TUCSON, Ariz. – The University of Arizona beat the University of New Mexico 61-39 in Arizona Stadium on Saturday night.
The Arizona Wildcats started their season by playing the New Mexico Lobos in their season opener in front of a home crowd. Many of the Wildcats had some of their best nights in the blowout win.
Both teams started the first half great offensively scoring on nearly every drive.
The Wildcats were able to score through explosive plays including a Tetiaroa McMillan 69 yard touchdown pass on the third play of the game.
Comparatively the Lobos were able to put structured drives together. New Mexico was able to keep the Wildcats defense on its back foot by using their hurry up offense a lot, and using different option plays.
The explosive plays continued till the end of the half with McMillan scoring two more touchdowns, one being a 78 yard touchdown pass from Quarterback Noah Fifita.
Going into halftime both teams had more than 300 yards apiece with the score being 27-24 in favor of Arizona. Those in attendance had an uneasy feeling that the game was going to turn into a shootout against a team most would say Arizona was better than.
This was not the case however coming out of the half.
The Wildcats got off again to a quick start with a 51 yard touchdown run from San Jose State transfer Quali Conley. After an interception by Treydan Stukes the Wildcats scored in one play from McMillan and Fifita with another touchdown pass that went for 40 yards.
Quarterback Devon Dampier was able to answer back for the Lobos with a 7 yard touchdown run bringing the score to 41-31.
Arizona was able to get its running game going with the next three scores for the Wildcats all coming from the ground and combining for 110 yards. Conley had two while former New Mexico running back Jacory Croskey-Merrit had one.
Although New Mexico was able to score, the final was a 61-39 game win in favor of Arizona.
New Mexico is going to try to bounce back from two losses after a bye week against Auburn next week in Alabama.
The Wildcats look to continue its nine game win streak that stretches back to last year against Northern Arizona University next week in Tucson.
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