The 2016 New Mexico Bowl was a college football

bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivi ...

played on December 17, 2016 at University Stadium in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The eleventh annual

New Mexico Bowl The New Mexico Bowl is an NCAA-sanctioned post-season college football bowl game that has been played annually since 2006 at University Stadium, on the campus of the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Owned and operated by ESPN ...

, was one of the 2016–17 bowl games that concluded the 2016 FBS football season. The game aired on

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...

. Sponsored by clothing company

Gildan Activewear Gildan Activewear Inc. is a Canadian manufacturer of branded clothing, including undecorated blank activewear such as t-shirts, sport shirts and fleeces, which are subsequently decorated by screen printing companies with designs and logos. The ...

, the game was officially known as the Gildan New Mexico Bowl.

Teams

The game featured the

UTSA Roadrunners The UTSA Roadrunners is a collegiate athletic program that represents the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA). The UTSA Roadrunners are also commonly referred to as "UTSA", "Roadrunners", "Runners", “The Meep Meeps”, or simply “The B ...

of Conference USA against the

New Mexico Lobos The New Mexico Lobos are the athletic teams that represent the University of New Mexico, located in Albuquerque. The university participates in the NCAA Division I in the Mountain West Conference (MW) since 1999, after leaving the Western Athlet ...

of the

Mountain West Conference The Mountain West Conference (MW) is one of the collegiate athletic conferences affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) (formerly I-A). The MW officially began operations ...

. This was the third meeting between the schools, with the all-time series tied at 1–1. The previous meeting was on October 14, 2014, where the Lobos defeated the Roadrunners by a score of 21–9.

UTSA

The New Mexico Bowl was the first bowl appearance for the Roadrunners.

New Mexico

triple option The triple option is an American football play used to offer several ways to move the football forward on the field of play. The triple option is based on the option run, but uses three players who might run with the ball instead of the two used i ...

offense, the Lobos were led by coach Bob Davie who envisioned the offense he eventually installed while coaching at Notre Dame and playing against the service academies, who used the scheme effectively. The Lobos' offense led the

Football Bowl Subdivision The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). As ...

rushing yards Rushing means a sudden forward motion, or a surge or onslaught. Rushing may refer to: Tactics * Rush (gridiron football), advancing the ball by running on offense. On defense, charging the quarterback or kicker is a pass rush. * Human wave att ...

. Although both Austin Apodaca and Lamar Jordan had both started at

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

for New Mexico during the season, Jordan was the more potent runner, whose 658 rushing yards ranked third on the team. A trio of running backs made large contributions to the rushing attack: senior Teriyon Gipson averaged 9.2 yards per rush to lead the team with 1209 yards, sophomore Tyrone Owens led the team with 134 rushes for 1084 yards, and junior Richard McQuarley rushed for a team-leading 16 touchdowns.

Game summary

UTSA started the game with the ball; they put together a 65-yard drive over the next 6:15 and scored the first points of the game after Victor Falcon converted on a 23-yard field goal. New Mexico opened their storing with 4 seconds left in the first quarter with a 1-yard touchdown run. The first quarter ended 7–3, Lobos. With 1:32 left in the second quarter, Victor Falcon hit a 28-yard field goal to bring UTSA within 1 at 7–6. With time expiring in the first half,

Jason Sanders Jason Thomas Sanders (born November 16, 1995) is an American football kicker for the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at New Mexico. Early years Sanders attended and played high school football at ...

converted a 52-yard field goal to put the Lobos up 10–6 at halftime. To open the second half, Teriyon Gipson capped a 10-play, 75-yard drive with a 10-yard touchdown rush. The extra point was blocked so New Mexico led 16–6. After trading punts UTSA got a drive into New Mexico territory but Dalton Sturm was picked off from the UNM 34. The Lobos went 3-and-out and punted. UTSA got good field position but faced a 4th and 15 from the Lobos 35. Sturm threw a 19-yard pass for the first down. 2 plays later he found Trevor Stevens, a senior wide receiver who had only caught 7 passes ever for his 1st career touchdown. The PAT was good and it was 16–13 Lobos. UNM drove down the field until they had a 4th and 1 at the 5 yard line. They converted and then Richard McQuarley got a 1-yard touchdown run to put UNM up 23–13. UTSA would strike at the end of the game but the Lobos recovered the onside kick.

Scoring summary

Source:

Statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:New Mexico Bowl 2016–17 NCAA football bowl games

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2016 New Mexico Bowl 2016 New Mexico Bowl December 2016 sports events in the United States 2016 in sports in New Mexico