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In New Mexico's loss on Saturday to Wyoming, the Lobos suffered an injury hit when starting quarterback Cole Gautsche hurt his knee late in the game this past weekend. The hope from head coach Bob Davie is that the knee is just a MRI sprain and that he will be in the lineup on Saturday.
Losing Gautsche is a big deal in itself but New Mexico was already down backup quarterback Clayton Mitchem who suffered a concussion against New Mexico State. Mitchem also is expected to be available on Saturday against Utah State.
That means for part of the Wyoming game, and to start the first week of practice preparing for Utah State would be junior walk-on David Vega. Since Vega is healthy he is considered the starting quarterback until Gautsche and Mitchem are cleared to practice.
After Head coach Bob Davie talked about Vega getting the nod early in the week, he is now changing his tune from the norm this season and will not be talking about injuries until after the game:
"So, we'll kind of see how it goes," Davie said - then added that he would say no more about the situation.
"I think what I'm going to do," he said, "is probably not talk about (injuries) this week like most coaches do around the country, ... I think the next time I'll say anything about it is after the game."
Davie did comment on Vega's play during Wyoming and was impressed in what he showed in limited action. Playing a handful of snaps is different then preparing and starting for one's first career start. The easy answer for New Mexico's injury woes at quarterback would be for Gautsche to be healthy which would give the Lobos the best chance to beat Utah State.
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