No. 18 Cougars collapse in loss to New Mexico

Accustomed to fourth-quarter comebacks and wire-walking finishes, the Washington State Cougars ran out of magic, letting a 14-point halftime lead and then a four-point fourth-quarter lead vanish along with any sensible hope at the College Football Playoff.

The New Mexico Lobos upset the Cougars 38-35 in a wild college football game Saturday at University Stadium in Albuquerque, N.M.

The Cougars (8-2) rode a perfect 11-for-11, 221-yard, three-touchdown start from sophomore quarterback John Mateer to a 21-7 second quarter and then 28-14 halftime lead, but couldn’t stop New Mexico QB Devon Dampier, who accounted for 367 total yards, nearly 200 of which came on the ground, and four touchdowns.

With 3:12 left, Wazzu allowed Dampier and the Lobos to march 75 yards down the field to the end zone as the Cougars allowed New Mexico (5-6) to grab the victory.

“It’s an insanely disappointing result,” WSU coach Jake Dickert said to a media member after the game. “I take full ownership for it. We’ve got a bunch of hurt guys in the locker room. I told them I love ’em, I appreciate their energy. The second half was tough; we couldn’t get it going on offense, avoided the run, couldn’t contain (Dampier), didn’t really have any answers for him. They got the ball last and obviously finished the game.”

Mateer’s hot start

Mateer started the game by making his first 11 passes. He tossed two touchdowns, one to sophomore wide receiver Carlos Hernandez and the other two to senior receiver Kyle Williams in the first half and ran for a score.

Mateer’s success was directly tied to senior wide receiver Kyle Williams, who hauled in nine catches for 181 yards and three touchdowns. It was the second straight game that Mateer and Williams connected on three scores.

The Cougar QB also found Hernandez four times for 67 yards and a touchdown, connected with senior tight end Cooper Mathers twice for 71 yards and found senior receiver Kris Hutson and freshman running back Leo Pulalasi three times each for 22 and 19 yards, respectively.

Mateer completed 25-of-36 passes (69%) for 375 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions. The third-year Coug from Little Elm, Texas, connected with seven different receivers in perhaps the finest performance of his 10-game starting QB career.

He also ran for 68 yards on nine carries with one touchdown.

Cougars can’t contain Devon Dampier

Dampier racked up 193 yards and three touchdowns on 27 carries. A whopping 142 of those yards came in the second half.

The sophomore from Tuscon, Ariz., also completed 11-of-25 passes for 174 yards and a touchdown.

New Mexico running back Eli Sanders added 108 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries.

A sleepy third quarter in a nightmare second half

Almost everything that could go wrong did go wrong for the Cougars in the third quarter. After a scorching 357 yards of total offense in the first half, WSU lost a 14-point lead and got outgained 165-61.

The Cougars were held scoreless in the third quarter, continuing a trend in which Wazzu has not mustered more than a touchdown in that frame since its season-opening win over Portland State on Aug. 31 when WSU scored two touchdowns in the third quarter.

Each of WSU’s three offensive drives in the third quarter ended in punts as Mateer completed 3-of-9 passes for 16 yards.

In the fourth quarter, New Mexico connected on a 19-yard field goal to lead 31-28 with 4:40 left.

Mateer and the Cougar offense woke up to engineer a four-play 75-yard touchdown drive capped by a near-perfectly placed ball from Mateer and Williams’ dazzling extra effort to reel in his third touchdown grab of the game.

Unfortunately for the Cougars, they left too much time on the clock. Dampier used almost all of the 3:12 left by using the running game. The Lobos went 75 yards to win the game in 2:51 and did not complete a pass.

The Cougars return to Pullman with their College Football Playoff hopes dashed, but will still compete in a bowl game.

WSU visits its Pac-12 comrade Oregon State at 4 p.m. Saturday.

First Quarter

UNM: Dampier 7 run (Drzewiecki kick), 9:32.

WSU: Hernandez 28 pass from Mateer (D.Janikowski kick), 7:27.

WSU: Mateer 5 run (D.Janikowski kick), 1:30.

Second Quarter

WSU: Ky.Williams 20 pass from Mateer (D.Janikowski kick), 10:21.

UNM: Medford 42 pass from Dampier (Drzewiecki kick), 5:31.

WSU: Ky.Williams 29 pass from Mateer (D.Janikowski kick), 1:10.

Third Quarter

UNM: Dampier 33 run (Drzewiecki kick), 10:20.

UNM: Sanders 26 run (Drzewiecki kick), :25.

Fourth Quarter

UNM: FG Drzewiecki 19, 4:40.

WSU: Ky.Williams 37 pass from Mateer (D.Janikowski kick), 3:12.

UNM: Dampier 1 run (Drzewiecki kick), :21.

A: 14,067.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING: Washington St., Mateer 9-65, Pulalasi 10-58, Parker 11-47, Schlenbaker 1-2. New Mexico, Dampier 28-193, Sanders 13-108, Rogers 6-48, Maiava-Peters 1-8, L.Wysong 1-3.

PASSING: Washington St., Mateer 25-36-0-375. New Mexico, Dampier 11-25-0-174.

RECEIVING: Washington St., Ky.Williams 9-181, Hernandez 4-67, Hutson 3-22, Pulalasi 3-19, Mathers 2-71, Parker 2-9, Meredith 2-6. New Mexico, L.Wysong 5-71, R.Davis 3-50, Medford 2-45, Bruckler 1-8.

MISSED FIELD GOALS: None.

Taylor can be reached at 208-848-2268, staylor@lmtribune.com or on X (formerly Twitter) @Sam_C_Taylor.