NEVADA GAME NOTES VS. NEW MEXICO STATE
- With the victory, Nevada now holds a 9-1 lead in the all-time series with New Mexico State and has won both meetings with both schools as members of the Western Athletic Conference.
- Nevada now has a nine-game home winning streak dating back to the 2005 season. Nevada’s last loss at home was the 2005 season opener against Washington State.
- Nevada senior quarterback Jeff Rowe entered the game with 51 straight passes without an interception. That streak came to a close in the first quarter after three more completions to take it to 54. Prior to that, Rowe’s last interception came in the second quarter of Nevada’s victory over Northwestern on Sept. 22.
- Rowe moved up on Nevada’s career passing charts with his performance on Saturday. Rowe completed 10-of-16 for 125 yards with a touchdown. The senior is now fourth in career completions with 619. He moved past Fred Gatlin (1989-1992), who had 613. Ahead of Rowe in third place is Nevada Hall of Famer Chris Vargas (1990-93), who had 625 completions in his career.
- Junior linebacker Jeremy Engstrom had a 19-yard fumble recovery and return for a touchdown, which marked Nevada’s third defensive score this season and the first via a fumble recovery. Junior linebacker Ezra Butler returned an interception 23 yards for touchdown Sept. 9 against Arizona State and Joe Garcia returned an interception 24 yards for TD Sept. 22 against Northwestern for Nevada’s other two defensive scores this season.
- Engstrom’s scoring play marked the second year in a row that Nevada scored on a fumble recovery against New Mexico State. Last year in Las Cruces, Craig Bailey returned a fumble 40 yards for a touchdown.
- Nevada entered the game as the WAC leader (and ranked seventh in the country) in turnover margin and plus 1.12 per game. The Wolf Pack continued their ball-hawking ways with five takeaways (three interceptions and two fumble recoveries) and four giveaways, plus-1 for the game. Nevada is plus-11 in its last six games.
- True freshman safety Jonathon Amaya recorded his first career interception in the second quarter. He returned the pick 15 yards to the NMSU 30-yard line.
- Senior wide receiver Caleb Spencer scored his first touchdown of the season with a 6-yard end-around in the second quarter. He later secured his first receiving score of the season, a 9-yard strike from Travis Moore in the third quarter.
- Nevada had three different quarterbacks senior Jeff Rowe, senior Travis Moore and redshirt freshman Nick Graziano with touchdown passes on the day.
- Today marked the first time in six games that Nevada did not score in the first quarter.
- Senior running back Robert Hubbard rushed 28 times for 114 yards, the fourth time this season that Hubbard has topped the century mark and the second game in a row.
