backup quarterbacks because he had to play last year some, and I thought he played really, really well."
Junior Marcus Smith was on the receiving end of most of the big passes. Smith had five receptions for 179 yards and three touchdowns - including a 61-yarder with 10:44 left in the game that proved to be the game-winner.
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Smith said the Aggies played hard for every second of the game.
"They played their hearts out, and I give them credit for playing until the clock said zero, zero, zero," he said. "They played hard even though we had them by 14, 16 points - they still kept playing. They brought it down to six, and if they would have scored on that final drive, they could have beat us."
The Aggies got the ball on their 20-yard line down by six with 1:44 left in the game. NMSU quarterback Chase Holbrook, who completed a school record 37-of-56 passes for 472 yards and four touchdowns, could not move the ball past the 33-yard line after four incomplete passes.
The Lobos wreaked havoc on the defensive side, causing five fumbles and one interception to score 27 points off turnovers. The defense also held the Aggies to only 60 rushing yards.
In the second quarter, defensive back O.J. Swift intercepted a pass from Holbrook and returned it for 46 yards to the NMSU 34.
UNM used one of the trick plays from its new West Coast offense to get a touchdown, as Nelson flung the ball back to third-string quarterback Donovan Porterie, who hit a wide-open Smith waiting in the end zone.
One of NMSU's fumbles came in the third at the Lobos' two-yard line and prevented a crucial touchdown to give UNM the momentum. Another fumble happened in the fourth at UNM's 46-yard line that set up a Nelson-to-Smith touchdown.
Junior Major Mosley said the defense needs to consistently play with intensity to be a force for the rest of the year.
"I think we did pretty good," he said. "We played with heart and passion the whole time and ran to the ball and attacked viciously, plain and simple. You're going to make mistakes regardless. There's no such thing as a perfect team, but overall, as long as we keep playing with that passion, we'll be fine."
