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Brett Bowers entered Saturday’s postgame press conference in much higher spirits than he did the previous week.
Stomping an in-state rival by 49 points will do that.
“I just got a big smile on my face. Played a lot better,” said Bowers, a junior linebacker. “We definitely picked it up, did our job, made some plays. It’s pretty nice.”
New Mexico’s 66-17 victory over New Mexico State came in stark contrast to its Sept. 28 loss to UNLV, particularly on the defensive end. The simple fact that the Lobos limited a team to 49 fewer points after giving up 56 to the Rebels in the Mountain West opener makes that statement clear.
Some key statistics contributed to the difference.
On the ground UNM limited NMSU to 182 yards. UNLV’s Tim Cornett rushed for 179 yards against the Lobos by himself.
The Lobos made 74 tackles, including seven for a combined loss of 26 yards. Bowers’ three sacks on NMSU quarterback Andrew McDonald added another 18 yards of loss. Against UNLV, the Lobos recorded one sack and four tackles for loss of a combined 27 yards.
The young UNM secondary broke up five McDonald passes but interrupted only one against UNLV quarterback Caleb Herring.
Linebacker Tevin Newman returned one McDonald interception 26 yards and cornerback SaQwan Edwards ran another 12 yards. Both picks resulted in UNM touchdowns. The Lobos did not have an interception against Herring.
Freshman cornerback Isaiah Brown had what looked to be a sure interception, but he hastily jumped back to his feet, dropped the ball and the official ruled it incomplete. Had head coach Bob Davie not used his only challenge earlier in the game, the play would have likely gone in UNM’s favor.
Watching the defense work from the sidelines, senior running back Kasey Carrier said it felt pretty good to see that unit respond so well after the UNLV game.
“We have a defense that had a bad game last week … This week (the defense) came out and played well,” he said. “There are a lot of playmakers on that side of the ball. Tonight they came out and played and showed it.”
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The win should give UNM an energy boost for the rest of the season. However, the current state of NMSU football needs to be taken into account.
Clearly NMSU is not at its best right now under first-year head coach Doug Martin, nor is it of the same caliber as UNLV or probably anybody else in the Mountain West Conference. Five times this season the Aggies have given up 40 points or more. Three times it’s been at least 50. Offensively, NMSU has not scored more than 21 points in any contest.
The Aggies are a team without a win and without a conference, and the school recently offered students a $2,000 prize just to attend a game and stay through three quarters.
In his remarks, Davie said NMSU faced some tough teams this season. Among those teams are Texas, Minnesota and ULCA.
“They’ve had a heck of a schedule,” Daavie said. “I’ve watched all of it. I don’t know if many offenses were able to do to them what we were able to do.”
But there’s something to be said about winning big in the games you’re supposed to win big. UNM entered Saturday’s contest as roughly an eight-point to nine-point favorite, and it covered that spread rather handily.
Local talk radio generated some noise this week in response to a question pitched to Davie. That question addressed whether the Lobos are expected to beat the Aggies. Fans do see this game as one that should be won despite UNM having had a three-game losing streak to NMSU until last season.
Well fans, consider expectations met.
