The city of Tempe, Arizona hasn’t been kind to New Mexico. In the history between UNM and Arizona State, the Lobos are 1-12-1 all-time in Tempe with that lone victory coming in 1934. If UNM is able to garner a win in Sun Devil Stadium this Friday it will be a big upset. The Sun Devils are a 28-point favorite over the visiting Lobos.
Shaky play in UNM’s 40-21 loss to Tulsa on Saturday night left New Mexico’s offense exposed. Things started out just right for New Mexico as the squad strutted down the field on a six-play, 75-yard drive in under three minutes. However, not many drives after that went as smoothly as the first series of the game. Part of the problem for the Lobos was at the line of scrimmage, head coach Bob Davie said. The dive play was not working, which limited how much his offense could do after Tulsa took away a major component of New Mexico’s ground game.
Until Saturday, UNM had been one of the most disciplined teams in the country. However, New Mexico committed 14 penalties that cost them a total of 154 yards in a 40-21 loss to Tulsa at University Stadium.
Now it’s time for the real season to begin. A week after New Mexico dismantled Football Championship Subdivision member Mississippi Valley State 66-0, the Lobos will get their first real taste of competition when they host Tulsa on Saturday at University Stadium.
New Mexico’s defense showed no growing pains showcasing its new nickel defense in a 66-0 rout over Mississippi Valley State on Saturday night at University Stadium. UNM sent consistent pressure throughout the night in the season opener against MVSU’s dual quarterback system, never allowing any kind of rhythm for the Delta Devils. Head coach Bob Davie said he doesn’t take anything for granted after his team blew out the visiting Delta Devils, but said it was hard to tell how well his defense actually performed.
New Mexico sophomore running back Daryl Chestnut didn’t need much time to show off his skills. In the third quarter Chestnut took his first career handoff up the middle and used his speed to outrace the defense for a 64-yard touchdown.
Back when Bob Davie was an analyst for ESPN, there was one aspect of the job that he disliked: making predictions. Davie, entering his fourth year as head coach for New Mexico, said he wasn’t fond of acting like he knew what was going to happen five months into the college football season. Davie was paid to give his opinion much in the same way that he gives his opinion as a head coach. Well, the time for making predictions is over.
It takes time to instill a physical mentality. It’s something New Mexico’s defensive coordinator has been working on. Kevin Cosgrove, who is in his second year at UNM, said one of his goals was to get the Lobos to play a more physical style of football. So far, the team has shown a more aggressive attitude with Cosgrove at the helm.
Bob Davie has always spoken about how vital walk-ons are to New Mexico’s program. On Tuesday the head coach awarded scholarships to redshirt juniors and former walk-ons John Russo and Michael Walsh, both of whom are Albuquerque natives.
The passing game is starting to look like the real deal for New Mexico. After three years of not being a threat in the air, the Lobos showed off their new aerial attack in their third and final scrimmage of fall camp. Both the quarterbacks and the receivers made several plays throughout the scrimmage, including a couple of nice plays by sophomore wide out Delane Hart-Johnson.
An ideal physical specimen Jake Rothschiller is not. However, being one of the shortest safeties for New Mexico hasn’t stopped the 5-foot-7 Rothschiller from getting plenty of reps in during this fall camp.
It didn’t take long for Patrick Reed to realize there wouldn’t be much playing time as quarterback for him. All Reed had to do was take one look at the depth chart to see that he was behind incumbent redshirt sophomore starter Lamar Jordan, redshirt junior transfer Austin Apodaca and redshirt freshman JaJuan Lawson. That prompted Reed to propose a position switch during spring football practice: He told head coach Bob Davie that he wanted to go from quarterback to wide receiver. Davie accepted Reed’s proposal, and the redshirt freshman has proven that he’s a capable wideout thus far.
Head coach Bob Davie won’t need a season ticket to watch his former team Notre Dame play in 2019. In fact, Davie will be on the opposite sideline against the Fighting Irish, coaching his current New Mexico team.
It’s hard to imagine that anyone would doubt Dakota Cox’s talent, but there’s been little mention of New Mexico’s best linebacker in the preseason. Cox wasn’t named in any major watch lists, nor did his name appear on the Preseason All-Mountain West Team. The main reason Cox’s name hasn’t been appearing often is because the junior linebacker is coming off a torn left ACL. He missed the final three games of the 2014 season and still led UNM in tackles with 116. “I would say yes, I was definitely frustrated, but it gives me something to play for,” Cox said after Sunday’s practice. “Every season you’ve got to go in with the mindset that you can be on any list that you want. That’s one thing I’m playing for, is to prove people wrong and that I’m back.”
Time has almost run out for most of Bob Davie’s first recruiting class.The 2015 season will most likely be the last for eight of Davie’s first 24 recruits. During the last three years, those players haven’t had much success on the field, with a record of 11-35.
Expectations are still low for New Mexico. At the Mountain West Media Days in Las Vegas, Nevada, the conference announced the preseason polls for the Mountain and West Divisions.
It took senior tight end Reece White longer than most to find the right position. White came to UNM as a walk-on wide receiver in 2012, but didn’t have the speed to play wide out at the Division I level. The coaches moved White to safety, but he never actually took any reps at the position because the team still needed him at wide receiver for the scout team. “I came in a wide receiver and didn’t really fit well,” White said. “I did some scout wide receiver kind of stuff, so they moved me to safety for a short period of time. I wasn’t quite as fast as everybody else.”
By Thomas Romero-Salas The importance of running track and field became clear to Carlos Wiggins after last year. The New Mexico wide receiver combined to run only two races last indoor and outdoor track season and paid for it during football.
New Mexico lost more than its strong safety last season — it lost a leader. The Lobos are looking to replace David Guthrie after he exhausted his eligibility last year. UNM does have plenty of depth at the safety positions with several players who have in-game experience. However, safeties coach Charles McMillian said it will be difficult to replace Guthrie because of the type of leader he was.
Maybe it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Clay Davie decided to be a football coach. After all, his father, New Mexico head coach Bob Davie, has been in the coaching game for almost 30 years. But Bob Davie never tried to pressure or persuade his son into becoming a coach.
Solutions by The State News
