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The New Mexico football team’s offense came to play against UNLV on Saturday, but the defense was nowhere to be found.
UNM (1-3) had three rushers go over the century mark for the first time in school history in quarterback Cole Gautsche, running back Kasey Carrier and wide receiver Carlos Wiggins. However, the Lobos’ defense couldn’t stop the Rebels for a majority of the night in a 56-42 loss at University Stadium.
Carrier led the Lobos with 195 yards on the ground on 25 attempts and one score; Wiggins had 119 yards on three carries to score three touchdowns; and Gautsche had 18 rushes for 110 yards and two trips to the end zone. Gautsche also completed 4 of 9 passes for 74 yards and a touchdown.
“Offensively there were some very good things,” UNM head coach Bob Davie said. “A lot of guys played well on offense — there were a lot of positive things. But if you can’t play defense … it’s unheard of to me to rush for almost 500 yards and not win the football game.”
Bad tackling and poor pass defense were the key reasons behind why UNM was unable to slow UNLV (3-2). Rebels quarterback Caleb Herring threw for 293 yards with four touchdowns, completing 24 of 34 passes. Herring’s favorite target on the night was to wide receiver Devante Davis, who manhandled the Lobos’ secondary, catching 10 balls for 164 yards with three touchdowns.
“We got some young corners in there that just have to keep going,” Davie said. “Davis is a man. He made a lot of plays and he made a play basically every time he wanted to.”
UNLV took the lead for good when Herring found Davis in the corner of the end zone for a 7-yard score, giving the Rebels a 49-42 lead with 4:46 remaining in the fourth.
After UNM’s ensuing possession stalled, UNLV took over at its 25-yard line. On the first play of the drive, running back Tim Cornett took a toss from Herring and burst down the sideline untouched for the game-clinching 75-yard touchdown and a 56-42 win.
UNM’s offense stalled in the second half and finished with just 140 yards of total offense, gaining 97 yards on the ground.
“They lined up a little bit more with two inside tackles in two one-techniques to really squeeze the inside, so we had to put the ball a little bit more on the perimeter,” Davie said. “We did get the ball on the perimeter a couple of times. We still had plenty of things schematically going for us, but they did squeeze those defensive tackles right down inside the guards a little bit. That clogged it up a little bit more in the second half.”
The Lobos took an early 14-0 lead thanks to a 22-yard score from Carrier and a 62-yard touchdown from Wiggins. The Rebels quickly came back to tie it at 14 with two scoring plays in seven offensive plays, a Marcus Sullivan 69-yard touchdown run and a 4-yard score by Cornett.
The rest of the first half was a back-and-forth affair that led to a 35-35 tie at halftime. Both teams combined for 749 yards in the first half with UNM having 400 rushing yards on 36 attempts.
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At the beginning of the second half, Davis gave the Rebels their first lead of the game when he caught an 11-yard touchdown pass from Herring for a 42-35 lead. The Lobos answered quickly with a seven-play, 67-yard drive that ended with a 62-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open Wiggins.
For the game, Wiggins had 263 all-purpose yards with three touchdowns, two rushing, one receiving.
“There’s more to come,” he said. “I always expect to do great things in a game. It’s just a matter of me getting the ball in my hands and getting those extra yards.”
Then came Davis’ 7-yard score that put UNLV up for good at 49-42. On the Rebels’ next possession, Cornett sealed their win with his 75-yard back-breaking touchdown for the final score of 56-42.
Cornett ended the game with a career-high 179 yards on 25 rushes and three scores.
Field goal woes continue
With time winding down at the second half, UNM senior kicker Justus Adams lined up for a 46-yard field goal. Adams’ kick came up short, leaving the score tied at 35.
That miss was Adams’ fourth of the season, and now he’s 2 of 6 on field goal attempts for the year.
“I guess we’re just having to go for it on fourth down,” Davie said. “Right now we don’t have anywhere to go on field goal attempts.”
