Arizona holds off late New Mexico rally to win New Mexico Bowl

Arizona finished off a lackluster season on a good note.

After limping to a 6-6 regular season finish, the Wildcats were relegated to the New Mexico Bowl against an upstart New Mexico team, led by former Notre Dame head coach Bob Davie. The Lobos gave the Arizona all they could, but a huge offensive effort from the Wildcats (503 yards of offense) was too much for New Mexico to overcome in a 45-37 decision.

Arizona had the ball for only 19:08 (5:10 of which came on its final, game-sealing drive) in the game, but the Wildcats were able to rely on its hurry-up offense and a number of big plays to jump out to a sizeable lead over the Lobos.

New Mexico got on the board first with a field goal, but Arizona quickly responded when Anu Solomon found Cayleb Jones behind the secondary for a 78-yard score. That would be a common theme in the first half as Jones also had catches of 48 and 46 yards in the half, both of which set up other Arizona touchdowns.

If it wasn’t for quarterback Lamar Jordan, New Mexico wouldn’t have stood a chance. The speedy sophomore found plenty of success on the ground, picking up yards in big chunks while running Davie’s version of the triple option.

Jordan scored on a run of 31 yards midway through the second, and caught the Wildcats off guard with a deep ball to Delane Hart-Johnson for a 92-yard score late in the half, which cut Arizona’s lead to 21-17.

After Arizona expanded its lead to 35-17 early in the second half, Jordan went back to work. Every time Arizona punched, Jordan punched back as he added two more third quarter touchdown runs.

After his two-yard score with 2:02 left in the third cut Arizona’s lead to 42-31, Davie rolled the dice and called for an onside kick. It worked, and the Lobos quickly scored again, cutting the lead to 42-37 early in the fourth.

Arizona tried to add on to its lead, but missed a field goal on its next possession, leaving the door open for New Mexico. With Austin Apodaca now in at quarterback for an injured Jordan, the Lobos could not get anything going. They turned it over on downs on their next drive, leading to an Arizona field goal.

Down eight, New Mexico had one last chance with 1:32 to go, but Apodaca was intercepted as he felt heavy pressure from Wildcats linebacker Scooby Wright, sealing an Arizona win.

In his first game back from injury, Wright, a 2014 All-American, had 15 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss and two sacks in the win. After the game, the junior announced his intent to declare for the NFL draft.

With the win, Arizona finishes at 7-6, giving the team a winning record in all four seasons of the Rich Rodriguez era.

For New Mexico, it’s a bittersweet end to a resurgent season. The Lobos hadn’t finished with a winning record or reached the postseason since 2007, but were able to finish at 7-6. In Davie’s first three seasons with the program, the Lobos were a combined 11-26.

For more Arizona news, visit GOAZCats.com.

- - - - - - -

Sam Cooper is a contributor for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!

Follow @SamDCooper