Three takeaways from New Mexico's loss to San Jose State

SAN JOSE, Calif. — New Mexico fell behind early and got a reality check from San Jose State in a 35-28 loss Friday night at CEFCU Stadium.

UNM (3-2, 0-1), winners of three straight coming into the game, trailed 21-17 at halftime. SJSU (2-3, 1-0) took control in the second half, scoring twice before the Lobos rallied late to make it a 7-point game.

Spartans quarterback Walker Eget completed 26 of 30 passes for 367 yards and three touchdowns.

Three instant takeaways from the Lobos’ first game in the Mountain West this season:

1. SJSU looked like the better team and That might not be the end of the world: One team entered Friday 3-1, the other 1-3.

One had just beat its in-state rival by 18, the other lost by one point.

One team beat a Power Four program earlier in the season, the other needed a game-winning field goal to ward off a team from the FCS ranks.

Those watching Friday night might not have been able to guess which team was which.

Because for the first time since a 34-17 season-opening loss to Michigan, UNM looked overmatched. SJSU poured all the disappointment of a 1-3 start into an onslaught the Lobos couldn’t stop, setting a once wayward season back on track.

Will this loss derail UNM? Let’s go with no. Prior to the season, this beat writer probably would’ve predicted an outcome like this — after all, SJSU was (rightfully) picked to finish third in the league. The Spartans were supposed to make this jump heading into head coach Ken Niumatalolo’s second year.

The Lobos took a year one jump from the get-go, the type this program simply hasn’t seen in a long, long time. There was enough in a 3-1 start to inspire optimism for the rest of the season. Hopes for six wins and a bowl appearance — maybe a little bit more — are still very much alive; that was always the ceiling for this team.

As disappointing as it might have been, Friday didn’t really change any of that.

“We’re not in a bad position,” head coach Jason Eck said in a news conference Friday. “Probably the only thing this (loss) knocked us out of was, like, (College Football Playoff) contention. But that was never really a goal for our team.”

2. This was far from the defense’s finest night: UNM allowed 480 yards of total offense, 7.3 yards per play, and saw Eget complete his first 13 passes for 161 yards and two touchdowns.

Those are numbers that were (alarmingly) common over the last couple years, a stretch that saw UNM routinely finish with some of the worst defenses in the country. And for one night, SJSU took the Lobos back to those days, filled with games UNM had to win in spite of its defense — not with it.

Eck was right to note earlier this week that the Spartans do a lot of things offensively that “neutralize” what UNM’s good at defensively. But it looked too easy for SJSU at points.

That, too, was a feeling that was all too common over the last two seasons.

“Their plan ended up being better than our plan,” Eck said, “and they executed it better.”

3. This loss might cost UNM in more ways than one: Friday was probably the Lobos’ ugliest game in another regard: Linebacker Dimitri Johnson, safety David Murphy, cornerback Abraham Williams and wide receiver Michael Buckley all left the game with undisclosed injuries.

“I probably won’t know until (Saturday) afternoon how bad those (injuries) are,” Eck said.