Arizona cornerback Chris McAlister takes down New Mexico quarterback Graham Leigh during the second quarter in the Insight.com Bowl, Saturday, Dec. 27, 1997 in Tucson, Ariz. AP Photo/Jeff Robbins

Web posted December 28, 1997

Associated Press

TUCSON, Ariz. - It took the best defense in the Pac-10 to find the downside of New Mexico quarterback Graham Leigh.

Arizona's plundering secondary of Rashee Johnson, Kelvin Hunter, Chris McAlister and Kelly Malveaux intercepted four passes off Leigh Saturday night in the Wildcats' 20-14 victory in the Insight.com Bowl.

Leigh, who threw just eight interceptions during the season and only one in his last 94 passes coming into the game, produced 247 of New Mexico's 290 total yards. But the player of the year in the Mountain Division of the Western Athletic Conference was victimized by a defense that ranked first in the Pac-10 this season.

``I have no excuses,'' Leigh said. ``You can't win with four turnovers.''

McAlister killed a New Mexico drive in the first quarter and Hunter and Johnson intercepted Leigh's passes on consecutive Lobos possessions in the third quarter. Hunter, who outwrestled New Mexico receiver Brian Messer for the ball, fractured his left ankle on the play.

Malveaux, beaten in the first quarter by New Mexico receiver Milton Thomas on a 15-yard scoring pass, finished off the Lobos by stepping in front of Leigh's pass with 4:34 left in the game.

New Mexico, with Leigh scrambling for yardage most of the night, got New Mexico within six points with a 4-yard run with 26 seconds left in the third quarter.

Leigh, who produced 2,846 yards of total offense in leading the Lobos to their first bowl appearance in 36 years, got one last chance after a 37-yard Arizona punt gave the Lobos possession at the Wildcats 48.

Two plays later, Leigh tried to float a pass over Malveaux. This time, the pass was underthrown and Malveaux pulled it down and raced to the New Mexico 36. From there, the Wildcats ate up the rest of the clock.

``It was the same play I was beaten on earlier,'' Malveauz said. ``I wasn't going to let it happen again. I just stepped up at the right time.''

``Arizona's defense played darn good. Graham played very well much of the night, but we needed three or four plays to go our way,'' New Mexico coach Dennis Franchione said.

Franchione, who resigned two weeks ago to take the coaching job at TCU, said the difference was Arizona's ability to disrupt New Mexico's offense.

``They made it difficult to do a lot of things offensively,'' he said. ``For the most part they took away our option. They have so much speed. Nobody ran the ball on them this year.''

New Mexico finished with 140 yards rushing, 79 by Leigh. The Lobos finished with 290 total yards, well off their season average of more than 404 yards a game.

The four interceptions gave Arizona 14 for the year.