GGSM{New Mexico State} 34, UTEP 33

The Golden Gopher Shame Mask has changed hands! Or heads, or whatever.

The New Mexico State Aggies wore the Shame Mask down to El Paso, where they left it squarely around the necks of the UTEP Miners in a wild game. Perhaps befitting a match of a team wearing a shame mask and a team riding an 8-game losing streak, this game featured 7 turnovers, but it did prove to be exciting with 7 lead changes.

New Mexico State opened with an 11-play drive that stalled with an incomplete pass on 4th and 1 at the UTEP 24. After a UTEP punt, the turnovers began. A New Mexico State interception from Chase Holbrook was followed three plays later by a UTEP fumble. Four plays after that, Holbrook fumbled, allowing UTEP to take a 3-0 lead on a 44-yard field goal. On the very next play, Holbrook threw an interception that Anthony Morrow returned 27 yards for a UTEP touchdown.

Early in the second quarter, Holbrook however rallied his Aggies, starting the drive with a 43-yard completion to Chris Williams and ended it with a 36-yard TD pass to Marcus Anderson on 4th and 21. Then after a defensive stop, Anderson returned a punt 34 yards to the UTEP 11 yard line, and then went the rest of the way on a TD pass from Holbrook to take a 14-10 lead.

Two minutes later, however, UTEP QB James Thomas II took the lead back with a 44-yard touchdown run, only to see Holbrook retaliate three minutes later with a 27-yard TD strike to A.J. Harris. UTEP's field goal at the end of the first half cut the lead to 21-20 as the teams went to the locker rooms.

The second half started with a UTEP missed field goal, but two plays later, UTEP's Robert Soleyjacks returned a Chase Holbrook fumble 24-yards for a go-ahead score. Again Holbrook countered with a touchdown pass to Weston Neiman to regain the one-point lead heading into the fourth quarter.

On the second play of the fourth quarter, UTEP took the lead back with quarterback sneak from Thomas, but Thomas could not run in the two-point conversion and the Miners had to settle for a 33-28 lead. It lasted for three minutes, when Anderson's third TD catch of game put New Mexico State back up 34-28.

Following the trend, Thomas led the Miners down the field on a 14-play drive only to fumble the ball away at the New Mexico State 14-yard line. Another drive in the final minute stalled at midfield sealing the Aggie win.

Congratulations again, New Mexico State.

The 0-3 UTEP Miners host UCF this week.