In a battle of the two top defenses in the Mountain West, the San Diego State Aztecs gave up three big scoring plays in a 23-17 double-overtime loss to the New Mexico Lobos at University Stadium.
SDSU (9-3, 6-2) had a missed field goal in the second half, and saw its final three drives of regulation end just into New Mexico (9-3, 6-2) territory. Lucky Sutton ran for 110 yards, his sixth time topping the century-mark this season, with a touchdown, while Jayden Denegal completed 14 of 24 passes for 162 yards with a touchdown and an interception.
The loss means the Aztecs, with Boise State's rally to win at Utah State, will see their potential for a spot in the Mountain West Championship Game left up to predictive and results-based computer metrics.
In the second overtime after having his second-down pass swatted at the line, Denegal scrambled 15 yards up the middle to set up first-and-goal. Procedure flags on three straight plays moved the line of scrimmage to the 25-yard line, then a sack on third down and an incompletion in the endzone sealed the result.
New Mexico scored on their first play of the second overtime, as quarterback Jack Layne found tight end Cade Keith underneath, who ripped free up the left sideline 25 yards for the touchdown. The first 2-point play was called back for holding, then Lane overthrew Keith on the second try.
The teams traded turnovers on their first overtime possessions.
After Denegal’s first-play pass deflected off Donovan Brown and corner back Jon Johnson into the hands of safety Austin Brawley, the Lobos were able to drive all the way down to a goal-to-go situation. But safety Dwayne McDougle punched the ball free from change of pace quarterback James Laubstein that Dalesean Staley recovered at the 3-yard-line to save the game.
The second half was played on a knife’s edge, with SDSU never quite being able to get over the hump.
New Mexico retook the lead on their second big-play score of the game after stalling out SDSU’s first drive of the second half.
With the middle of the field packed for a fourth-and-one with Laubstein, the play instead went to running back D.J. McKinney on an over run to the right. It broke containment and had the hosts retake the lead on the 54-yard touchdown run.
That would be it the rest of the way, with SDSU converting three straight first downs on the following drive to move into New Mexico territory, but a would’ve-been 29-yard touchdown pass to Jackson Ford got wiped away due to him being flagged for being ineligible downfield. Gabe Plascencia then missed a 52-yard field goal wide to the right.
Another three-and-out defensively powered by sacks by Sam Benjamin and Amari Comier set up redemption, as Plascencia made no mistake on a 44-yard field goal from the right hash to knot the game at 17-17 and set up a decisive fourth quarter.
The SDSU defense forced three-and-outs on four straight Lobos possessions after the time out, but could not find a way to break through to retake the lead. The Aztecs equaled their season high by being penalized nine times, including also having an interception taken off the board at the end of the third quarter for pass interference.
After giving up the first 10 points, SDSU turned things around by forcing a holding flag on UNM’s first snap backed up inside their own 20-yard-line and ultimately forcing a three-and-out that gave the Scarlet and Black the ball near midfield.
Christian Washington picked up the first 20-plus yard play of the game for the Aztecs by gashing a 29-yard dive up the middle to set up the first goal-to-go situation for either team. Despite a holding penalty, a 14-yard Denegal scramble set the ball up on the one-yard-line for Sutton to punch in on third down.
Then, after forcing another three-and-out, the Aztecs converted on their second straight drive. Sutton converted a fourth-and-one in SDSU territory, helping move the ball near midfield. After another conversion, this time on third down, it set up the second big play.
Denegal connected with Brown for a 46-yard scoring strike, his third catch of the half after also drawing a first down on a defensive holding on an earlier stretch route. The back-to-back scores gave the Aztecs a 14-10 lead, as the defense closed the half with successive sacks by Niles King.
It was all Lobos at the start, holding the ball for 10:28 and generating multiple firsts: the first points after a four-first-down opening drive, the first switches at quarterback as well as the first turnover of the game.
UNM took the opening drive 55 yards in 12 plays without needing a single third-down conversion, capped by a 37-yard field goal by Luke Drzewicki.
Perhaps even more importantly was generating the first turnover of the game on SDSU’s second drive, as Washington had the ball clawed free while going to ground by linebacker Tavain Combs and recovered back Jaxton Eck. It scuttled the Aztecs first trip into New Mexico territory on their second drive, having converted their first three first downs of the game.
But more importantly, the Lobos converted just the 11th Scarlet and Black giveaway (fourth fumble) into only the second touchdown after turnover for the year.
Laubstein took the shotgun snap for the fourth play of the second quarter and bounced off the line of scrimmage, not getting any penetration. But he was able to bounce free to the left where SDSU had no defenders to contain and dashed free for a 40-yard rushing score — the first of his career.
Currently SDSU, New Mexico and Boise State are currently atop the Mountain West with 6-2 conference records, while UNLV has an opportunity to finish with that record as well. If the Rebels win, it will mean all four will compared base on a composite of selected predictive and results-based computer metrics [Connelly SP+, ESPN SOR, KPI, and SportSource], a loss means just the three 6-2 teams will be compared.
This story was updated at 5:17 p.m.