New Mexico football survives scare from Idaho State

New Mexico overcame a sloppy start to come back and beat Idaho State 32-22 in its home opener Saturday at University Stadium.

The Bengals (0-3) took a 22-17 lead early in the fourth quarter off running back Tytan Mason’s 3-yard touchdown. The Lobos (1-1) outscored Idaho State 15-0 down the stretch.

Running back Scottre Humphrey powered UNM with 141 rushing yards and two touchdowns, his second setting up the final score.

Three takeaways from the Lobos’ win, the first for head coach Jason Eck at UNM:

1. UNM wanted to put on a ‘good show;’ Idaho State might have stolen it

Credit to Eck for embracing what’s always been true: College sports is entertainment. And whether UNM wins or loses, the on-field product should be just as palatable to fans as any new concessions item or refreshed tailgating experience.

“I’m hoping we can get 25,000 people in here to support us with all the things that we’ve done,” Eck said during a news conference Tuesday. “And I wanna make sure we put on a good show so they wanna come back after they come.”

UNM drew 17,639 fans Saturday, the best attendance for a home opener since 2018. But even down its starting quarterback and top two running backs, it looked like FCS Idaho State was more than happy to steal the show; backup quarterbacks Davis Harsin and Jackson Sharman played beyond their experience levels, the Bengals defense was all over what UNM offered and their receivers were excellent.

Coming into the game, it was a question of whether UNM would get the Idaho State team that pushed UNLV in Week 0 or the one that got pounded by Southern Utah last week.

And by the time Mason rumbled into the end zone to put Idaho State up 22-17 with 10 minutes, 40 seconds to go in the game, it felt like the answer was clear. These Bengals were writing, producing and directing the on-field entertainment at University Stadium.

But UNM would find the end zone twice in the final 7:18.

“I was hoping that maybe we could have extended the (early) lead out and took control of the game sooner than we did,” Eck said Saturday. “But they’re a good team ... They’re tough-minded.”

The Lobos deserve credit for making the plays needed to survive, even if Saturday wasn’t quite what players and coaches envisioned it would be. A win is a win, and the Lobos got one through their resiliency.

“I smiled at some of the guys (in the fourth quarter) and told the guys, ‘this is awesome,’” Eck said. “’This is great for us — it’s like eating a bowl of vegetables.’ You might not love the taste like those games where you win by 40, but that’s awesome to have to come back and show toughness and respond when the game’s on the line and you’re down late.”

2. The Lobos still have plenty to work through

To rehash last week: UNM struggled to protect Jack Layne against Michigan, full stop. Per members of the Lobos’ offensive line, the junior quarterback took nine hits last week, the product of what they said was a mix of first-game jitters and communication issues.

“Game one is always going to be a few more mental errors than you want,” starting right guard Richard Pearce said Tuesday, “but the best teams make those corrections between game one and game two. And we want to do that.”

With the understanding that it’s hard (if not impossible) to throw a perfect game in the trenches, it didn’t feel like the offensive line did agaisnt Idaho State. One drive late in the first half saw Layne take back-to-back sacks, killing a scoring opportunity. That the protection issues against Michigan were more on the Lobos than the Wolverines was encouraging and frustrating, Eck said; this week was far more of the latter — frustrating — than anything else.

That was just on the offense, though. At points, the Lobos struggled to generate reliable pressure on Harsin and Sharman. UNM is down a key safety in Austin Brawley, yes, but there were some issues in coverage. A few disconnects in the passing game, too.

“We gotta lotta stuff we gotta fix,” Eck chuckled.

Like Pearce alluded to, there’s a belief among some players and coaches that teams see the biggest improvement from game one to game two. In that regard, the good news is that UNM showed enough against Michigan for fans to believe they can be competitive down the stretch.

The bad news? That game-one-to-game-two jump didn’t exactly happen.

Is that an issue?

“I definitely think you can improve more in the first half of the season than the second half of the season,” Eck said. “But I don’t know if I saw any regression ... I think we need a lot of general improvements over this week.”

3. Scottre Humphrey lived up to the hype

Last week’s loss to Michigan was an abject disappointment in at least one way: UNM couldn’t get much of anything going on the ground. The Lobos ran for just 50 yards on 28 attempts (1.8 yards per carry) and while UNM’s four prized backs looked good catching passes, there wasn’t a whole lot to write home about.

“200 (yards for Michigan), 50 for us, that’s not a recipe to win football games,” Eck said Tuesday. “You’re going to win very few football games when you get outrushed four-to-one.”

UNM wasn’t in danger of getting outrushed four-to-one by Idaho State; that’s just not what the Bengals do. But there was a point in the second quarter where UNM was rolling along at 3.5 yards per carry, and it might’ve felt like a question of if, not when, things might get rolling — at least in the way it was promised.

Then Scottre Humphrey had his say.

There might not have been a more hyped transfer than the 5-foot-10, 209-pound former Montana State running back and he showed why, popping a 61-yard touchdown to put the Lobos up 14-3 in the second quarter. That play seemed to ward off whatever bit of anxiety was in the crowd and spark the running game simultaneously, exactly the type of effect a player like Humphrey was supposed to provide.

Humphrey also made his impact in the clutch when he spotted a couple key runs in a drive that put UNM back up 17-16 late in the third quarter. Then there was a key fourth-and-2 conversion off a direct snap that set up the Lobos’ late go-ahead touchdown, a play that practically screamed: Put the ball in his hands and good things happen.

That constitutes living up to the hype — perhaps the biggest positive development Saturday, even if Humphrey thought he left some yards on the table.

“To me, this is like one of the worst games I had,” he said Saturday. “I feel like I could have played a lot better. There’s a lot of stuff I could have done better.”

At least for Saturday, it was good enough.

UNM defeats Idaho State in home opener: Photos