The New Mexico Lobos have started off the season with a bang.
The Lobos hosted the Central Michigan Chippewas in the season opener on Sept. 5 and dominated, blowing out the Chippewas 38-7. The Lobo defense was on full display as they put on a clinic all night long.
The defense — which showed how dominant they can be throughout fall camp — also had some bulletin board material to work with coming into the game.
“(Central Michigan) were on TV telling everyone they were going to come in here and dominate us and be the more physical team,” Lobo safety Austin Brawley said. “All week we prepared to be the more physical team and dominate them and we executed all night long.”
Defensively, the Lobos forced two turnovers and recorded three sacks throughout the game. By far the defense’s most impressive feat of the night was forcing four consecutive 3-and-outs.
The Chippewas didn’t earn a first down until the final 45 seconds of the first half. The defensive dominance by New Mexico in turn helped pave the way for the offense to succeed.
Out of the four touchdowns scored by the Lobos, three of them came from the ground game. Running back Scottre Humphrey led the team in rushing as he had 64 yards on the ground, averaging a very impressive 4.9 yards per carry while also punching the ball in for six.
The other two rushing touchdowns came from quarterback James Laubstein. Humphrey gave credit to his offensive line for his and the rest of the team’s success in the run game.
“Just got to give it all to the offensive line,” Humphrey said. “(Central Michigan) were stacking the box but we (were) moving the ball very well, (the) interior offensive lineman getting a great push makes it easy for us.”
Outside of the rushing game, the Lobo offense got to display their three-quarterback rotation as well. Toa Fa’avae and Luke Moga were the only quarterbacks to throw the ball in the game as Laubstein was used as runner in short yardage situations — a similar role to the one he was in last season.
Fa’avae and Moga both did what they needed to do for the offense to be productive. Moga was the clear standout between the two, finishing the game with 116 yards and a touchdown through the air, connecting with wide receiver Bailen George in the back of the endzone late in the third quarter for his first collegiate career touchdown pass.
It was clear from the opening kickoff that the Lobos were just too much to handle for Central Michigan, as the Chippewas got outplayed from start to finish. The Lobos will now shift their focus to the Mercyhurst Lakers, who will be coming to University Stadium next week on Saturday, Sept. 12.
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Head Coach Jason Eck will be getting the team ready to make sure they do not underestimate the Lakers.
“We got to get better as a team this week and make sure we improve,” Eck said. “I don’t want to worry about practicing at the level to beat Mercyhurst, we got to play (at the) level to get as good as we can be as a football team.”
Rodney Prunty is the sports editor for the Daily Lobo. He can be contacted at sports@dailylobo.com or on X @rprunty05
