Air Force Academy
New Mexico
Falcons Fall To New Mexico
10/27/2001 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct 27, 2001
By PETE HERRERA
AP Sports Writer
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Early in the week, Air Force coach Fisher DeBerry called New Mexico quarterback Casey Kelly the Lobos' star of the future.
Kelly showed Saturday he might be running ahead of expectations.
Kelly passed for three touchdowns and Holmon Wiggins' 47-yard punt return in the second half led the Lobos to a 52-33 victory over Air Force on Saturday.
Kelly, a former walk-on making only the third start of his career, picked apart the Falcons' defense, completing 20 of 40 passes for 324 yards. Wiggins and defensive back Stephen Persley, meanwhile, delivered big play TDs as the Lobos (3-4, 2-2 MWC) finished with 620 total yards.
Air Force (4-3, 2-2), which lost 63-33 to Brigham Young last week, again collapsed defensively.
Kelly shook off a pair of first half interceptions to lead the Lobos to their biggest scoring game in four years.
"He made a couple of bad decisions in the first half, but he settled down and played very good football," DeBerry said.
About the only one not impressed with Kelly's play was Kelly.
"I think I played well, but I also turned the ball over," Kelly said. "It's little things that take away from a performance that could be great."
New Mexico coach Rocky Long said Kelly is still making mistakes - he's thrown six interceptions in three games - but also is delivering big plays.
"He missed some open receivers but he hit a lot of clutch third down passes too," Long said. "He's getting better every week and our receivers are catching the ball better too."
Persley's 25-yard return of a fumble by Air Force quarterback Keith Boyea with 48 seconds left in the first half put the Lobos in front for good. Boyea, who also threw two interceptions, made a bad pitch and Persley scooped up the ball without breaking stride.
"He pitched it and I was there," Persley said. "It gave our team the momentum."
Holman's punt return gave the Lobos a 38-27 lead. He got a couple of blocks down the right sideline and hurdled a teammate at the Falcons 20. Holman scored moments after the Falcons had held the Lobos on a fourth-and-goal from the 2.
Air Force pulled to 38-33 on Boyea's 1-yard run on the first play of the fourth quarter, but New Mexico put the Falcons away with a 16-play, 80-yard drive that took more than 6 minutes off the clock. Jarrod Baxter bulled his way into the end zone from 7 yards out.
Air Force scored on its first play from scrimmage - a 65-yard run by Boyea, but New Mexico's defense allowed the Falcons just one score in the second half. Air Force came in averaging 269 yards a game rushing, fourth best nationally, and finished with 112.
New Mexico ran off 98 plays to Air Force's 46 and had the ball for nearly 40 minutes.
"They beat us at our game," DeBerry said. "They found a way to convert on third downs and keep possession of the ball. In the second half we couldn't sustain any drives and our defense just tired out."
Early on it appeared it would be the Falcons that would dominate as they converted a pair of New Mexico turnovers into 10 points in the first quarter. A fumbled punt attempt by the Lobos set up a 41-yard field goal by Brooks Walters and Wes Crawley intercepted Kelly's pass and returned it 29 yards for a touchdown.
Kelly threw two interceptions in the first half but also kept New Mexico in the game with the three TD passes, each of which finished off an 80-yard drive.
Kelly and Joe Manning, who had a career high eight catches for 115 yards, teamed up for scoring passes of 15 and 35 yards and Kelly threw an 18-yard TD pass to Dwight Counter.
"We felt confident that our wide receivers were as good as any athletes they have," Kelly said. "We came in with that kind of game plan. We were going to see if we could take advantage of the passing game."
