The University of New Mexico Lobo football team kicked off the 2025 season at the Big House in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on Saturday Aug. 30. The Lobos came into the game as underdogs, led by their new Head Coach Jason Eck, hoping to spoil the University of Michigan’s freshman Quarterback Bryce Underwood’s debut. Instead, Underwood led Michigan's offense, throwing for 251 yards and a touchdown, helping the 14th-ranked Michigan Wolverines beat the Lobos 34-17.
The Lobos struggled from the get-go, as the Wolverine offense made it to mid-field on the first drive, after which Michigan Running Back Justice Haynes took it 56 yards to the house. Following a Lobos three-and-out, Haynes was able to find the endzone again on a 5-yard touchdown run. The first quarter ended with the Wolverines up 14-0.
The second quarter sparked some life into the Lobos. Despite their first two offensive drives of the quarter starting with a punt and Lobos Quarterback Jack Layne throwing an interception, the Lobos defense was able to hold Michigan’s offense to just three points after the pick. The UNM offense responded accordingly, with the Lobos putting together a 12-play 82-yard drive down the field, scoring a touchdown.
The touchdown drive was capped off with some trickery on fourth-and-one, as the Lobos direct snapped the ball to Running Back D.J. McKinney, who threw it to Tight End Dorian Thomas.
On the ensuing kick-off, the Lobos were able to force and recover a fumble in Michigan territory; however, the drive fizzled out and with just under two minutes left in the half, Kicker Luke Drzewiecki nailed a 44-yard field goal, cutting the Michigan lead to seven.
Underwood and the Wolverines offense got the ball back and went to work. Underwood was hitting wide open man after wide open man, as it seemed like every one was coming open, not only on that drive but for the whole game. Underwood capped off the drive, hitting tight end Marlin Klein for a touchdown.
“I think we got to fix some things in coverage. There’s some things we got to coach better, but they (Michigan) do have very good skill guys,” Eck said.
The Lobos went into halftime down 24-10.
The Lobos first drive of the second half went nowhere and they were forced to punt, which led Michigan to drive down the field and score a field goal, extending their lead to 17. The Lobos were able to cut the lead to ten after the Lobo offense went 75 yards, finding the endzone thanks to another Thomas touchdown. The third quarter would end with the Lobos down 27-17.
When the fourth quarter started, the Lobos had possession of the ball, only down 10 and Layne looking to string together another drive. On fourth-and-nine the Lobos decided to go for it, resulting in another interception.
The Lobos defense tried to stop the Wolverine offense but after a 59-yard run by Haynes, Michigan reached the Lobos one-yard line. One more handoff to Haynes resulted in a Wolverine touchdown. The Lobos tried to score and keep themselves in the game, but Michigan ultimately shut out the Lobos for the last 10 minutes of the game, sealing the win.
The Lobos offensive line struggled all game. The stat sheet shows Layne was sacked just three times, but Michigan’s defensive line was in his jersey all night.
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On Saturday, Sept. 6, the Lobos will be back home to take on the Idaho State Bengals.
Eck plans to make sure that the Lobos do not overlook the Bengals and Head Coach Cody Hawkins.
“I think Idaho State caught our attention in week 0. We can’t think we’re gods gift to football because we didn’t lose by 40 to Michigan, we got a ways to go, we got to get better as (a) program,” Eck said. “Coach Hawkins does a good job at Idaho State, they’ll be the underdogs, so I know they’ll come in and play really hard, so we gotta focus on ourselves and get better this week in practice.”
Rodney Prunty is the sports editor for the Daily Lobo. He can be contacted at sports@dailylobo.com or on X @rprunty05
