UNM football's conference opener is here. Everything you need to know about the Lobos' game at San Jose State

Everything you need to know ahead of New Mexico’s conference opener at San Jose State:

Who: UNM (3-1) vs. SJSU (1-3).

When and where: 8 p.m. Friday at CEFCU Stadium in San Jose, Calif.

How to watch/listen: FS1 will carry UNM-SJSU with Trent Rush (play-by-play) and Mark Helfrich (analyst) on the call. Robert Portnoy (play-by-play) and DonTrell Moore (analyst) will also broadcast the game via radio on the Lobo Radio Network (770 AM/96.3 FM).

Who’s favored: SJSU is a 2.5-point favorite, per ESPN BET.

Top storyline(s): One team is 1-3. The other is 3-1.

It might as well not matter.

Because regardless of how well UNM fared in its nonconference schedule (and how mediocre SJSU was), both teams are 0-0 in Mountain West play. A new season effectively starts Friday, and Jason Eck would like nothing more than to open it with a win.

“Conference games are bigger,” New Mexico’s first-year head coach said during a news conference Tuesday. “If you’re a Group of Five team, you don’t really have a realistic chance of winning the national championship — I mean, a conference championship is the only championship you can win.”

SJSU is probably better than the 1-3 record it carries into Friday. Two of its losses were decided by a combined three points, with the Spartans missing four potentially game-winning field goals across both games; the third was a 38-7 loss at Texas, the preseason No. 1 team in the country.

SJSU was picked to finished third in the league and Eck is cognizant there’s only so many opportunities for the Spartans to get back on track.

“This team’s gonna be desperate,” he said. “You don’t wanna start 1-4 if you’re gonna go to a bowl game, and those guys have gone to three straight bowl games.

“I haven’t been to a bowl game since …” Eck paused. “ … like, a long time ago. 2002? But I still remember that they’re great and I wanna go to a bowl game. So, we’re gonna get this team’s best shot, for sure.”

And while UNM’s 38-20 win over rival New Mexico State was one of the program’s finest days in recent memory, Eck admitted there might be at least a little concern over an emotional letdown.

“It’s something we’re trying to prepare our players for,” he added. “Because, really, big games are made upon themselves — the more you win, the bigger games get, and the more big games you play in throughout the year. Hopefully we’re not a team that’s just going to have one or two big games a year.”

Spartans to watch: If a lot of offseason hype surrounding SJSU was fueled by the return of quarterback Walker Eget, it looks like he’s finally living up to it: After throwing for 714 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions in the the Spartans’ first three games, the 6-foot-3, 223-pound redshirt senior completed 36 of 58 passes (62.1%) for 473 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions last week against Stanford.

“Strong arm, accurate, gets the ball out quick — kinda the full package there,” Eck said. “I don’t think he’s quite the athlete that (UCLA’s Nico Iamaleava) or (Michigan’s Bryce Underwood) is, but I think arm, talent-wise and decision-making, I think we gotta really do a good job of just mixing up stuff against them.

“Because he’s really good (at) figuring out if you’re in man coverage, and they have man beaters in this offense. You know, figuring out if you’re zone coverage, and they have zone beaters in this offense. We got to try to have some confusion where he doesn’t always know what we’re in.”

On the other side of the ball, the Spartans will have two ultra-productive linebackers — perhaps the best tandem in the Mountain West — in Jordan Pollard and Taniela Latu. SJSU has also benched kicker Denis Lynch after he missed six field goal attempts over four games; Mathias Brown will be the kicker to watch Friday, per head coach Ken Niumatalolo.

Lobos to watch: Keagan Johnson couldn’t quite describe the feeling after he hauled in his first touchdown as a Lobo last Saturday.

“(I) was just blacked out, just running around,” the 6-0, 199-pound receiver laughed.

After catching seven passes for 135 yards against NMSU, the Kansas State transfer cemented his status as UNM’s WR1 and believes things could get even better for the Lobos’ passing attack down the stretch — pencil him in as a key Lobo to watch this week.

“I think you’ll continue to see that progression throughout the season,” he said. “It’s going to help the run game, too, because teams are going to understand that they’re going to have to defend both. And I think that’s a great thing for the offense.”

What happened the last time these teams played? After trailing 17-14 at halftime, SJSU shredded UNM for 38 second-half points and rolled to a decisive 52-24 win on Oct. 14, 2023 at University Stadium. That game sparked a six-game winning streak that saw the Spartans narrowly miss the Mountain West Championship after starting 1-5; UNM finished 2-4 to close the season.

That Oct. 14 win was also SJSU’s 10th in its last 12 tries against UNM, a dominating stretch in what’s been a surprisingly lopsided series. Trailing 15-5-1 all-time, the Lobos last beat the Spartans with a three touchdown performance from Richard McQuarley in 2016; they have not won in San Jose since rallying for a 27-24 win in 1969.

The Lobos’ quarterback that game? A first-year starter named Rocky Long, who completed 9 of 14 passes for 121 yards and one touchdown with a team-high 70 rushing yards to boot.