Burrell leads Fresno State past New Mexico, 35-24

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- Brian Burrell threw for 318 yards and three touchdowns and Fresno State rallied to beat New Mexico 35-24 on Friday night in the Mountain West opener for both teams.

Burrell was 27 of 39 with one interception and ran for 63 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries for the Bulldogs (2-3). Marteze Waller rushed for 163 yards on 19 carries, and Josh Harper had six catches for 94 yards and a touchdown.

"The coaches got us ready, had a good game plan and we just went out there and executed," Burrell said. "I felt more comfortable as the game went on. The thing about it was I was trusting my receivers and trusting myself. There were several times I just threw the ball up to my receivers and they went up and made plays."

Burrell threw a 23-yard touchdown pass to Harper early in the second quarter, and connected with Josh Quezada on a 10-yard scoring strike with 16 seconds left in the half.

"I'm really pleased with our guys going on the road and getting a good conference win," Fresno State coach Tim DeRuyter said. "We didn't start off the game particularly well. Credit New Mexico, who came out and played hard and made some things difficult with some wrinkles they added to their offense, but our guys came out and did a great job in the second half."

The Bulldogs took a 21-17 lead on Burrell's 3-yard touchdown pass to Greg Watson on the opening drive of the third quarter.

The Lobos (1-3) regained the lead on Lamar Jordan's 36-yard touchdown pass to David Anaya midway through the third. Fresno State took the lead for good on Quezada's 1-yard run on fourth down with 56 seconds left in the third. Burrell set up the score with a 45-yard run to the 5.

Burrell capped the scoring with a 3-yard run in the fourth.

"We knew we were capable of it," DeRuyter said about the Bulldogs' offensive output. "Last week's game (a 56-16 victory over Southern Utah) helped our confidence and then this week our guys felt like they had a good grip on the game plan and we executed really well. We moved the ball really well."

The Bulldogs' no-huddle offense amassed 30 first downs and 593 yards of total offense.

"We're just not mature enough right now to execute at an extended period of time against a good team," New Mexico coach Bob Davie. "We are nowhere near where we will be on defense. Trust me. The stage was set. We're just not yet seasoned enough. ... I think right now, just being brutally honest, the game is too fast for us on defense."

Crusoe Gongbay ran for 163 yards on 28 carries for New Mexico.

"Offensively we have come a long way to run the dive up in there as much as we ran the dive," Davie said. "There were a lot of positives. There really were. We were certainly in a position to win the game."

The Bulldogs held the Lobos to 93 yards in the second half after giving up 289 in the first.

"You just got to get a feel for the play calls, the linemen pulling and just the offensive tendencies," said linebacker Karl Mickelsen, who had a season-high 12 tackles. "In the option read, a team like this when everything is moving so fast, you just got to slow everything down and play your game."

Jhurell Pressley and Lamar gave New Mexico a 17-7 lead with scoring runs in a 3:52 span in the second quarter. Pressley scored from 18 yards, and Lamar from 26.

Lamar was 4 of 7 for 97 yards.