Upsets don’t occur too often in Lobo Land.
UNM will not only be facing 17th ranked Arizona State on Saturday, it’ll be trying to beat history as well.
Historically, the Lobos have been putrid against the AP Top 25 with just a 5-50 overall record. UNM’s last win over a ranked opponent came in October 2003 when it won at No. 23 Utah 47-35. The Lobos last victory versus a ranked adversary at home happened in 1994, and since then they’ve gone 0-9 when facing a top 25 team in Albuquerque.
Head coach Bob Davie said if UNM (0-1) does pull the upset over ASU, it’s not farfetched to call it one of the program’s biggest wins. The Sun Devils are listed as 25-point favorites heading into the game.
“I think we’ve got to play the best game in the history of this program in order to win the game,” he said. “Agree? Fair? Would it be the biggest win in the history of this program, beating Arizona State at home?”
The task will be that much harder for the Lobos without starting quarterback Cole Gautsche, who suffered a pulled right hamstring in the second half of UNM’s 31-24 season-opening loss against UTEP. In Gautsche’s place will be senior signal-caller Clayton Mitchem. This will be Mitchem’s eighth start of his Lobo career.
The main difference between the two quarterbacks is how each controls the triple option offense. Gautsche understands when to pull or when to keep the ball, while Mitchem has had trouble making the correct reads on option runs.
Freshman Lamar Jordan will also see playing time at signal-caller, Davie said. How much time Jordan will see depends on how well Mitchem runs the offense.
Mitchem said he understands the offense better in his second year at UNM.
“I’m pretty comfortable in it, and I have confidence in myself and my teammates now that I can keep, pitch or pull. I can make the reads now,” he said. “I wasn’t fully confident in myself or pretty sure with my reads going into the game. Now I feel like what exactly is going on. I feel like I know what the defense is going to go before they even do it.”
The Sun Devils run an up-tempo spread offense under third-year head coach Todd Graham. ASU lands in Albuquerque after a 45-14 victory over Weber State last weekend.
Quarterback Taylor Kelly, running back D.J. Foster and wide receiver Jaelen Strong are some of the Sun Devils biggest playmakers on offense. Strong already has eight 100-yard receiving games in his three-year career.
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Sophomore linebacker Dakota Cox said ASU (1-0) features one of the fastest offenses he’s seen.
“The main thing we need to focus on is getting the call and being able to lineup. It’s a fast-paced offense and that’s what we’ve been practicing,” he said. “Just getting lineup and getting the call and making sure we know what to do and we don’t lineup without any call or anything.”
ASU’s defense relies on speed to create chaos and force turnovers. The Sun Devils base defense is a 3-4. Davie noted how young ASU is on defense with three freshmen defensive starters.
“They try to create negative plays. They’re fast and they try to cause havoc. They’re an attack style defense,” Davie said. “They forced a lot of turnovers and a lot of negative plays the past couple of years.”
Thomas Romero-Salas is the sports editor for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @ThomasRomeroS.
