FORT COLLINS, Colo. -- Terry Nugent hit on 24 of 42 passes for 374 yards and three touchdowns Saturday to propel Colorado State to a 38-13 victory over Texas-El Paso in a Western Athletic Conference game.
The win evened CSU's record at 4-4 overall and 3-3 in WAC play, while the Miners fell to 1-8 for the season and 0-4 in the league.
Nugent opened the scoring at the 12:07 mark of the first quarter by hitting senior wide receiver Jeff Raikes with a 47-yard touchdown pass. Raikes caught the ball over the middle, then moved to the sideline to outrace the Miners' secondary.
Raikes was also on the receiving end of CSU's longest scoring play of the season when Nugent found him open behind the UTEP secondary for a 79-yard scoring strike. Nugent also hit tight end Keli McGregor on an 8-yard scoring pass in the third quarter.
Nugent, who recorded the second-best single-game total offense mark with 393 yards, also scored on a 1-yard dive over the left side in the third quarter. His 374 passing yards is the third-best single-game mark in Colorado State history and was the most by a CSU quarterback this season.
Wide receiver Jeff Champine caught a season-high six passes for 112 yards.
UTEP kept the game close in the first half by closing to within 17-13 at the midpoint, but Nugent and the Colorado State offense came out and took the second-half kickoff 74 yards for the touchdown, with McGregor's 8-yard catch opening up a 24-13 lead that CSU never relinquished.
UTEP's Kevin Ward passed for 223 yards on 15 of 44 passes, but had one drive stalled with an interception. UTEP's only touchdown came with 24 seconds left in the first half, when Jerry Jones scored on a 2-yard dash after Ward had driven the Miners 67 yards in 21 seconds.
