Wright: Lobo football keeps the fall looking fabulous

Entering this past weekend, this had been a fabulous fall for Albuquerque sports. Or, at least, semi-fabulous.

Consider:

On Friday in Madison, Wisconsin, the UNM men’s and women’s cross country teams finished first and ninth, respectively, at the prestigious Nuttycombe (my second-grade self wants to chuckle every time he says “Nuttycombe”) Invitational.

The Lobos’ Habtom Samuel won the men’s 8-kilometer race by 7.6 seconds (that’s a lot) in a meet and course record 22 minutes, 33.8 seconds. Three of his teammates finished in the top 13 as UNM finished 99 points ahead (that’s also a lot) of second-place Colorado.

The UNM women finished ninth without the participation of No. 1 runner Pamela Kosgei, held out for cautionary purposes with conference, regional and national meets coming up. Had Kosgei run, the Lobos almost certainly would have finished in the top five at Madison.

UNM women’s soccer team was unbeaten in Mountain West play entering Sunday’s home match against Boise State. The UNM men’s golf team is enjoying a strong fall season, having finished tied for first place once and finishing second twice in its first three fall tournaments.

It can’t always be about the Lobos. Across the street, New Mexico United had already clinched a USL Championship playoff spot entering Sunday’s home match against Oakland Roots SC.

Then, there was UNM football.

And still is, thanks to a gritty, gutty, 24-22 victory over Nevada late Saturday night at University Stadium.

They needed that.

After a 3-1 start that got Albuquerque as upbeat about Lobo football as in recent memory, UNM had dropped road games at San Jose State and Boise State.

Another loss, this time at home against a struggling (1-5) but hungry Nevada team, and kiss all that early fall momentum goodbye.

Instead, say hello to the 4-3 New Mexico Lobos, two wins from bowl eligibility with Utah State and former UNM coach Bronco Mendenhall (do you hate him? I don’t) up next.

It was oh, so close, more than once, to 3-4 and who cares who the Lobos are playing next.

As it is, first-year Lobos coach Jason Eck said late Saturday of Utah State’s impending visit to University Stadium, “It’s a huge game.”

Still huge, thanks to one that almost got away but did not.

Three times on Saturday during a game that was not quite ugly but most definitely not beautiful, the visiting Wolf Pack had the ball with a chance to tie or go ahead.

That never happened.

“We found a way to win,” Eck told the news media as midnight approached.

Yes, they did, after seemingly, at times, trying to find a way to lose.

The Lobos looked to have things under control early, sandwiching touchdowns around a Nevada field goal made possible by UNM’s third muffed punt of the season. Credit the defense for keeping the Wolf Pack out of the end zone after the turnover gave them the ball at the New Mexico 17-yard line.

After another Nevada field goal trimmed a UNM lead to eight at 14-6, a Damon Bankston fumble — a call that could have been overturned but was not — gave the Wolf Pack another short field. The resultant Nevada touchdown made it 14-12, but the Lobos broke up the Wolf Pack’s two-point try and retained the lead.

Four plays after UNM’s Keyshawn James-Newby and Xavier Slayton stuffed Nevada running back Caleb Ramseur on a fourth-and-1 from the Nevada 32-yard line (going for it on fourth down from minus-territory seems to be more and more popular, but I’m not sure why), UNM running back D.J. McKinney scored from 22 yards out. Nevada came right back with a handsome, 75-yard touchdown drive to make it 21-19 with 3:25 left in the third quarter.

Jack Layne’s 54-yard run on a quarterback keeper set up a 29-yard Luke Drzewiecki field goal, but UNM’s failure to fully cash in on Layne’s big play — the longest of the evening by either team — gave Nevada its first chance to take the lead. The Wolfpack drove to the UNM 24 but got no further, kicking a field goal to make it 24-22.

After a holding penalty nullified a touchdown run by backup Lobos quarterback James Laubstein, Drzewiecki missed a 34-yard field-goal attempt (Eck said it looked good from where he stood. I’ll go with the two officials who were standing directly under the crossbar).

So, again, Nevada had the ball with a chance to take the lead and six minutes on the clock with which to do it.

But from midfield, incomplete third- and fourth-down passes gave UNM the ball. Nevada never got it back, thanks to a 2-yard Scottre Humphrey run on fourth-and-1.

Two Layne kneel-downs, game over.

What did Saturday’s UNM win prove? Not a lot, having come against a 1-5 (now 1-6) opponent. The Lobos were 10 1/2-point favorites coming in.

It was a victory that probably hasn’t played all that well around the Mountain West Conference, given the Lobos’ narrow win margin.

A loss would have played far worse.

And then, on Sunday, the fall got just a bit less fabulous.

The UNM soccer team (3-1-3 and 7-3-5 overall) is no longer unbeaten in conference play, having lost 2-1 at home to Boise State. But it’s worth noting that the Broncos have been the class of the league thus far, and that the match statistics reflect a highly competitive game. All was not lost on the UNM Soccer Complex turf that afternoon.

Later Sunday at Isotopes Park, NM United failed to hold a 3-1 lead and settled for a 3-3 draw against Oakland Roots SC. The three points the locals could have secured with a win, compared to the one they got from the draw, could negatively affect United’s seeding in the playoffs.

PLAYOFFS??!!! That’s right, Jim Mora, and that’s what makes for a fabulous fall.

A football bowl game for the Lobos, even if it wouldn’t be autumn anymore by then, could turn fabulous into fantastic.