New Mexico Wraps Up Division

New Mexico buried decades of frustration and failure by finishing off a rare successful regular season with a 51-13 victory over Tulsa Saturday at Albuquerque, N.M.

Led by junior quarterback Graham Leigh’s four touchdown passes, the Lobos, 9-2 overall and 6-2 in the Western Athletic Conference, won the Mountain Division.

The victory sends New Mexico into the league championship game Dec. 6 in Las Vegas against Colorado State, the Pacific Division champion. And it puts the Lobos in line for the school’s first bowl bid since it played in the now-defunct Aviation Bowl 36 years ago.

Leigh, a rough-around-the-edges quarterback when the season started, once again performed brilliantly in a big game, completing 18 of 25 passes for 272 yards.

Leigh, with 19 touchdown passes in the last six games, set the single-season school record with 24. He surpassed the previous record of 22 held by Stoney Case with a 38-yard scoring toss to Milton Thomas midway through the second quarter that put the Lobos in front 21-0.

Tulsa (2-9, 2-6) threw an assortment of offensive formations--from the shotgun to the wishbone--at New Mexico’s defense in the first half and got touchdown runs of two and four yards by tailback Charlie Higgins.

No. 25 Colorado State 38, San Diego 17--Moses Moreno passed for three touchdowns in the second quarter at San Diego to help the Rams gain a berth in the WAC championship game.

It was the seventh consecutive victory for the Rams (9-2, 7-1), who clinched first place in the Pacific Division.

The Rams also matched their best winning streak since 1994, when they went 7-0 to open the season.

San Diego State (5-7, 4-4) finished the season with its second losing record in nine years. The Aztecs took a 3-0 lead in the first quarter, then gave up 38 consecutive points.

Utah 20, Brigham Young 14--Quarterback Darnell Arceneaux, a redshirt freshman, ran for two touchdowns in leading the Utes (6-5, 5-3) over the Cougars (6-5, 4-4) at Provo, Utah.

Arceneaux’s second touchdown, on the first play of the fourth quarter, gave Utah the lead at17-14.

San Jose State 55, Nevada Las Vegas 48--Dan O’Dell threw his fifth touchdown pass of the game, a 10-yard play to Oliver Newell in overtime, to give the Spartans (4-7, 4-4) a victory over the Rebels (3-8, 2-6) at Las Vegas.

The Spartans, who had never played in an overtime game, had a chance to win in regulation, but David Silverstein missed a 34-yard field-goal try with eight seconds left.

UNLV (3-8, 2-6) lost a chance to tie the game in the overtime as the Spartans stopped running back James Wofford on three consecutive plays starting from the two-yard line. The final play was from inside the one.

Wofford finished with 170 yards in 28 carries.

Fresno State 24, Wyoming 7--The Bulldogs took advantage of four Cowboy turnovers to win at Fresno.

Jay Stoner passed for 275 yards for Wyoming (7-6, 4-4), completing 28 of 61 attempts, but had four passes intercepted.

Michael Pittman rushed for 138 yards and one touchdown to lead Fresno State (6-5, 5-3).

It was Fresno State’s first non-losing season since 1993.

Rice 31, Texas El Paso 13--Two long passes by Chad Nelson set up touchdown runs by Benji Wood and Chad Richardson as Rice (7-4, 5-3) beat the Miners (4-7, 3-5) at Houston.