by David J. Chavez
Daily Lobo
The UNM football team, at least for one game, turned around its second-half woes.
The Lobos tied their biggest home comeback in school history -- 21 points - to beat the Utah Utes 34-31 on Thursday.
UNM sealed the game with 2:09 left in the fourth quarter when junior Martelius Epps scored on a one-yard touchdown run.
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UNM head coach Rocky Long said his players don't give up.
"Our teams never quit," Long said. "We might lose, but the last five or six years in this program, you have never seen a Lobo football team quit. Sometimes we get beat bad, but you have never seen our kids quit."
Freshman quarterback Donovan Porterie finished 19-of-33 passing for 350 yards, three touchdowns and one interception.
UNM came back from a dismal first-half performance. The Lobos were down 24-3 late in the second quarter after Utah scored on four straight possessions.
With the second quarter coming to a close and the UNM offense stuck in neutral, Porterie found his rhythm.
He hit wide receiver Travis Brown with a 40-yard pass to push the Lobos to the Utah 48-yard line.
Two plays later, he found junior Marcus Smith in the middle of the field for a 15-yard pass that turned into a sprint to the end zone to give the Lobos their first touchdown.
Porterie said the Lobos showed composure after being down in the fourth quarter for the second week in a row.
"This is what big-time teams are made of - being able to come back," he said. "Determination won the game for us in the end. We were ready to drive the ball and get a score."
After another Porterie-to-Smith touchdown, kicker Kenny Byrd put the Lobos in striking distance with a 21-yard field goal that brought the score to 24-20 with 4:17 left in the third quarter.
UNM went up for the first time with 10:20 left in the game when Porterie hit Brown for a five-yard pass to give the Lobos a 27-24 lead.
Utah battled back with a three-yard touchdown pass of its own to put the score at 31-27 with 6:18 remaining.
Porterie then led the Lobos on the winning drive of the game. Epps completed the drive by scooting into the corner of the end zone on a one-yard run with 2:09 left.
Utah had 1:51 left to come back, but the Lobo defense came up with a fourth-down stop to end the game.
The team is on a roll, but each week poses new challenges, said Lobo Quincy Black.
"We think we can win three in a row," Black said. "But we have to get in and watch film of Colorado State and prepare for our next opponent before we can start jumping to conclusions."
