New Mexico blows fourth-quarter lead, falls to Montana State in Mendenhall debut

Former UVA Football coach Bronco Mendenhall’s debut at New Mexico was going well when the Lobos were up 31-14 going into the fourth quarter.

But then Montana State, picked second in the Big Sky Conference in the preseason, rallied in the fourth quarter, and went ahead for good on a Scottre Humphrey 4-yard TD run with 10 seconds left in a 35-31 upset on Saturday.

Montana State, which went 8-4 and lost in the first round of the FCS playoffs a year ago, put up 567 yards of total offense, including 362 on the ground, with two Bobcats rushers going past the 100-yard mark – Adam Jones, who scored on a 93-yard run in the fourth quarter, had 167 yards on 17 carries, and Humphrey had 140 yards on 19 carries.

Montana State scored on drives of 80 yards, 93 yards and 89 yards in the fourth quarter.

“In any capacity, either throwing or catching, rush defense, kicking field goals, those plays weren’t executed well enough and weren’t consistent enough for us to put the game away,” Mendenhall said. “I saw capability, certainly, two defensive touchdowns, some fourth-down stops and some other positive things, but not consistent enough, not clean enough and not sound enough really, from beginning to end, to put the game away.”