ARCHULETA: Lobo football will get a dose of reality - win or lose

UNM head football coach Jason Eck celebrates on the field at Michigan Stadium during the Lobos’ 34-17 loss to the Michigan Wolverines.The game at Michigan was Eck’s first wth UNM, and he now prepares for his first-ever game at the University Stadium as the face of the program. Aaron J. Thornton / Digital Depictions

It’s back to reality this week for the UNM football team.

Whether it’s old reality vs. new reality, that won’t reveal itself until Saturday afternoon.

The Lobos, who some might think after Week 1 are 1-0 but really are 0-1, entertain FCS school Idaho State (0-2) of the Big Sky in the 2025 home opener at University Stadium.

“I’ve never got so many congratulations over a 17-point loss,” UNM coach Jason Eck said earlier this week. “And I think that’s because our culture of winning football here is not very good. So people are really excited by not the best performance.”

After facing a harsh reality last week of never having beaten a ranked, non-conference opponent on the road in school history, the Lobos have a little better history in home openers.

UNM is 81-40-4 all-time in home openers. New Mexico had an eight-game winning streak snapped last season against Montana State. The Lobos squandered a 31-14 fourth-quarter lead and lost 35-31 to that Big Sky opponent.

The caveat to UNM’s recent success in home openers is that all nine of those opponents were FCS schools.

Quarterback Jack Layne, whose toughness outshined his statistical performance last week at Michigan, has some impressive stats to emulate from previous Lobo signal caller performances.

UNM QBs combined to complete 68 of 90 passes (75.6%) in previous home openers this decade for 812 yards (a 203-yard-per-game average) with 10 touchdowns and four interceptions.

Strong Lobo quarterback play wasn’t always a reality in home openers, but you have to go back a ways to find some stinkers.

The tandem of Cole Gautsche and Clayton Mitchem combined to go 6-of-17 passing for 84 yards in a 21-13 loss to UTSA in 2013. Those were back in the triple-option days of coach Bob Davie’s offense.

For one of the more shockingly bad stat lines, we must go back to 2001 in UNM’s home opener against UTEP. Quarterback Rudy Caamano completed 6 of 30 passes for 52 yards and two interceptions. His QB rating that game was 21.2. Caamano had seven rushing yards on eight attempts, for good measure.

The irony: The Lobos beat the Miners handily, 26-6, behind coach Rocky Long’s defense that forced five UTEP turnovers.

Last week at Michigan, Layne completed 31 of 47 passes for 208 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions.

The Wolverines’ defense laid hit after hit on Layne, who bounced back up every time.

UNM quarterback Jack Layne throws a pass during last Saturday’s game at Michigan. Layne threw 47 times and was picked off three times. Despite the errors, Layne showed toughness with the relentless pass rush by the Wolverines. Aaron J. Thornton / Digital Depictions

“We’ve got to protect him better,” Eck said. “I would say most of the hits were (due to) the offensive line. (But) sometimes when you get hit a lot, you start looking at the rush, so some of the hits were on (Layne). We’ve got to be better – on the O line. We’ve got to run the ball better. We threw it much more than we would like to.”

The Lobos had 48 passing attempts in all, compared to 28 rushing attempts for 50 yards. Of course, that was against a nationally ranked team’s defense on the road.

Idaho State, however, did have a 31-24 lead at UNLV in the fourth quarter of its season opener. And the Bengals are familiar with Eck’s coaching from his three years at Idaho. The Lobos cannot afford to take them – or any foe – lightly.

The reality, however, is that Saturday is a big game for Layne, Eck and a UNM program trying to lure fans back to University Stadium with several new pregame and in-game attractions, not to mention a better product on the field.

Because no one will be congratulating Eck if his team loses this game.