New Mexico stifles Bison in taking big Mountain West win

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A brief rain deluge before the North Dakota State at New Mexico Mountain West Conference football game had the Bison fans in attendance scurrying for cover. The Bison offense can relate, it spent Saturday night trying to run from the Lobos defense. New Mexico ran its MWC conference to 3-0 with a thorough defensive effort in taking a 21-16 win before 34,794 fans, the largest crowd against a team not named New Mexico State since 2005 against Colorado State. Head coach Jason Eck led a promotional ticket campaign all week and it worked. The Bison fell to 3-2 in the league and 6-2 overall, the second straight road loss where it had the ball late in the game with a chance to rescue a victory from a loss. "The fans were into it, I felt like it was a Mountain West championship game right there," said Bison linebacker Gavin Sell. The Lobos had the momentum for most of the game, but the Bison still hung tight. A 15-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Nat