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Redshirt senior running back Jhurell Pressley raises his hand to cheering fans after a 75 yard scoring run at University Stadium Saturday night. Pressley scored three touchdowns with 170 yards rushed to help aid the Lobos 47-35 victory over Air Force.

Redshirt senior running back Jhurell Pressley raises his hand to cheering fans after a 75 yard scoring run at University Stadium Saturday night. Pressley scored three touchdowns with 170 yards rushed to help aid the Lobos 47-35 victory over Air Force.

Football: Pressley comes up big in finale

Jhurell Pressley said he saw just one thing on his two early touchdown runs against Air Force Saturday night.

“Green grass,” he said. “Green grass.”

Well, technically, it’s field turf. But when Pressley rattles off two early TD runs of 50-plus yards, it’s still grass to him.

The senior running back scored UNM’s first two touchdowns on the team’s first two drives in their 47-35 victory over Air Force. His first came on a 57-yard run for the game’s first score.

Then, after a steady 12-play, 75-yard Air Force drive tied the game at 7, Pressley ran that far on a single play to push UNM back on top 14-7. This play in particular was a display of Pressley’s speed breaking through the Falcons’ defense.

In the past, UNM has been the victim of these explosive plays. This time, Pressley helped the Lobos find those plays against a team that had been holding opponents to 117 rushing yards per game. Pressley amassed more than that in just four plays, totaling 143 yards in two drives.

Pressley finished the game with a career-high 170 yards and three touchdowns. Two of the scores happened on UNM’s only play of the drive.

“I hate to keep saying the same thing, but there’s another gear,” head coach Bob Davie said. “When he kicks it into that other gear, he’s impressive.”

The performance also solidified Pressley’s spot in the UNM record books. He moved into sole possession of second place for career rushing touchdowns with 35, overtaking Rodney Ferguson. He also ranks sixth in career rushing yards at 2,664

The 75-yarder was also Pressley’s fifth score from 70 yards or more.

“It felt like I’ve been doing it for a long time. I had the opportunity to make a play, and I made a play,” Pressley said. “It felt good doing it.”

Though Pressley found success in running the ball early, Air Force made several adjustments to keep the Lobo offense in check. His rushing output fell dramatically with those adjustments as Air Force seemed to key in on UNM’s option attack.

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Davie called it a chess match between the two squads. Through the third quarter, UNM got key stops defensively, but could not muster much when it had the ball until Lobo quarterback Lamar Jordan found success on the ground.

Then, with UNM up 40-35, Pressley found room to run again. UNM found itself in good field position after a Delane Hart-Johnson 18-yard punt return and a Falcon personal foul put the Lobos inside the red zone with three minutes left. Pressley ran the remaining 13 yards for the touchdown that essentially iced the game.

Pressley said he was energized by his family being in town for Saturday night’s Senior Night festivities. Twenty Lobos played their final regular-season game.

“My family was here. They helped me out,” he said. “They don’t know how much it means to me for them to come out here. I play better every time my family comes, anyway.”

Yet it may not be his final game at University Stadium. With UNM bowl-eligible for the first time since 2007, all indications are that the Lobos will be the Mountain West representative for the Gildan New Mexico Bowl next month.

“It’s good. We’d have home-court advantage,” Pressley said. “We’re playing here at New Mexico. I feel good we’ll have a lot of people here supporting us. We need the fans.”

J.R. Oppenheim is the managing editor for the Daily Lobo. Contact him at managingeditor@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @JROppenheim.

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