Air Force fails to stop New Mexico's big plays, loses 47-35
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - Timothy McVey made quite an impression in his first start for Air Force against New Mexico on Saturday.
He scored five touchdowns while accumulating 105 yards rushing and 157 receiving.
But it wasn't enough for the Falcons, who lost to the Lobos 47-35.
"It's no different for me," McVey said of getting his first start. "I'm just trying to do the best I can. To me, the team is doing great. They're blocking great. Karson (Roberts) is throwing good balls. All I have to do is do my job."
Despite all the success, it was still a defeat, he said.
"It was a great game, I guess, for me but like I said, we want to come out with a win," McVey said. "That's the main goal."
The loss sends Air Force (8-4, 6-2 Mountain West) to San Diego State for the Mountain West championship game.
Air Force coach Troy Calhoun said McVey's emergence in the starting lineup was not unexpected.
"He earned it," he said.
New Mexico coach Bob Davie, however, was a little startled by McVey's success.
"We wore him out," Davie said. "It was amazing. It was so frustrating because a couple of passes he caught down the seam, again, they're going to get some big passes. But it really shouldn't happen."
Still, the Falcons were not able to put together their usual grinding ground game.
"Again, what's obvious is we've been pretty fair at accumulating some drives and putting some series together," Calhoun said. "We have to do a better job of it than we did this evening."
Air Force never found an answer for Jhurell Pressley, who scored on first-quarter runs of 75 and 57 yards. He finished with a career-best 170 yards on 17 carries while adding another late touchdown.
Richard McQuarley also scored twice for New Mexico (7-5, 5-3), including a 44-yard run near the end of the first half.
Roberts added 62 yards rushing for the Falcons and threw for 167 yards, but was just 6-for-16.
Still, the Falcons pulled within 34-28 early in the fourth quarter on McVey's 26-yard touchdown catch.
But New Mexico responded on Lamar Jordan's 2-yard run with 4:01 remaining.
Seconds later, McVey scored on a 56-yard touchdown pass, but New Mexico recovered the onside kick and Pressley scored from 13 yards out.
In addition to Pressley's touchdown runs, Reece White had a 58-yard reception, Teriyon Gipson added a 45-yard run and Carlos Wiggins had a 44-yard reception. Wiggins also had a 44-yard kickoff return.
Lobos quarterback Jordan only completed four passes, but totaled 135 yards. He also added 68 yards rushing and Gipson had 71.
The Lobos defense chipped in, as well, with interceptions by Ryan Santos, Cranston Jones and Donnie Duncan, the latter coming in the fourth quarter to help stymie the Air Force comeback.
"The (New Mexico) defense was playing really well," McVey said. "They knew what we were doing. We just had to get the momentum going again and we did that in third quarter. We felt like we were excited and we were ready to go but we just couldn't finish it out and we should have."