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The UNM football team’s rushing ability is something to behold, but it wasn’t enough to hold off Air Force.
On fourth-and-4 with four minutes to play, Lobo senior wide receiver Lamaar Thomas ran right into a Falcon blitz for a loss of 4 yards, and turned it over on downs. Air Force then proceeded to run out the clock on the ensuing possession to win 28-23 at the Air Force Academy in Colorado.
The Lobos tallied 443 yards of total offense with 409 yards coming on the ground. Junior running back Kasey Carrier toted the football 39 times for 338 rushing yards and three touchdowns for a new career high, school record and a new Mountain West record.
Carrier’s 338 yards shattered the old MW mark of 285 yards shared by Colorado State’s Gartrell Johnson and San Diego State’s Larry Ned.
UNM (4-4, 1-2 MW) lost senior starting quarterback B.R. Holbrook at halftime due to concussion-like symptoms resulting from a sack early in the first half. The Lobos were already short-handed at signal-caller with freshman backup Cole Gautsche out of the lineup, and were forced to use the trio of Carrier, Thomas and third string quarterback Quinton McCown at the helm in the second half.
Head coach Bob Davie said the offense, especially Carrier, played above and beyond expectations despite the absence of the offense’s top two quarterbacks.
“I thought the offense did an unbelievable job,” Davie said. “To be able to play against a team that understands option football like Air Force does … I thought it was an unbelievable effort by our offensive staff and number five, Kasey Carrier. I’ve seen a lot of games and that kid will play as hard as any kid I’ve seen.”
Davie said it wasn’t a difficult transition to have Carrier and Thomas play snaps from the wildcat formation.
“When your first two quarterbacks are out of the game, it’s going to hurt you. We knew going in we had a plan with Kasey at quarterback or Lamaar at quarterback,” Davie said. “We get it down at fourth-and-4 at the end and they ran a blitz they’ve been running and we ran right into the teeth of it.”
UNM jumped out to a 10-0 lead after Carrier scored from 1 yard out with 8:31 left to play in the first quarter. Air Force answered on its next possession when senior tailback Wes Cobb scored to pull the Falcons to within three points of UNM.
On the Lobos’ fifth possession of the game, senior linebacker Alex Means deflected and intercepted a Holbrook pass attempt. Means took the pass 65 yards to the house to give the Falcons a 14-10 halftime lead and momentum heading into the second half.
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Air Force lost leading rusher Cody Getz to a recurring ankle injury after its offense’s first play of scrimmage. The Lobos held the Falcons to 117 total yards of offense in the first half.
Davie said he’s proud of how the team responded as it went into the third quarter without Holbrook and the advantage.
“The interception really hurt us — not only was it an interception, it was a touchdown,” Davie said. “But to the credit of this team, it was a pretty good dagger; they didn’t tuck its tail, it kept fighting and we had a chance to win this game.”
Air Force (4-3, 3-1 MW) opened up the second half with the football, but fumbled it on the third play of the drive. UNM junior linebacker Dallas Bollema recovered it and returned it 5 yards to the UNM 40-yard line.
Carrier then capped off an 8-play, 60-yard, 3:45 minute drive with his second touchdown of the game from 1 yard out to give the Lobos a 17-14 lead with 10:25 left in the third.
The Falcons struck back with two touchdowns, both by Cobb, to build the lead to 11 with 14:57 remaining in the game.
UNM cut the deficit to five points, thanks to Carrier’s 37-yard touchdown to end a 5-play, 75-yard, 2:54 minute drive.
On Air Force’s next drive, UNM sophomore defensive back Tim Foley stripped Air Force wide receiver Ty MacArthur and returned the ball to the Falcons’ 46-yard line to set up the Lobos in prime field position.
However, UNM could not capitalize, as Thomas was stopped 4 yards behind the line of scrimmage to end the Lobos’ chances of a three-game winning streak.
Foley said he should have secured the ball tighter to score the go-ahead touchdown for the Lobos.
“It was a defensive effort; we were all swarming to the ball,” he said. “Everyone had their arms in there and I happened to have my hands on the ball. I kind of fumbled it when I got it, and if I didn’t, I think I would’ve scored.”
Carrier said the team knew coming in that the Falcons wouldn’t concede anything to the Lobos.
“We have to give credit to Air Force. They came out and executed,” he said. “They’re a well-disciplined team and they’re not going to make many mistakes … they came out and beat us.”
