New Mexico runs for 476 yards in rout of Louisiana-Monroe

Jadon Boatright returned an interception 40 yards for a score 76 seconds into the game, and New Mexico added three more first-quarter touchdowns on Saturday in a 59-17 romp of Louisiana-Monroe.

That was exactly the way the Lobos wanted to get the game started.

"We definitely we need turnovers," said Boatright of his first career interception. "We've been struggling turnover-wise so that definitely helped us out, especially at the beginning of the game, starting off the game with a pick-6 and getting us already up 7-0. That helped us a lot. As soon as I picked it, I saw all green; I knew I was going back with it."

Tyrone Owens finished with 171 yards rushing on nine carries, including an 83-yard scoring run, as New Mexico (4-3) piled up 476 yards on the ground.

The Lobos got touchdowns from eight different players, withElijah Lilly returning a kickoff 93 yards for a score to open the second half.

The lone bright spot of sorts for the Warhawks (2-5) came from reserve quarterback Caleb Evens, who completed 12 of 15 passes for 120 and one score.

But with three other runners topping 65 yards, New Mexico's three lost fumbles were not a factor.

The Lobos only completed seven passes - all to different receivers - for 146 yards; their third-best total of the season.

New Mexico's defense finished with five sacks and limited the Warhawks to 235 total yards.

THE TAKEAWAY

New Mexico: After a series of close games (and one blowout loss to then-No. 19 Boise State), the Lobos needed to put the hammer down on somebody and Warhawks provided the perfect foil. It was a game that was never in doubt for New Mexico.

"This was great for our confidence," Lobos coach Bob Davie said. "It's no secret we gave up 40 points in a row for three weeks (games). But we did play offenses that really do keep you off balance."

With Louisiana-Monroe running an offensive scheme that New Mexico will see again as the season progresses, Davie was hoping to see just this kind of performance

"We knew we had a chance to get some rhythm tonight just because we've been kind of doing the things over and over," he said. "From a schematic standpoint, ULM is a lot like what Hawaii, Nevada, and really Utah State will be running so hopefully we can get on a little bit of a roll, defensively."

ULM: There was little for Louisiana-Monroe to take away from this performance as it was dominated from the outset and did little to remain competitive. Without quarterback Garrett Smith, redshirt freshman Will Collinsmissed all seven of passes with one interception before being replaced by Evans.

"We just got out coached, out played, really didn't have enough juice, not near enough juice and that's on me," said Warhawks coach Matt Viator. "We've got to be more ready to play than that. We've got to have more juice than that and we didn't. It's nothing really in particular because it was really the whole thing when you look at it. To come in and play a team like this, you better have some juice and we didn't."

UP NEXT

New Mexico says aloha with a trip to the island Saturday, facing Hawai'i. The Lobos have won the last six meeting in the series.

Louisiana-Monroe, which has lost five of its last six, plays at Arkansas State on Saturday. The Red Wolves are tied for the top spot in the Sun Belt.

Gipson shines in Dallas return as UNM tops Air Force 45-40

Teriyon Gipson rushed for 140 yards with a touchdown and caught a pass for another score, leading New Mexico to a 45-40 victory over Air Force on Saturday.

Playing at the historic Cotton Bowl not far from his Dallas high school, Gipson ran 60 yards down the sideline on an option pitch to give the Lobos (3-3, 2-1 Mountain West) a 14-3 lead in the first quarter. New Mexico never trailed.

Nate Romine threw for 280 yards and two touchdowns for the Falcons (4-2, 1-2), who lost their second straight since a victory over service academy rival Navy.

The neutral site game at the Texas state fair featured teams with a combined 51 players from the Lone Star State, including 17 starters.

New Mexico's nation-leading rushing offense had 373 yards against an Air Force defense that was No. 2 nationally against the run and had allowed 401 yards all season coming in.

The teams combined for 974 yards - 443 for New Mexico and 531 for Air Force - and eight scoring drives of 70-plus yards.

But both defenses stiffened in the fourth quarter, when the Lobos had just 10 yards rushing and punted four times. Romine was sacked three times after halftime, and Air Force stalled twice in the final 3 1/2 minutes when trailing by five.

Lamar Jordan had a career-high two touchdown passes for the ground-oriented Lobos. After a 12-yarder to Gipson midway through the second quarter, he floated one to a wide-open Q' Drennan for a 45-yard score . It was one of the nine plays of 30-plus yards in the game.

Jalen Robinette had his third straight 100-yard receiving game for the Falcons, finishing with 169 yards and a 53-yard score .

Tyrone Owens had a career-high 126 yards rushing and a touchdown for the Lobos, who got two rushing TDs from Richard McQuarley.

THE TAKEAWAY

New Mexico: The Lobos bounced back strong from a blowout loss to No. 15 Boise State and might have taken a big step toward a second straight bowl season under fifth-year coach Bob Davie.

Air Force: The Falcons might have been thinking about making a run for the Top 25 after improving to 4-0 with a win over Navy, which handed No. 13 Houston its first loss a week later. But consecutive Mountain West losses have changed their outlook.

UP NEXT

New Mexico: Home against Louisiana-Monroe next Saturday.

Air Force: Home against Hawaii next Saturday.

Rypien throws 5 TD passes, No. 19 Boise State rolls

Boise State expected its receivers to have a big day against New Mexico, and they did.

Brett Rypien threw five touchdown passes - three to Cedrick Wilson and two to Thomas Sperbeck - and No. 19 Boise State overwhelmed New Mexico 49-21 on Friday night.

"We expected a lot of cover zero, man, so we knew if we had the time to throw, we would get open," he said. "It getting a lot easier for us to see the coverages and what's coming and the blitzes. And I think our o-line did a great job picking it up."

The Broncos (5-0, 2-0 Mountain West) scored touchdowns on seven consecutive possessions. New Mexico (2-3, 1-1) scored on its second possession, and didn't reach the end zone again until the midway through the fourth quarter.

Rypien was 21 of 28 for 391 yards. Sperbeck had nine receptions for 198 yards and Wilson had nine catches for 167 yards.

Rypien said it was gratifying to have the two receivers complementing each other.

"We got into a rhythm," Rypien said. "The game plan called for us to make plays. The first four games we relied on Jeremy (McNichols), but we had to step up and we did."

In the last two seasons, Sperbeck has totaled 29 catches and 479 yards receiving against New Mexico. His performance last season wasn't enough to prevent the Lobos' upset, but it was a conference record for yards.

The unexpected loss last season wasn't much of a motivating factor, but it did make the victory feel a little sweeter, according to Sperbeck.

"It is a little bit of factor," he said. "It does feel good to get a win against anybody, obviously. But it feels little better since they beat us last year, but you can't think too much into that. I think we did a great of preparation all week and it showed (Friday)."

It helped that Boise State was stifling New Mexico early.

"When the defense stands its ground like it did (Friday), it takes lot of pressure off the offense," Sperbeck said. "It allows us to operate more smoothly. There's not as much pressure to move the ball down the field. We can take the shots we want."

THE TAKEAWAYS:

Although Boise State downplayed last year's loss to the Lobos was any kind of motivation, the Broncos certainly played like they meant to put New Mexico in its place.

"A lot of guys didn't really like how the Lobos celebrated last year so I think it was kind of a chip on our shoulder for last year," Wilson said. "We played pretty hard."

This was the first game this season that New Mexico did not have a double-digit lead at some point in the game.

The Lobos came into the game having allowed nine scoring plays of 40 or more yards and Boise State added two more to that total.

UP NEXT

Boise State: Hosts Colorado State on Oct. 15. The Broncos have readily handled the Rams in all five meetings since joining the conference. The closest game was 42-30 in 2013. Coming up, Boise State faces BYU at home Oct. 20 in a nationally televised game that could be the Broncos best chance to make a lasting impression against a name opponent - at least until the regular-season finale Nov. 25 against Air Force.

New Mexico: The Lobos travel to Dallas to face Air Force in the Cotton Bowl. For New Mexico, a loss to the Falcons would effectively end its chances at winning the Mountain Division.

KEY NUMBERS

Boise State had 391 yards passing, 368 of those coming in the first half.

"We could have had more if we cut them loose," said Broncos coach Bryan Harsin. "This show could have gone on all night."

New Mexico became the first team this season to top the century mark rushing against the Broncos, totaling 382. Lobos quarterback Lamar Jordan became the first player to rush for 100 yards against Boise State, finishing with 139, but he completed just four passes for 39 yards.

INJURY REPORT

Boise State suffered no injures of note.

New Mexico played the game without leading rusher Teryion Gipson, who injured his hamstring last week against San Jose State. Cornerback Isaiah Brown was lost to a foot injury in the first half. He was replaced by true freshman Elijah Lilly, who Lobos coaches had hoped to redshirt.

LAST WORD

"I tried to just block it out as much as I could and focus on the game," Rypien said, speaking of losing his grandmother Terry Rypien this week. "Now I can go home and focus on family stuff that I need to focus on. It was hard the first part of the week, but having the team around me and the coaches around me made it lot better."

New Mexico holds off San Jose State rally in 48-41 win

 Richard McQuarley ran in three touchdowns and New Mexico held off San Jose State's fourth-quarter rally for a 48-41 win Saturday.

New Mexico led 41-20 three minutes into the fourth quarter before the Spartans scored two quick touchdowns. But San Jose State (1-4, 0-1 Mountain West) twice had the ball with a chance to drive for the tying touchdown and instead went three-and-out.

The game marked the return of Spartans quarterback Kenny Potter, who missed the last game with a leg injury. He played with a brace on his right leg and at times appeared to be limping while finishing with 314 yards and three touchdowns.

With Lamar Jordan, noted as more of a running quarterback, in for the injured Austin Apodaca, the Lobos (2-2, 1-0) returned to its ground attack, grinding out 448 rushing yards. Teryion Gipson led the attack with 156 yards and a touchdown. McQuarley finished with 83 yards on 16 carries and Tyrone Owens had 117 yards on 16 carries.

San Jose State's Tim Crawley had a touchdown reception and run.

THE TAKEAWAY: New Mexico had double-digit leads in its previous two games and let both games get away. But this time the defense stiffened when it needed to, then the offense put together a 79-yard touchdown drive late in the fourth quarter to seal it.

San Jose State has allowed an average of 41 points per game so far this season and is giving up chunks of yards.

UP NEXT:

NEW MEXICO: The Lobos take on Boise State Oct. 8. The Broncos are looking for paybacks after New Mexico came out of Boise with a rare win last year.

SAN JOSE STATE: The Spartans play host to Hawai'i Oct. 8. In the last three years, the visiting team has won each meeting between the schools.

Rutgers rallies from 21-point deficit to beat New Mexico

Wide receiver Janarion Grant threw for a touchdown and had a go-ahead 69 yard punt return for another score as Rutgers rallied from an early 21-point deficit and defeated New Mexico 37-28 on Saturday.

Halfback Robert Martin rushed for a career-high 169 yards, including an 80-yard touchdown, and Chris Laviano threw a 75-yard scoring pass to Jawuan Harris in helping the Scarlet Knights (2-1) overcome a big deficit for the second straight week.

David Bonagura kicked three second-half field goals, including two in the final 5:30, in keeping new coach Chris Ash unbeaten at home.

Daryl Chestnut scored on a 19-yard run, Austin Apodaca threw a 36-yard TD pass to Patrick Reed and Lamar Jordan scored on a 52-yard run in giving the Lobos (1-2) a 21-0 lead late in the first quarter. Richard McQuarleyscored on a 22-yard fourth-quarter run to get New Mexico within 31-28, but Bonagura added two field goals to put the game out of reach.

This was the second straight game that Grant was the difference. He had three touchdowns in rallying the Scarlet Knights against Howard, and he had a hand in three scores against the Lobos, with a late 33-yard punt return setting up the final field goal.

Grant's biggest play was the punt return 1:04 before halftime with the score tied at 21-all.

Grant fielded a Corey Bojoquez punt at his 31, went left and then reversed his field and went 69 yards down the right side for his six touchdown of the season. It was his third career punt return for a score and eighth overall. He has scored on five kickoff returns.

THE TAKEAWAY

NEW MEXICO: The Lobos could have been 3-0 heading into a bye week. After beating South Dakota, New Mexico blew a 31-22 fourth-quarter lead after New Mexico State last weekend and gave away an even bigger margin this week. The Lobos had a chance to rally late last week and game up short. They came back from a 10-point deficit this week and also came up short.

RUTGERS: With the Big Ten Conference season starting next week, Rutgers has to get off to better starts if it wants to be competitive. The Scarlet Knights fell behind No. 8 Washington 24-0 and trailed in both games at home. With tougher competition in the league, they are just asking for trouble if the trend continues.

BULLET: Ash is going to be second guessed after inserting quarterback Zach Allen into the game in the fourth quarter with Rutgers leading 31-28 with 7:48 to play. There seemed to be nothing wrong with Laviano. The Scarlet Knights got a 33-yard field goal from Bonagura but that was set by an unsportsmanlike penalty against the Lobos.

UP NEXT

NEW MEXICO: The Lobos have a bye week and face San Jose State at home in their Mountain West Conference opener on Oct. 1.

RUTGERS: The Scarlet Knights play their third straight home game and face No.13 Iowa in their Big Ten Conference opener on Sept. 24.

New Mexico State beats New Mexico in final minutes 32-31

Tyler Rogers threw a scoring pass to Gregory Hogan late in the fourth quarter to give New Mexico State the lead for good in a 32-31 win over state-rival New Mexico on Saturday night.

Rogers and Hogan connected from eight yards for the win - the first over UNM at home since 2010 - with 5:46 to play after the Aggies (1-1) had trailed throughout the game. Terrill Hanks intercepted an Austin Apodaca pass and returned it eight yards to the New Mexico 27, setting up the six-play scoring drive.

Rogers finished with 205 yards passing and two touchdowns. Hogan had 41 yards receiving and Xavier Hall added 61 yards and a touchdown rushing.Parker Davidson kept the Aggies' hopes alive with four field goals including a 45-yarder in the first quarter.

Apodaca had 115 yards passing with one interception for the Lobos (1-1).

New Mexico cruises past South Dakota 48-21

 Teriyon Gipson scored on the first play from scrimmage and New Mexico continued to pile up yards and points against South Dakota in a 48-21 victory on Thursday night.

Gipson finished with 181 yards on 10 carries and had touchdown runs of 84 and 75 yards on his first two touches. The second TD tied it at 14-all and started the Lobos (1-0) on a 31-point scoring binge over the next two quarters.

South Dakota quarterback Chris Streveler finished with 131 rushing yards including scoring runs of 55 and 42 yards.

New Mexico benefited from three takeaways, which led to 17 points.

The Lobos, however, had issues controlling the line of scrimmage defensively allowing South Dakota (0-1) to find running room and extend drives - including a fourth-down conversion deep in its own end.

That was particularly evident in the first quarter when the Coyotes scored two touchdowns, including a 10-play, 90-yard drive to go up 14-7.

THE TAKEAWAY

New Mexico: Entering the game, Lobos coach Bob Davie insisted quarterbacks Austin Apodaca and Lamar Jordanwould both see time, but Apodaca may have cemented his position with a performance that included career highs in yardage (172), completions (12) and touchdowns (2). Jordan did not play.

South Dakota: The Coyotes has a reputation as a defensive unit, but it gave up 615 yards of total yardage. Offensively, however, South Dakota displayed a penchant for the big play, scoring three touchdowns of more than 40 yards.

UP NEXT

New Mexico plays at New Mexico State on September 10.

South Dakota hosts Weber State on September 10.