PORTALES, N.M. -- Eastern New Mexico played its best game of keepaway Saturday night at Greyhound Stadium doubling up No. 5-ranked Midwestern State in time of possession.
But
Layton Rabb and his merry band of receivers made use of their time still managing to roll up 406 yards of total offense in a 31-23 win over ENMU to improve to 5-0 on the season.
The Mustangs not turn their attention to rival Texas A&M-Commerce in another Top 10 matchup Saturday night at Memorial Stadium. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
Rabb notched his seventh career 300-yard performance completing 16-of-28 passes for 310 yards with the help of exceptional performances by
Juwan Johnson and
Xavier Land.
Johnson notched his fourth consecutive 100-yard effort catching eight passes for 166 yards inclduing a 49-yard touchdown to give the Mustangs the lead for good at 24-20 with 7:51 left in the third quarter.
Land, who notched his second career 100-yard receiving effort, needed just four catches to amass 108 yards including a 58-yard catch to set up
Jaron Imbriani's career-long 46-yard field goal at the close of the first half.
The offense received a big lift in the second half as freshman Justin Justin ran out of his redshirt and into the end zone. The former Holliday High School star burst 47 yards on his third collegiate carry then finished the drive with a 5-yard scoring dash to give MSU Texas a 31-20 lead with just over a minute to play in the third quarter.
Jones finished the game with 63 yards on six carries after senior
Vincent Johnson left the game managing just 7 yards on six carries but also delivered a scoring run of his own.
The Eastern New Mexico attack worked its way 386 yards of total offense including 319 on the ground paced by Johnny Smith, who ran for 90 yards on 15 totes.
Senior linebacker
Paul Manus led the Mustangs with 12 tackles including 1.5 for loss, while junoir
Jaydon Cunigan had 11 and junior linebacker
Troy Burnett chipped in 10.
Eastern New Mexico fell to 1-4 on the season.
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