Damon Bankston, New Mexico bulldoze UCLA for 298 yards rushing in 35-10 win

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PASADENA, Calif. (AP) — Damon Bankston ran for 154 yards and a touchdown and caught a 43-yard touchdown pass to help New Mexico rout UCLA 35-10 on Friday night for its first victory over a Big Ten opponent.

Jack Layne threw for 152 yards and two touchdowns, D.J. McKinney and Scottre Humphrey each ran for a score, and the Lobos (2-1) knocked off a power conference foe for the first time since defeating then-Pac-10 member Arizona on Sept. 13, 2008.

New Mexico came into the game as 15 1/2 point underdogs, according to BetMGM. However, first-year coach Jason Eck’s offense bullied the home team for 298 yards rushing on 46 carries.

“There's a quote that I love, I'm not sure who said it, but fortune favors the bold, so you got to be aggressive to win games like that," Eck said. “We weren't going to be scared. We don't play these games to try to keep it close. We come to win these games.”

Nico Iamaleava was 22 of 34 passing for 217 yards and a touchdown, and the Bruins (0-3) didn't have a chance with a sloppy effort on both sides of the ball exacerbated by 13 penalties for 116 yards.

“Yeah, it's pretty low right now," UCLA coach and former star running back DeShaun Foster said about the state of the program. “I've been around this program for a long time, and it's just unfortunate what's going on at this moment. Just not executing.”

After attempting trick play passes on the first two snaps, the Lobos turned to the ground game and immediately found success, leading to Humphrey’s 1-yard touchdown run late in the first quarter.

“I thought we may have to wear them down as the game went on, but we ran it well early, so credit to the O-line,” Eck said.

Layne lobbed a fourth-down toss to tight end Simon Mapa in the corner of the end zone for an 8-yard score to make it 14-0 before the Bruins finally got on track with Iamaleava’s 12-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open Titus Mokiao-Atimalala.

After UCLA pulled within 14-10 on Mateen Bhaghani’s 51-yard field goal in the third quarter after recovering a muffed punt, New Mexico took charge for good with a punishing 13-play, 75-yard drive capped by Bankston’s 2-yard touchdown run.

“I ain't gonna lie, me personally, I thought it was gonna be a closer game," Bankston said. “But once we got to halftime, and we realized that we had a lot of mistakes and we still had the lead, it was like, let’s go ahead and, like, try to pull away from these guys.”

New Mexico: This wasn’t a fluke and could have been out of reach much earlier if the Lobos had cashed in two quality chances inside the 10 to add to their lead on either side of halftime. New Mexico held the ball for 36:38 and didn't allow a tackle for loss.

UCLA: First-quarter sluggishness continues to be a problem for the Bruins, having been outscored 30-0 in its three non-conference games. It could have been worse, though, with video replay reversing a fumble by running back Anthony Woods that would have set the Lobos up deep in opposing territory.

Eck, who played at Wisconsin and was part of the team that won the 1999 Rose Bowl over UCLA before starting his coaching career with the Badgers, said it was special to beat a Big Ten opponent.

“I never dreamed it would be UCLA,” said Eck, who is 3-0 as a player and coach at the Rose Bowl. “I never foresaw them getting in the Big Ten, but it's definitely satisfying and shows what we're capable of doing.”

New Mexico: The Lobos wrap up their non-conference slate hosting New Mexico State in the Rio Grande Rivalry on Sept. 27.

UCLA: The Bruins open conference play at Northwestern on Sept. 27.

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