UNM’s Kasey Carrier, right, is tripped up by an Air Force defensive back after a long gain on Saturday in the Lobos’ 28-23 loss. (Jerilee bennett/the associated press)

His 338 Yards Rushing Can’t Prevent Lobos’ 28-23 Defeat

AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. – There’s this thing about the Air Force Falcons. Somehow, no matter how many yards they give up or how many times they turn the ball over, they find a way to stay in the football game.

And there’s this about the 2012 New Mexico Lobos. No matter how many quarterbacks go down, they’ll run it on you. And run it on you. And run it on you.

Yet, Saturday against the Falcons, New Mexico ran out of time and options. Despite a record-smashing night from junior running back Kasey Carrier, the Lobos fell 28-23 in a Mountain West Conference game.

New Mexico is 4-4 overall, 1-2 in Mountain West play. Air Force, which played without injured star tailback Cody Getz,  is 4-3 and 3-1.

The Lobos played the second half without starting quarterback B.R. Holbrook, who suffered concussion symptoms after being sacked in the second quarter. They already were without true freshman quarterback Cole Gautsche, who took a shot to the head last week at Hawaii.

Sophomore quarterback Quinton McCown played sparingly, but Carrier and wide receiver Lamaar Thomas did most of the “quarterbacking” in the second half from the wildcat formation.

Thomas was in the wildcat on the Lobos’ last gasp, a fourth-and-4 from the Air Force 12-yard line. But he was caught in a blitz and thrown for a 4-yard loss with 3:57 left in the game, and Air Force ran out the clock from there.

The Lobos finished with 409 yards rushing and controlled the ball for more than 37 of the game’s 60 minutes.

“I thought the offense did an unbelievable job,” UNM coach Bob Davie said. “… I thought it was an unbelievable effort by our offensive (coaching) staff and by (Carrier). Obviously, when your first two quarterbacks are out of the game, it hurts you. … But I thought it was a heck of an effort by our kids, overall.”

Carrier, running past, around and through Air Force defenders from the game’s first play from scrimmage, finished with an astounding 338 yards rushing on 39 carries. He surpassed Quincy Wright’s 10-year-old UNM single-game record of 265 in the third quarter, then shattered the Mountain West record of 285 held by San Diego State’s Larry Ned and Colorado State’s Gartrell Johnson.

The Lobos outgained the Falcons by 77 yards and also won the turnover battle, 3-1. But UNM’s one turnover, a Holbrook interception returned 65 yards for a touchdown by Air Force linebacker Alex Means in the second quarter, dramatically shifted the game’s momentum.

“You have to give credit to Air Force,” Carrier said. “They came out and executed. They’re a well-disciplined team. They’re not gonna make very many mistakes. Those are the guys that fight for our country, and they came out and beat us.”

The Lobos, down 14-10 at halftime, took back the lead early in the third quarter. After a fumble recovery by linebacker Dallas Bollema, wildcat runs of 18 yards by Carrier and 19 by Thomas fueled a 60-yard touchdown drive. Carrier got the TD from the 1.

But the Falcons, held to just 117 yards in the first half, put together two scoring drives – sandwiched around the Lobos’ only three-and-out of the game – to take a 28-17 lead.

Carrier and the Lobos were far from through. Bouncing off would-be tacklers, he scored from 37 yards out with 12:08 left in the game. McCown’s pass on a 2-point conversion attempt was unsuccessful.

The Lobos got new life when sophomore cornerback Tim Foley forced and recovered an Air Force fumble at the Falcons 46. But UNM’s final drive came to naught when Thomas was dropped behind the line of scrimmage on that fourth-and-4.

“It was an amazing effort by Kasey to keep us in the game,” said Foley, a walk-on from Rio Rancho.

How Air Force, which lost Cody Getz, the nation’s second-leading rusher, on its first snap when he aggravated a sprained left ankle, went to the locker room with a halftime lead is a remarkable, even bizarre, story.

Carrier finished the first half with 227 yards rushing on 22 carries, ranking him fifth on the UNM all-time single-game list with two quarters left to play. Yet, the Lobos managed only 10 first-half points.

On the Lobos’ first two possessions, Carrier had runs of 68 and 59 yards to put the Lobos deep in the Falcons’ red zone. The Lobos settled for a 20-yard Justus Adams field goal on their first series, but Carrier scored from 1 yard out on the second.

The Falcons came back with a seven-play, 78-yard touchdown drive, then snuffed a couple of UNM drives – one reaching the Air Force 28 – with sacks of Holbrook.

After a Destry Berry interception on an Air Force fake field-goal, the Lobos drove to the Falcons 24. But Means first tipped, then intercepted a Holbrook screen pass and took it back for a touchdown.

— This article appeared on page D1 of the Albuquerque Journal