WESTERN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE : Leach Passes for 622 Yards, but Lobos Lose to Utah

Wayne Lammle kicked a 48-yard field goal with 12 seconds left to give Utah a 41-39 Western Athletic Conference victory over New Mexico Saturday at Salt Lake City.

The victory came despite record-setting performances by New Mexico’s Jeremy Leach and Terance Mathis.

Leach, from Granada Hills, passed for 622 yards, just missing the NCAA single-game record of 631, which Utah’s Scott Mitchell set against Air Force in 1988.

Leach completed 41 of 68 passes and threw for four touchdowns, three of which went to Mathis.

Mathis’ three touchdown catches tied him with Duke’s Clarkston Hines for most in a career. Both have 35 to eclipse the previous record of 34 which Elmo Wright of Houston set while playing from 1968-70.

Mathis had 16 catches for 252 yards. That gives him 4,171 receiving yards in his career, making him the first man in NCAA history to eclipse the 4,000-yard mark in that category.

New Mexico trailed 35-23 entering the fourth quarter, but used two Leach-to-Mathis touchdown passes to come back.

The first went for 26 yards and the second went for 14.

Lammle’s winning field goal was the fourth of the game. He also had kicks of 52, 36 and 45 yards.

Utah improved to 4-6 overall and 2-4 in the WAC. The Lobos dropped to 1-10 and 0-7.

San Diego State 27, Wyoming 17--Senior Ron Slack ran 49 yards for a touchdown with 7:57 to play and Andy Trakas added a 27-yard field goal to give the Aztecs, 6-3-1 overall and 4-2 in the WAC, the victory at San Diego. It was the Aztecs’ fifth consecutive victory. Wyoming (4-6 and 4-3) had won three games in a row.

Colorado State 52, Texas El Paso 0--Fullback Todd Yert of Mission Viejo scored four touchdowns to lead the Rams to a rout of the Miners in a WAC game at El Paso.

Colorado State improved to 6-5-1 and 4-3.

Texas El Paso (1-8 and 1-6) played the second half without starting quarterback Howard Gasser. Gasser was playing with a sore shoulder injured last week against Hawaii. Tres Sullivan replaced Gasser, but had little success as the Miners were shut out for the first time since 1983.

Colorado State outrushed UTEP 123 yards to 10 in the first quarter and took a 17-0 lead. It was 24-0 at halftime and 38-0 after Yert scoring his third touchdown on a two-yard run.

With 5:28 remaining in the game, free safety Andy Byrne intercepted a Sullivan pass and ran it 16 yards for a touchdown and the 52-0 final.

TOP PASSERS A look at the top single-game passing performances in NCAA Division I-A history.

Player School Yds Scott Mitchell Utah 631 Jeremy Leach New Mexico 622 Dave Wilson Illinois 621 Robbie Bosco Brigham Young 585 Marc Wilson Brigham Young 571 Jim McMahon Brigham Young 565 Tony Adams Utah State 561 Chuck Hartlieb Iowa 558 Greg Cook Cincinnati 554