Double OT Victory Vs. San Diego State Gives Lobo Football Best Win in School History
New Mexico Sr. Linebacker Brett Karhu (45) sacks San Diego State quarterback Jayden Denegal (4) at University Stadium in Albuquerque, NM on Friday 11/28/25. Photo: Chris Rodarte/Game Pass Media
There’s nothing Black about a Friday that produced the greatest victory in University of New Mexico football history.
Jack Layne’s 25-yard touchdown pass to tight end Cade Keith gave the Lobos the lead in double-overtime, and a University Stadium crowd of 30,575 helped the defense shut down San Diego State’s subsequent possession to preserve a heart-stopping 23-17 victory in the day-after-Thanksgiving game.
UNM (9-3) earned a share of the Mountain West regular-season crown at 6-2. The lone damper on the Lobos parade was Utah State blowing an 11-point lead and losing to Boise State 25-24 about an hour after the Lobos game ended.
Had Utah State won, the Lobos would have qualified outright for next week’s MW Championship Game and would’ve hosted the Aztecs (9-3) in a rematch. With the Broncos win, UNM, Boise State and San Diego State all end the conference regular season at 6-2 with UNLV playing Nevada on Saturday and also trying to get to 6-2.
The teams won’t know who will play for the conference championship next week until all college games are completed Saturday and the computer composite rankings selecting the two highest-ranked teams.
“We’re going to hold our heads high, no matter what happens with this computer tiebreaker,” coach Jason Eck said. “We controlled what we were able to control. It’s a great year, regardless of what happens with the tiebreaker.
“That was a great win. That was my favorite win in my four years as head coach.”
Eck even made the night a little sweeter in his postgame comments, hinting of his association with the Lobos beyond 2025 when asked about his name being mentioned in connection with other jobs.
“I think you may hear some news soon out of our camp,” he said. “We can be a basketball school and a football school,” he said. “It doesn’t have to be one or the other. Lobo fans should know, when you come here, there’s going to be a lot of fun times and you’re going to leave home a winner more times than not. Six and oh, and what a legacy for our seniors. We’re going to be good here for a while.”
The Lobos are pretty good right now.
The nine regular seasons were the most for the program since 1997. They’ve gone 6-0 in a season at home for the first time since 1938 and marked the first time they’ve won six consecutive conference games.
They capped it Friday in typical adversity-be-damned fashion and in their turquoise jerseys.
The Lobos all but had the game won in the first overtime. Safety Austin Brawley intercepted Aztecs quarterback Jayden Denegal on SDSU’s first play, and all UNM needed was a field goal to break the 17-17 regulation tie and win the game.
Quarterback James Laubstein almost won the game on the Lobos’ first play, running 16 yards to the SDSU 9. He rambled to the 4 on first-and-goal. Incredibly on second down, Aztecs free safety Dwayne McDougal stripped Laubstein of the ball, and linebacker Owen Chambliss recovered to dash UNM’s title-game dreams. Temporarily.
But as we should all know by now, these Lobos refuse to die.
UNM got the ball to open the second overtime and Layne found Keith wide open in the left flat, and Keith took the ball into the end zone for the go-ahead touchdown. Because the game was in the second overtime, the Lobos had to try a 2-point conversion but were unsuccessful.
Layne, who completed 14 of 25 passes for 127 yards with the TD and 9 rushing yards despite suffering seven sacks, said the team didn’t panic after Laubstein’s fumble prevented a win in the first overtime.
"He’s the heart and soul of our offense,” Layne said of Laubstein. “I just love on the sideline, the positivity and the energy just picked him up. And next play, we moved on that fast and scored.”
Then, it was the defense’s turn with a huge assist from the raucous crowd.
Denegal scrambled for 15 yards on a third-and-10 to give SDSU a first-and-goal at the UNM 10 in its second OT possession.
The UNM crowd got loud, and the Aztecs drew three consecutive penalties, two false starts and an illegal snap, moving the ball back to the 25 and first-and-goal. Two UNM sacks pushed the Aztecs back to the 30, and a Hail Mary on fourth down sailed out the back of the end zone to start the turquoise celebration.
“I give all the credit to the fans,” Brawley said, noting that about 5,000 of them stayed on the field with the team to watch the finish of the Utah State-Boise State game. “That (second) overtime, those false starts were insane. The fans coming up and saying thank you, I couldn’t help myself but saying thank you to them. They showed up for us tonight.”
Brawley also made a game-saving play in the final moments of regulation. SDSU was near field-goal range and had a third-and-6 at the UNM 42 with 1:20 left to play. Brawley sacked Denegal at the Lobos 48 to force an Aztecs punt that sent the game to overtime.
“We’re built on living in the fire, a whole bunch of mutts on defense,” Brawley said. “I made a big sack, but I couldn’t be more proud of the D line. They opened it up for me.”
The Lobos scored the game's first 10 points before the Aztecs rallied for a 14-10 halftime lead.
UNM recaptured the lead in the third quarter with its second touchdown on a fourth-down play.
The first came TD came when Laubstein rambled 40 yards on a fake QB sneak on fourth-and-2 in the first half. He swept left and found open field to give UNM the 10-0 advantage with 13:15 left in the first half.
The second touchdown came on a 54-yard D.J, McKinney sweep right after UNM lined up in another sneak formation with 9:05 left in the third quarter for a 17-14 edge.
SDSU's Gabriel Plascencia kicked a 44-yard field goal with 51 seconds left in the third quarter to the game 17-17, and the Aztecs had the upper hand in field position the entire fourth quarter.
But UNM’s will was stronger, setting up the opportunity for the best Lobo win ever.
“If you have a team that wants to die for each other, it’s going to be hard to stop them,” Brawley said.
The Lobos already have locked up a bowl bid. Now they await Saturday's games to find out whether they need enough magic for one or two more games.
New Mexico Head Coach Jason Eck is surrounded by fans during a field rush after the Lobos won a dramatic two-overtime game on Friday afternoon. Photo: Chris Rodarte/Game Pass Media
