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There was something missing from the New Mexico football team on Saturday.
The Lobos’ vaunted rushing attack, which ranked fifth in the nation last season, didn’t have much of an impact against the University of Texas-San Antonio in a 21-13 season-opening loss at University Stadium.
“If there is one thing we’re disappointed about is that we thought we could run the football better but we didn’t,” head coach Bob Davie said after the game. “We could’ve had some more explosive (plays) but we didn’t.”
UNM (0-1) did manage to rush for 193 yards with a majority coming from sophomore quarterback Cole Guatsche, who had 123 yards on 16 carries. But for most of the night, senior tailback Kasey Carrier had no running room at all and finished with 58 yards on 20 attempts, averaging a putrid 2.7 yards per carry.
Davie credited UTSA’s defensive front for doing a good job of containing the Lobos’ inside run efforts.
“Schematically it’s not a surprise to anyone anymore,” he said. “We’ve gotten into a bit of a thing that people are just starting to put two big guys inside and they’re just squaring on that side of the scrimmage… You can’t run dives forever like we did last year, all year and think you’re going to do that again.”
Down 21-13 with three minutes to go, the Lobos started their final drive at their own 25-yard line. Guatsche left the game before the start of the drive after Carrier told him to leave since he was suffering from concussion-like symptoms. Junior quarterback Clayton Mitchem then came in for his first-ever action as a Lobo.
Mitchem was able to drive UNM to UTSA’s 43-yard line, but on fourth-and-5, Mitchem’s pass to wide receiver Chase Clayton fell incomplete and the Lobos turned the ball over on downs. UTSA (1-0) then ran out the clock to secure its 21-13 win.
Mitchem went 2 of 5 for 19 yards with three rushes for 14 yards compared to Guatsche who went 4 of 12 with 65 yards and one touchdown. The Lobos had just 84 yards of passing offense, while the Roadrunners mustered 237 yards on 21 of 34 passing with two touchdowns from senior signal-caller Eric Soza.
“I thought he (Guatsche) played a little better,” Davie said. “I thought he had some opportunities in the passing game. I thought he played okay and played better than he did a year ago throwing it.”
Davie had said on Tuesday at the weekly media luncheon that junior running back Crusoe Gongbay would get an opportunity to carry the ball. Gongbay finished the night with zero rushing attempts.
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“He played a little bit maybe one or two times,” Davie said. “I don’t really know. It’s hard to take Kasey out. Maybe we need to get a few more guys in there. Crusoe probably should play a little more.”
Injury Report
Clayton suffered an injury to his PCL. Davie said it occurred when he downed a punt at UTSA’s one-yard line.
