UNM football notebook: Final thoughts from the Lobos’ bowl-clinching win

LAS VEGAS — Final thoughts from New Mexico’s 40-35 win over UNLV:

1. Where to start with that one?

The last two stops on fourth down?

The go-ahead scoring drive?

The catches wide receiver Keagan Johnson made on that drive?

“Right now, it’s just kinda emotions everywhere,” Johnson said in a news conference Saturday.

So many big moments. So many big plays. Lobo fans are forgiven if they wore out the edge of their seats Saturday.

Not that they were the only ones who maybe felt a little sapped after.

“That was,” head coach Jason Eck said to kick off a news conference Saturday, “an emotionally exhausting game.”

It wasn’t hard to figure out why: UNM was playing for (and secured) a bowl bid Saturday. That the Lobos took care of that as soon as possible can’t be understated: Eck himself admitted he didn’t want a situation where the Lobos were still looking for a sixth win in the final week of the season, drawing a comparison to a team losing a 3-1 lead in a best-of-seven series.

“They let the other team hang around and all of a sudden it goes to Game 7,” Eck said. “You don’t wanna create that pressure of getting to five wins and losing three straight … It’s nice to get that monkey off your back.”

But as they have all season, the Lobos were also playing to reverse some of the not-so-great vibes that have lingered around this program – something Eck has referenced throughout this season. After all, Saturday was the type of game it wouldn’t have been hard to see last year’s Lobos dropping. The year before that, too.

Matter of fact, UNM probably hasn’t been in a position to win that type of game, against that type of opponent, since the peak of the Bob Davie era.

They're doing so now in year one of the Jason Eck era. And that quality – the sheer hopefulness of it all, at such an early point – almost ensures a few more emotionally exhausting games for fans, players and coaches alike, along with the possibility of celebrations like the one UNM had authored Saturday.

“We have not won the Super Bowl. We’re bowl-eligible, but we haven’t qualified for the Super Bowl,” Eck chuckled. “We gotta reset that with our players and improve this week so that we can finish strong down the stretch.”

2. Defensively, Eck said, UNM wanted to take away the run. The Lobos basically did just that, holding UNLV to 88 yards on 29 carries in a quietly dominating (at least in the context of that game) fashion.

“I think that back (Jai’Den Thomas) is really a good player,” Eck said. “And we held him to 34 yards rushing. I mean, that’s a really excellent job. We didn’t want (quarterback Anthony Colandrea) to hurt us scrambling – we did an OK job against him, he had 40 yards.”

After that performance, UNM now has the second-ranked rushing defense (116.1 yards per game) in the Mountain West. It’s the first time since 2021 that a Lobo defense has held opponents to under 150 rushing yards per game; for comparison’s sake, UNM gave up 212.9 yards on the ground last season.

To be clear, this isn’t a flawless defense by any stretch. But it’s giving up 12.1 less points and 20 less passing yards with 10 more sacks than last year – on top of the dramatic improvement against the run. It’s becoming a pretty timely unit, too, one that’s able to come up with a key stop at the right moment.

It’s been awhile since that’s been the case. Consider it another big reason why this season has gone so differently for the Lobos.

3. Are the Lobos playing for a Mountain West Championship? Is that really on the table?

Well, let’s talk about it.

For starters, ESPN’s Football Power Index (FPI) gives UNM a 5.4% chance of winning the Mountain West, the fourth-best of any team in the league; only Boise State (42.1%), San Diego State (41.4%) and UNLV (6.1%) have better odds entering the final few weeks of the season.

Off that alone, it feels fair to say that the Lobos aren’t quite the level of contender as San Diego State or Boise State. Then again, the Broncos just lost starting quarterback Maddux Madsen for what head coach Spencer Danielson said would be “awhile.” Will they be the same team as they were in a 41-25 win over UNM with a remaining stretch against the Aztecs, Colorado State and Utah State?

Now, simply making the championship game? UNM doesn’t quite control its own fate, but it could happen if the Lobos win out. To that effect, FPI gives them a 10.9% chance of doing so, the third-best odds in the conference behind Boise State (24.9%) and UNLV (14.9%).

Again, still a relative longshot. But if UNM keeps winning and a select few teams – Boise State, Fresno State and Hawaii chief among them – keep losing?

Things could get interesting – although that reality still feels somewhat far away.

Snap counts

UNM’s offensive snap counts from Saturday:

-OL Tyler Lawrence (58)

-OL Malik Aliane (58)

-OL Kaden Robnett (58)

-OL Jaymar Tasi (57)

-WR Keagan Johnson (56)

-WR Shawn Miller (54)

-TE Dorian Thomas (48)

-QB Jack Layne (46)

-OL Isaiah Sillemon (38)

-RB Damon Bankston (29)

-OL Richard Pearce (22)

-RB D.J. McKinney (21)

-TE Cade Keith (15)

-TE Simon Mapa (12)

-QB James Laubstein (12)

-RB Scottre Humphrey (11)

To emphasize just how explosive UNM’s passing game was Saturday: Against UNLV, quarterback Jack Layne completed as many passes (17) on as many attempts (22) as he did against Utah State, but finished with 159 more yards.

UNM’s defensive snap counts from Saturday:

-CB Frankie Edwards III (77)

-CB Jon Johnson (77)

-LB Jaxton Eck (71)

-S Tavian Combs (66)

-DE Keyshawn James-Newby (63)

-S C.J. McBean (60)

-DE Brett Karhu (48)

-S Ky’Won McCray (47)

-S Drew Speech (46)

-S Mercury Swaim (46)

-DE Darren Agu (43)

-DL Gabriel Lopez (42)

-DL Brian Booker (37)

-DL Okiki Olorunfunmi (27)

-CB Azariah Levells (26)

-DL Xavier Slayton (21)

-DL Jalen McIver (19)

-LB Dimitri Johnson (8)

-S Albert Nunes (8)

-S Clint Stephens (7)

-S David Murphy (5)

-DL Cody Thumlert (3)

With nickel safety Caleb Coleman out, safety Ky’Won McCray played his best game as a Lobo, making eight total tackles and forcing a key fumble on Colandrea towards the end of the first half. That’s all after UNM moved him away from linebacker, where he projected as a starter during fall camp.

“He had played more linebacker last year at Jacksonville State, but it was a very different defense,” Eck said. “It was more of a 3-3 stack, kinda junk it up defense, and it was more like see ball, get ball. We ask our linebackers to fit runs and see pullers and things like that, and that was something he struggled with early. And I think (in) the Idaho State game, it really showed up.

“He’s very athletic, he’s got such long arms, he’s rangy. He’s probably not the ideal guy to be in man coverage on a receiver, but he can cover tight ends … He loves football, he plays with great energy. I think he’s just got a knack for making big plays.”

Notes and quotes

-UNM’s second (successful) fake punt in as many weeks – a pass from Jaxton Eck to running back Deshaun Buchanan – was actually something the Lobos got from Utah State.

“We had a bunch of film on that and (UNM’s) scout team ran it against our defense,” Jaxton said. “And they told us it was coming and we still couldn’t stop it. So we’re like, ‘we should probably put this in.’”

-Cornerback Abraham Williams and safety Caleb Coleman were out due to injuries suffered against Utah State, per Eck, while offensive lineman Nevell Brown was sick with the flu and didn’t make the trip. Wide receiver Isaiah Blair was a healthy scratch: “His championship behavior wasn’t quite good enough to come on the trip,” Eck added

-Amid drastic changes to the conference, Eck hopes Saturday is the start of something when it comes to UNM and UNLV: “I’m really glad UNLV is staying with us in the league,” he said. “I told coach (Dan) Mullen that before the game – I think this is gonna end up being a great, great rivalry in the Mountain West going forward. This could be a game that, every year, has title implications in the new Mountain West going forward.”

-At least since the NCAA Division I Board of Directors revised its bowl criteria in 2012, this is the earliest UNM has won its sixth game and clinched a bowl appearance. “I don’t know if I envisioned us getting bowl-eligible with three games left,” Eck admitted, “but pretty awesome that we did.”

-UNM will only practice twice during its bye week, per Eck: I told (the team) we’re gonna go all-in on this game and get them fresh after we won.”

-Eck and Fresno State head coach Matt Entz both worked together for two seasons at Division II Winona State in the late 2000s. Saturday, both first-year coaches led their new programs to bowl eligibility, with Entz’s Bulldogs stomping Boise State 30-7, sending the Broncos to their first regular-season home loss since …

… a 31-24 UNM win in 2015.