SAN DIEGO — It was a story of two halves for San Diego State (3-6, 2-2 Mountain West) in a 21-16 loss to the New Mexico Lobos (4-6, 3-3 Mountain West) Friday night at Snapdragon Stadium. The AZTECfast offense kept them in the game in the first half while the defense flipped the script in the second.
The Aztec defense (27.6 points against per game, eighth in Mountain West) struggled to limit the big play opportunities for the Lobos in the first quarter. After a great punt from SDSU forcing the New Mexico offense to start at the one-yard-line, UNM quarterback Devon Dampier extended a play and connected deep to wide receiver Caleb Medford for a 35-yard completion.
New Mexico followed up with an inside zone to running back Eli Sanders, shedding multiple tackles for a 51-yard rushing touchdown for a 7-0 lead with 8:46 left in the first quarter.
The SDSU offense (22.5 points per game, eight in Mountain West) responded on the very next drive, with quarterback Danny O’Neil hitting wide receiver Jordan Napier on a slot seam for a 40-yard completion. The O’Neil-to-Napier connection was the story for the Aztecs offensively, with Napier finishing his night with nine receptions for 63 yards.
O’Neil connected with Napier once again for a three-yard touchdown on a rub route, but was called back for an offensive pass interference. The Aztecs ended up settling for a 22-yard field goal from kicker Gabriel Plascencia to cut the lead to 7-3 with 3:10 left in the first quarter.
New Mexico kept their big play momentum from their previous drive, with a slot receiver sealing an SDSU linebacker for an outside zone run that left Sanders untouched for a 68-yard rushing touchdown to extend the lead to 14-3 with 2:32 remaining in the first.
New Mexico (34.8 points per game, third in Mountain West) kept the SDSU defense confused with empty sets, motion, misdirection and play action. They controlled the line of scrimmage, allowing zero sacks and one tackle for loss. Missed tackles were a big part of New Mexico's success early on.
“They did a nice job,” said head coach Sean Lewis. “Unfortunately, those two plays, those explosive plays, became the difference.”
SDSU responded once again, this time on special teams. Napier went sideline to sideline, breaking multiple tackles for a 61-yard kickoff return, setting up the Aztec offense with great field possession and shifting momentum.
The SDSU offense, however, failed to convert in the red zone once again, settling for a 31-yard field goal from Plascencia to cut the lead to 14-6 with 14:52 left in the second.
“When the area in the field tightens up and the margin of error tightens up, you know that we can be much cleaner when we're down there,” said Lewis.
Penalties, missed opportunities and not executing kept the SDSU offense out of the end zone for a good majority of the night.
After the rough first quarter, the SDSU defense tightened up in coverage and tackling and did not allow another point for the rest of the first half.
With 5:18 remaining in the second quarter, the SDSU offense capitalized on field position and penalties, setting themselves up nicely in the red zone once again.
After seeing cover one and cover zero throughout the first half, Lewis called a man-beater at the five-yard line. The mesh concept left running back Marquez Cooper all alone on a swing route for a receiving touchdown to cut the lead to 14-13 with 2:37 remaining before halftime.
Cooper was a workhorse for SDSU, rushing for 126 yards on 35 attempts. Cooper had to be more patient than games prior, running against a three-man front that can cause issues for an offensive line as far as blocking assignments and schemes.
The Lobo defense (38.9 points against per game, 11th in Mountain West) adjusted in the second half as well, disguising and running more zone looks while still keeping an extra man in the box to stop the run.
“They played a little bit more zone coverage in the second half and did a nice job putting a net around things. I thought it was a good adjustment for them,” said Lewis. “A lot man coverage heavy in the first half. A little bit more zone, relative to what they had shown in the second half.”
The cover-three and cover-four coverages mixed with blitz packages caused the SDSU offense to be stagnant in the second half. The Aztecs' only points the remainder of the game came from another field goal from Plascencia, this time from 28 yards to take a 16-14 lead with 1:42 left in the third.
New Mexico responded with a long, methodical drive of their own after being set up midfield with a face mask penalty by SDSU. The Lobos capped off the drive with a touchdown on a motion to a drag route to leave wide receiver Ryan Davis wide open in the end zone.
The eight-yard receiving touchdown took the lead back for New Mexico, going back up 21-16 with 13:08 left in the fourth quarter.
With the SDSU offense continuing to stall and give the ball back to New Mexico, the Lobo offense pounded the rock and tired the Aztec defense out. The Lobos rushed for a total of 300 yards on 35 carries en route to a 21-16 victory.
“I got to do a better job detailing up the plan, knowing that our kids are dialed into what's going on and being able to execute that so we can be consistent and have great execution with what we're capable of,” said Lewis.
This is San Diego State’s first loss to New Mexico since 2008 and the Aztecs will look to bounce back next week against UNLV (6-2, 2-2 Mountain West) on Saturday, Nov. 16 at 7:30 p.m. The Aztecs must win out the remainder of their schedule to be bowl-eligible.