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During his brief tenure as head coach of New Mexico football, Bob Davie has made a habit of breaking Lobo losing streaks.
Last year, UNM broke a 24-game road losing streak and an 18-game Mountain West Conference road losing streak when the Lobos won at Hawaii 35-23. Saturday at UTEP (0-1), the Lobos snapped a 15-game losing streak to Texas schools and a 16-year drought in the state of Texas thanks to a 42-35 overtime win.
Now the Lobos will look to earn their first win in the Eastern Time Zone since 1961 — a 28-12 win over Western Michigan in the Aviation Bowl in Dayton, Ohio — when they travel to the University of Pittsburgh on Saturday as 22-point underdogs, according to CBS Sports.
UNM is 1-7 all time in the Eastern Time Zone, its last game on the East Coast came against at North Carolina State, losing 34-14 in 2002.
“That’s a big challenge (going to Pittsburgh). This will be the most talented team we’ve played on both sides of the football,” Davie said.
Davie is no stranger to Pitt, as he was a graduate assistant there in 1977, and the linebackers coach from 1980-1982. He also faced the Panthers three times when he was head coach of Notre Dame, going 2-1.
“You don’t do it but if you sit and reflect on it, you think how lucky you are, just how lucky you are to do three different things going into that stadium,” Davie said.
Pitt (0-1) is coming off a bye-week after losing its season-opener 41-13 to Florida State on Aug. 31. Against the Seminoles (1-0), the Panthers struggled to establish their running game, finishing with 96 yards on 27 attempts. Freshman receiver Tyler Boyd led Pitt with 54 rushing yards on three carries.
“We weren’t very good on first down (against the Seminoles),” head coach Paul Chryst told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “We need to stay ahead of the chains.”
The passing game might be Pitt’s actual strength on offense. Against Florida State, quarterback Tom Savage completed 15 of 28 passes for 208 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions.
Pitt’s most potent wide-out Devin Street, a Bilentnikoff Award candidate, hauled in 141 yards on six catches.
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Davie said Street is the most talented wide receiver they’ve played so far.
“They’re big and they’re tall. I anticipate that they’ll throw the ball down the field on us,” Davie said. “We haven’t really been tested that much earlier in the season. There have been very few really deep passes thrown on us. I think they’re going to be a ‘run the ball, run the ball, and throw it down the field’ type of team. I’m kind of anxious to watch our secondary get challenged.”
Pitt’s running defense stifled Florida State’s ground attack for a majority of the game, allowing 156 yards on 34 carries. However, the Seminoles were able to torch the Panthers through the air, gaining 377 passing yards while completing 93.1 percent (27 of 29) of their passes.
In the season opener versus the University of Texas-San Antonio, the Lobos’ running attack was stagnant throughout the course of the game. But UNM rebounded at UTEP, rushing for 395 yards. Senior running back Kasey Carrier had 291-yards on a career-high 41 attempts and earned Mountain West Conference Offensive Player of the Week honors.
If the Lobos’ running game doesn’t get on track versus the Panthers, they’ll turn to junior quarterback Clayton Mitchem, who became the 11th signal-caller among the last 18 since 1995 to win his first start for UNM (1-1). On the year, Mitchem has completed just 6 of 12 passes for 107 yards.
“They’re (Pitt’s running defense) stout and strong and active. They’re your worst nightmare,” Davie said. “That’s what caused us problems (in the past) and I’m sure they know that and realize that. I think in the same token that it’s a great challenge for us again. They’re stout in the run.”
Injury report
Senior starting center Dillon Farrell will miss Saturday’s game at Pitt due to an MCL strain but Davie said hopes to have him against UNLV on Sept. 28.
Starting in Farrell’s place will be junior offensive LaMar Bratton, who took over at center when Farrell went out last week.
On Wednesday, Davie announced that sophomore signal-caller Cole Gautsche will play at Pitt after missing last week’s game at UTEP due to concussion-like symptoms.
