SCORE: Utah 52, New Mexico 7
RECORD: 7-3 (4-2 Mountain West Conference)OFFENSE: Other than three interceptions, which coach Ron McBride said came from quarterback T.D. Croshaw having too much time to pick and choose -- he should have thrown more quickly, McBride said -- the offensive show was a gigantic turnaround from the past two weeks.
UNM is certainly not a great defensive team, but its rushing defense still ranks ahead of the Utes', even if Utah ran for 301 yards against the Lobos.
The line allowed but one sack, one the game's first play. Mike Anderson's 204 yards rushing is seventh-best in Ute history. GRADE: A
DEFENSE: Held the Lobos nearly 50 yards under their total-offense average and more than 50 yards under what Utah usually allows, and much of it (80 yards) came on the first drive.
The Utes gave up just one scoring drive and intercepted (Jay Hill, Andre Dyson) when the Lobos even got close again. UNM had the ball just 26 minutes against the Ute defense that was playing mostly without starters Kimball Christianson, Richard Seals. GRADE: A
SPECIAL TEAMS: Utah didn't have to punt once, so there was no return yardage there. Steve Smith's back-to-back punt-return touchdowns of 70 and 52 yards broke the game open. Cletus Truhe made all of his kicks again, a 32-yard field goal and seven PATs. GRADE: A
NEXT UP: At Brigham Young Saturday, 1 p.m., ESPN+Plus