Week 10 Result: Utah Utes 35, New Mexico Lobbos 28
Player of the Game: RB Jeffrey Reynolds (UTAH) 27att, 172yds, 1 TD, 6.37ypc
BOX SCORE
Our pass defense took the night off tonight - partly no doubt due to me not changing our run-focused gameplan from last week - but thankfully we were able to hit the endzone enough times to outscore the Lobbos in what wound up being more of a shoot-out than I would have liked.
A rushing TD from QB Saunders and a FG gave us an early 10-0 lead, but the Lobbos followed that up by making our D look foolish. First they completed a 50 yard TD pass with 1:30 left in the 1st Q, only to have a flag thrown down on the play due to an illegible receiver downfield. Not to worry, as the Lobbos then throw a 60 yard TD pass on the very next snap to make it 10-7 entering the 2nd.
We manage a FG in the 2nd, but the Lobbos continue to string 1st downs together, scoring on a 12 yd TD pass halfway through the quarter, and we enter the half down 14-13.
The 3rd Q sees a couple of nice plays. Firstly we block a 37 yard FG and recover the ball, then on the very next play Reynolds breaks away for one of his trademark big gain TDs rushes, this time a 62 yarder, and we complete a pass for the 2pt conversion to make it 21-14. The lead doesn't last long though as the Lobbos continue to abuse our secondary for big gains in the air, and connect with a TD pass to lock scores up at 21 entering the 4th.
QB James is in fine form to start the 4th, hitting reserve TE Holcomb for a 21 yard TD pass. The Lobbos follow it up a few drives later with another big TD pass; this time a huge 83 yard TD pass to level the scores once again at 28 with 9:01 left. We exchange drives, before James finds the endzone again, hitting WR Wilburn for a 16 yarder to give us the lead at 35-28 with 4:30 left. We contain the Lobbos on the next drive and they miss a 52 yard FG with 2:51 remaining. We milk 1:30 off the clock on our next drive, and the Lobbos return our punt to their own 39 yard line with 0:51 left. They throw 2 incompletes, then lose 10 yards to a holding play, to make it 2-20 on their own 25 with 0:25 remaining, needing a TD to level the scores. Lobbos QB Malone drops back for the pass, but it's intercepted by Utah CB Kim as the final horn sounds!
Reynolds was back to his usual self tonight, picking up yards on the ground, including that massive 62yd breakaway TD. Lobbos ILB Snow was on him much how I expected (4 stuffs), but Reynolds managed a number of nice runs to negate Snow's general effectiveness, and a lot of credit goes to my OLine for getting their act together this week. OT Steele in particular was solid (4 KRBs and 2 PCKs).
Our QBs had themselves nice games too, with James finally not throwing a pick while collecting 2 TDs in the 4th Q on 12/22 for 184 yards. Saunders was 8/11 for 55 yards and an interception, and also picked up a 13 yard rushing TD in the 1st Q.
Defensively we sucked against the longball, but completely shut-out the Lobbos running game. The Lobbos managed just 37 net yards on the ground, and as usual ILB Ybarra was like a brick wall at the LOS, finishing with 13 tackles, 1 sack, 3 stuffs, and a forced fumble. This kid could wind up one of the best ever at Utah. DE Gonzales outshone his higher profile linemate, finishing with 3 sacks and a stuff, while SS Herman was also big with a sack that led to a forced fumble.
It was a nice bounce back for us after last week's loss, but we made it tougher than it needed to be. We need to play about 150% better against Wyoming next week.
Around the Mount West
TCU defeat Wyoming 30-24
BYU defeat UNLV 22-19
Air Force defeat Colorado State 37-9
It took an OT period, but the Horned Frogs overcame the Cowboys to keep their slim conference title chances alive. UNLV showed that maybe last week wasn't a fluke, with a TD and a safety in the 4th Q nearly giving them a win over BYU, while Air Force handled Colorado State and remain the easy MWC favourites at this stage.
Game of the Week Result: Florida St defeat Clemson 30-19
Clemson RB Frankling had a nice showing with 169 yards on 7.68ypc, but he couldn't get in to the endzone and the Tigers as a whole turned it over too much and only a couple of late 4th Q TDs made the score look closer than it was in a convincing victory for the Seminoles.