UNM wide receivers Shawn Miller and Zhaiel Smith celebrate a first-half touchdown in the Lobos’ 38-20 win over in-state rival NMSU.The win felt nostalgic for UNM football fans. Chris Rodate/GamePass

All Saturday’s Rio Grande Rivalry lacked was Will Ferrell and Vince Vaughn, but the University of New Mexico football team went “Old School” on New Mexico State.

The Lobos’ 38-20 win, in front of a boisterous crowd of 37,440 – the ninth largest in school history – harkened to the days of the early to mid-2000s under former coach Rocky Long when those crowds frequented University Stadium.

UNM’s 3-1 start to the 2025 season also resembles days past – 2007 to be precise – when the Lobos started 3-1, finished 9-4 and a earned a bowl victory over Colin Kaepernick and San Jose State.

“We can be big-time football here,” current Lobo coach Jason Eck said after the game. “I know our football stadium doesn’t seat 100,000 like Michigan, but we can make it really big-time here in Albuquerque. Fans can impact the game.”

While Ferrell and Vaughn were missing, the game had plenty of star power with several former Lobos in attendance, along with luminaries such as Holly Holm, Jon Jones and YouTube streamer IShowSpeed.

Like a movie script, the Lobos struggled early, only to right the ship after halftime and send the audience (minus Aggies fans) home happy.

Between the lines, UNM also had stars. The Lobo defense had a school-tying nine sacks and held the visitors to 15 yards rushing. Defensive end Keyshawn James-Newby had five tackles, 2.5 sacks and two pass breakups. Quarterback Jack Layne threw four of his team’s five touchdown passes and amassed 303 aerial yards.

Both drew inspiration from the crowd.

“It’s beautiful; it’s my favorite thing ever,” James-Newby said. “I almost feel it gives me the power and ability when I play games just because it gets me even more excited, gets my energy up and muscles twitching.”

Added Layne, “That’s what it can be here. It’s kind of a hidden gem in Albuquerque, and I think we’ve got to keep going.”

Layne threw for 226 yards and two scores after the half as New Mexico outscored State 24-3 in the second half.

NMSU (2-2) took advantage of numerous UNM first-half mental errors and grabbed an early 17-7 lead and kept a 17-14 lead at the half.

“First half I thought they played harder than us,” Eck said. “That’s on me. (But) something we emphasize is how do you respond when something bad happens.”

The Lobos continued a disturbing trend of second-quarter self-inflicted wounds.

They gave up a Michigan touchdown with 25 seconds left in the first half of the season opener to fall behind by 14. Against Idaho State, UNM allowed a touchdown with 1:03 left and trailed 14-10 at halftime. At UCLA, the Lobos failed to convert a fourth-and-1 at the Bruins’ 3 with 1:09 left that kept their lead at 14-7.

On Saturday, UNM twice gave the ball to the Aggies on its side of the field, once on a muffed punt and once on downs after NMSU stopped a fourth-and-1 at the Lobo 41 with 37 seconds left.

New Mexico’s defense, however, prevented the Aggies from capitalizing. The Lobos forced a missed field goal after the muffed punt, and Xavier Slayton intercepted a tipped Logan Fife pass to end the NMSU threat just before the half.

UNM was a different team in the second half. The Lobos grabbed their first lead on a 24-yard Layne-to-Dorian Thomas TD pass in the third quarter and effectively put the game away with a nifty double pass – wide receiver Michael Buckly to wide receiver Keagan Johnson for 41 yards and a 31-20 UNM lead with 11:36 left in the game.

Eck then went older school when one of his sentiments about his coaching staff and his players echoed former UNM coach Dennis Franchione’s idioms.

“I’m very thankful for the belief (the staff) had in what we could accomplish,” Eck said, “and all the players who believed, especially the belief they had in what we were doing without having evidence.”