Wright: Albuquerque can relate to Eck — so far, anyway

To ability, stability, reliability, coachability, eligibility and all the other “ilities” that go into building a college football program, let us not forget relatability.

Saturday at University Stadium, the New Mexico Lobos rallied from a shaky first half to beat the New Mexico State Aggies 38-20 in the 115th renewal of the Rio Grande Rivalry.

A sellout crowd of 37,440, clearly, could relate.

So, what all went in to producing the first sellout at University Stadium since 2007, and what’s going to keep fans coming in droves as the 2025 schedule unfolds?

Clearly, The Lobos’ 35-10 upset of UCLA at the Rose Bowl on Sept. 12, greatly excited the fan base. UCLA was, and is, terrible. But, c’mon — as Steve Alford said as he was walking out the door of the the Pit in 2013, “Hey, it’s UCLA.”

Since the UCLA game, though, first-year head coach Jason Eck and first-year Athletic Director Fernando Lovo have accomplished something coach Bob Davie and Athletic Director Paul Krebs tried but failed to do in 2015 after the miracle on Boise State’s blue turf — capitalize on a high-profile road win.

I’ve been following UNM football since the Eisenhower administration, which is why I had no idea who “IShowSpeed” was or why his presence at Saturday’s game created such a tizzy. Eck actually can relate, sort of, thanks to the coach’s 10-year-old son, Maverick.

What’s far more important for our purposes is how the relatable Eck is. This is no knock on Bob Titchenal, Dick Clausen, Marv Levy, Bill Weeks, Rudy Feldman, Bill Mondt, Joe Morrison, Joe Lee Dunn, Mike Sheppard, Dennis Franchione, Rocky Long, Mike Locksley, Davie, Danny Gonzales or Bronco Mendenhall. There are some pretty relatable guys on that list, some, of course, more than others.

Eck, though, through words and actions, communicates to the fan base in ways his predecessors did not. There’s just something about offensive linemen.

If the fans can relate to Eck, so can his players.

“The term gets overused a lot, but he’s really a player’s coach,” said quarterback Jack Layne (23-of-30, 303 yards, four touchdowns) “It feels more like a family instead of just a business. He makes it feel like one big family.”

Relatability, of course. does not trump winning, as Sheppard — a really nice guy who went 9-50 during his five years in Albuquerque — found out.

But, so far, Eck is winning.

After the Lobos trailed 17-14 at halftime on Saturday, bedeviled by the kinds of mistakes they’d avoided in victories over Idaho State and UCLA, they outscored the Aggies 24-3 in the second half.

Reacting to an NMSU defensive scheme that limited the Lobos’ success on the ground, UNM went to the air with more and more success as the game wore on.

Perhaps frustrated to be trailing at halftime despite having sacked NMSU quarterback Logan Fife six times, the UNM defense held the Aggies to a single field goal in the second half.

The Lobos are 3-1 for the first time since 2007, also, as noted above, the last time they played in front of a sellout crowd at University Stadium. The 2007 Lobos went 9-4 and beat Nevada and the Wolf Pack’s star freshman quarterback Colin Kaepernick in the New Mexico Bowl.

Does such success await the 2025 Lobos? For all we know at this point, they could go 3-9. I recall Davie’s first UNM team winning four of its first seven games, prompting talk of a bowl game, then losing its last six.

In the short term, if the Lobos lose their next two games — at San Jose State on Friday, at Boise State on Oct. 11 — how many people are going to pay their way into University Stadium to see UNM play Nevada on Oct. 18?

Fans are fickle, and Lobo football fans fickler than most. But, given Saturday’s crowd and what turned out to be a resounding win over UNM’s downstate rival, a victory in either of the upcoming road games — or even strong showings in defeat — likely would produce a healthy turnout for Nevada.

Then, on Oct. 25, Mendenhall, who jilted UNM for Mountain West Conference seceder Utah State after just one season, brings his Aggies to town.

Lobo fans, we know you can relate to that.