For the second time in as many weeks, the Lobos lost the lead and control of the game by giving up big plays and making costly turnovers, this time en route to a 37-28 loss to Rutgers on Saturday.
UNM Head coach Bob Davie said he felt in control, for the most part, in terms of game plan and strategy. After giving up the lead, the Lobos (1-2) fought back to have chances at the end.
“I felt good about our plan and how our kids played,” Davie said in a release. “Big picture, I’m proud of our kids. I’m proud of our team.”
There was some concern about the early start time (10:00 a.m.), but the Lobos wasted no time putting points on the board.
New Mexico punted on its first series, but dangerous return man Janarion Grant fumbled to set the Lobos up in Rutgers’ territory. UNM’s redshirt sophomore Bijon Parker recovered the loose ball, and junior running back Daryl Chestnut punched it in from 19 yards out to put the Lobos up 7-0.
Rutgers (2-1) was the team that got off to a slow start this time around. The Scarlet Knights went three-and-out on its first three series.
After failing an early gamble on fourth down, the Lobos added points on a 36-yard pass from Austin Apodaca to Patrick Reed and a 52-yard run by quarterback Lamar Jordan to go ahead 21-0.
Then Rutgers woke up. Chris Laviano hit Jawuan Harris on a one-play scoring drive that covered 75 yards.
The Lobos went three-and-out on two of its next three possessions, and Rutgers took advantage of the loss in momentum. Grant threw a great pass off a wide receiver pass for a touchdown, and running back Robert Martin found a hole and galloped 80 yards on another one-play scoring drive to tie the game at 21-21.
Redshirt senior safety Ryan Santos said giving up the big plays was tough because it’s an aspect of the opposing offenses that the team has been focusing on limiting since early on in training camp.
“We have up a couple big plays on defense and some on special teams,” Santos said in a release. “It hurts because we’ve talked about giving up big plays.”
The noise at High Point Solutions Stadium was surely more than the Lobos are used to, at least thus far in 2016. Nearly 40,000 attended the match at Piscataway, New Jersey, almost double the amount of fans who made it out to UNM’s season opener in Albuquerque (20,221) .
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New Mexico’s Corey Bojorquez got off a short punt, giving Grant plenty of room to do damage. Grant made up for his earlier mistake, and took the punt 69 yards to put Rutgers on top 28-21 with 1:04 left in the half.
The Lobos threatened in the waning seconds of the second quarter, marching to the Rutgers 32-yard line. With 18 ticks remaining, Apodaca decided to take a deep shot on second down.
The pass was underthrown, with K.J. Gray coming over to make the interception and erasing the possibility of getting points before the half.
The Lobo defense settled down in the second half, allowing fewer than 100 yards of offense, but UNM’s offense fell silent.
An early second half drive ended in disaster, as redshirt sophomore running back Tyrone Owens put the ball on the ground. Rutgers recovered the fumble and engineered a scoring drive to go up 31-21 on a 41-yard David Bonagura field goal.
Early in the fourth quarter, New Mexico responded with an efficient 10-play, 69-yard drive. Richard McQuarley broke free for a 22-yard scoring run to end a 31-point run by Rutgers and pull UNM to a three point gap.
New Mexico gave up another field goal after a short punt gave Rutgers great field position. Bonagura’s field goal gave the Scarlet Knights a 34-28 lead with 5:30 remaining.
At that point, the Lobos had picked up over 250 yards on the ground and were averaging better than five yards per carry. But after picking up decent yardage on first down, New Mexico elected to pass on the next two plays.
Apodaca threw an incomplete pass and then took a sack on 3rd-and-7, suffering a shoulder injury on the play.
To make matters worse, Bojorquez only managed 32 yards on the subsequent punt. Grant made the Lobos pay with another explosive run on special teams, returning the punt all the way to the UNM 16-yard line.
On the short field, the defense held strong to force another field goal, but the damage was done. Rutgers held a 37-28 lead, making it a two possession game with just 3:05 left.
Jordan re-entered the game and drove the Lobos deep into Rutgers territory, although the team ate up much of the clock in the process.
It would have been difficult to get an onside kick and still have enough time to get into the end zone, but it ended up being a moot point. Jason Saunders was not able to connect on a 32-yard field goal attempt in the game’s closing moments.
Rutgers took possession and ran out the clock to preserve the victory. By the end of the matchup, the Lobos had the advantage in most areas of the game -- including first downs (21 to Rutgers’ 14), total offense (462 yards to 350) and plays (80 to 62) -- despite losing the game.
Neither team was particularly effective on third-down conversions (Rutgers converted six of 17 chances, UNM 3 of 15), but the Scarlet Knights did have the more efficient red zone offense, scoring on both of its opportunities. The Lobos by comparison only scored on one of its three drives inside the Rutgers 20-yard line.
The Lobos will use an open date to try to recover from back-to-back losses before starting conference play against San Jose State in Albuquerque on Oct. 1.
Robert Maler is a sports reporter for the Daily Lobo. He primarily covers cross country, football, tennis and track and field. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @robert_maler.
