Imperfect Lobo Football Team Still Good Enough To Win the Tight Games
There are two certainties about the University of New Mexico football team in an otherwise pretty unbelievable 2025 season.
1. The Lobo offense is going to play to the level of its competition.
2. The defense is going to rise to the occasion, regardless.
The premises were on display Saturday during New Mexico’s 20-17 victory over Colorado State that secured the Lobos first winning season since 2016.
UNM (7-3, 4-2 Mountain West) played its worst game in a month (a 24-22 home win vs. Nevada) but still managed to eke out a win against a nothing-to-lose Rams squad (2-8, 1-5) that fired its coach a month ago.
The Lobos won their fourth in a row for the first time since 2016 despite turning over the ball four times on fumbles. They let the Rams hang around but never relinquished the lead.
“Winning is damn hard,” said Jack Layne, who broke a 10-10 tie and scored the go-ahead touchdown on a perfectly executed, 12-yard quarterback keeper with 10:32 left in the game. “I say that every time. If winning was easy, everyone would do it. Good teams find a way to win. That was probably our sloppiest game of the year, and you look at the scoreboard – we won the game. So blessed and thankful for that.”
The Lobos definitely gave thanks for the return of freshman safety Austin Brawley, who hadn’t played since the season opener due to a leg injury.
He intercepted a pair of CSU passes, including a fourth quarter theft that not only stopped a Rams drive at the UNM 27 with the game tied at 10 but also set up Layne’s rushing TD thanks to his 57-yard return.
Brawley also intercepted Rams quarterback Darius Curry on the first possession of the second half. He had 1.5 tackles for loss and put a pretty big – and deemed clean – hit on CSU’s Rocky Beers that sidelined the leading wide receiver (seven catches, 67 yards, one TD) in the fourth quarter.
“Austin Brawley, what a great deal to have him back,” Lobo coach Jason Eck said. “Two huge interceptions, and he knocked one of their best players out of the game.”
Another fourth quarter interception that safety Caleb Coleman nabbed and returned 24 yards to give UNM a first down at the Rams 20 led to a 35-yard Luke Drzewiecki field goal for a 20-10 lead with 8:27 left that turned out to be the difference in the game.
“That might be one of our best defensive performances of the year,” Eck said. “I thought we played poorly on offense. The positive glass is half-full is we showed that we can find a way to win when we don’t play our best.”
The defense held the Rams to 68 first-half yards, leading to a 10-0 UNM lead at intermission despite a fumble.
The Lobos fumbled three more times in the second half but also forced four CSU turnovers.
The Lobos certainly qualify as a good team. Their biggest loss of the year is 17 points, a 34-17 loss in the season opener at nationally ranked Michigan. The last time UNM went through a regular season with any losses by fewer than 17 points is the 2003 season – and that 8-5 team went on to lose the Las Vegas Bowl 55-14 to Oregon State.
The 1994 team’s biggest loss was 15 points, but that team finished 5-7.
The current edition is winning despite a minus-9 turnover margin. At one point, Colorado State had a 4-1 TO margin edge.
Good teams do find a way to win.
“We don’t care what happens on that side of the ball,” Brawley said of the UNM offense. “We just go out there and stop who’s in front of us.”
