Stunner! Three takeaways from New Mexico's dominant win at UCLA

PASADENA, Calif. — The Jason Eck era has a signature win.

Behind running back Damon Bankston’s big night, New Mexico led wire-to-wire in a 35-10 upset over UCLA on Friday night at the Rose Bowl.

Bankston accounted for 203 yards of total offense (154 rushing and 49 receiving) and two touchdowns for the Lobos (2-1).

Entering Friday, UNM was winless against the Big Ten and had not beaten a Power Four opponent since 2008. The Lobos were 15-and-a-half-point underdogs at kickoff.

Three takeaways from the Lobos’ statement win:

1. The Lobos should be able to build on this marquee win

Remember last November?

That chilly night in Albuquerque, when UNM withstood a slow start to come from behind and beat No. 19 Washington State? When the field was stormed after the program’s first win over a ranked opponent in 20 years, an occasion so foreign, so unexpected, some fans didn’t quite know what to do when they reached the turf?

When the Lobos seemed to turn the corner for good, triumphantly emerging from years of mediocre to downright bad football?

“I think we oughta just pause for a second,” UNM’s then-head coach Bronco Mendenhall said during his postgame press conference that night. “The field got stormed at the University of New Mexico.”

That was supposed to be the start of something. Whatever it was, it ended far quicker than expected: A couple weeks later, UNM got shredded at Hawaii and the lights went out for good on its bowl hopes.

Mendenhall left for Utah State. Star quarterback Devon Dampier announced he was transferring to Utah. Scores of other players that played key roles against Washington State left in droves. The Lobos never got a chance to build on that win over Washington State.

Fans never got to see what that team, with that coach and that roster, might become. If the program turned the corner that night, it might as well have swung right back around in the ensuing weeks.

Then there was Friday.

That’s probably the most significant part of UNM’s win over UCLA: The program has a signature win, and should be able to build on it throughout the season. Fans will have a real chance to see what this team can do, to buy in with zero reservations

And while nobody within the program wanted to label the game a turning point, there was at least an acknowledgement that this win was a pretty good foundation .

“I definitely think we gotta lot of momentum and we gotta focus on the task at hand,” Eck said. “We gotta keep getting better.”

Also worthy of acknowledgment: This UCLA team probably won’t climb into the polls this season. Nor are the Bruins (0-3) likely to finish with eight wins like Washington State did. In fact, Friday might have been the unofficial end of this era of UCLA football, a team left to slog through nine more games.

You can’t say the same about UNM. That might just be the biggest win from Friday.

2. The Lobos’ depth at running back delivered

UNM needs running back Scottre Humphrey if it’s going to be that aggressive (more on that later). But the Lobos’ outstanding depth in the backfield was one of the main storylines heading into this season, and they delivered in a big way Friday — especially after Humphrey (48 yards, one touchdown) missed the entire second half with what Eck said was a sprained ankle.

Running back Damon Bankston rushed for 154 yards while D.J. McKinney racked up 89 en route to a team total of 298. The former might’ve delivered the play of the season, somehow staying in bounds to take a screen pass 43 yards into the end zone, putting the Lobos up 28-10 with 10:42 left.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Eck said of the play. “I was thinking situationally — like, (facing third-and-11) what we have to do to get a little closer to go for it, because I wasn’t crazy about kicking a really long field goal. And if you punt, there’s a pretty good chance at a touchback, so I was hoping to just get it to fourth-and-4 so we’d be in a good position to go for it on fourth down.

“I figured, ‘he’s got to step out of bounds or something’, but no, he just ran all the way and scored. What a great play by him.”

UNM had a quality running back room last year. This one might just be better.

3. UCLA didn’t make UNM pay for being aggresive

If it wasn’t obvious already, Humphrey’s importance was never more apparent than it was on UNM’s fifth drive of the night: Facing fourth-and-1 at UCLA’s 3-yard-line, quarterback Jack Layne pulled it and ran just short of the line. If he gets it, the Lobos might have gone up 21-7. At least 17-7.

They didn’t. When faced with another fourth-and-1 deep in the red zone, running back Deshaun Buchanan surged ahead and fumbled. And despite the Lobos holding UCLA to a subsequent three-and-out, that mistake was only compounded by wide receiver Michael Buckley’s muffed punt right after — again, another mistake the defense made up for.

Is the aggression from UNM — an underdog playing on the road, against a Big Ten team — understandable? Yes. Touchdowns are worth more than field goals, after all. And Eck made it clear there was never a question of if they were going to go for it in either situation.

“We weren’t going to be scared,” he said. “We weren’t playing (this game) to keep it close. We came to win these games.”

But should they have taken the points on at least one of those fourth-and-1s, to make it a two-possession game? Probably.

For as dominating as the on-field product and final score looked, there was a feeling after the second failed fourth-and-1 that things might just swing back in the Bruins’ direction.

It didn’t end up mattering: UCLA simply wasn’t able to make them pay for it. And for all the good things UNM did Friday night — to be clear, there were plenty — that was a major part of its win.

UCLA was sloppy throughout the game, committing y 13 penalties for 116 yards.

“(We’re) not executing at a high level and not making plays when we need to,” UCLA head coach Deshaun Foster said in a postgame press conference. “We’re not at our best when our best is needed.”

UNM is on a bye next week and returns to action Sept. 27, hosting rival New Mexico State.

UNM football vs. UCLA: Photos