Howling With The Lobos: End of an era

The Bob Davie era at the University of New Mexico is now officially over. The Lobos fell 38-25 to Utah State on Saturday in the season finale for UNM. The Lobos end their season with nine straight losses and a 2-10 overall record, going 0-8 in Mountain West Conference, which in itself is a little bit of history.

The winless mark in MWC play is UNM’s first since joining the conference in its inception in 2000. In fact, you have to go back to 1989 to find the last time that the Lobos failed to win at least one conference game.

The Lobos actually hung tough in this one. Outgaining Utah State 383-368. Dominating the time of possession 36:07 to 23:53. Holding Utah State to just 172 yards passing. What was the difference in this one? Four turnovers. Lobo quarterback Trae Hall was picked off twice and lost a fumble. There was another fumble that was scored as a team fumble. The two fumbles occurred late in the first half and led to two Utah State touchdowns that gave the Aggies a 31-6 halftime lead, and, as it turns out, was the difference in the contest.

Trae Hall finished 10-of-21 passing for 107 yards and two touchdowns to go with his aforementioned interceptions. Hall also ran the ball 22 times for 115 yards and two more touchdowns.

For the Aggies, Jordan Love went 18-for-35 for 172 yards with three touchdowns and one interception. Not his best game, but considering his team benefitted from four Lobo turnovers, he didn’t really need to be on top of his game in this one. Gerold Bright had 19 carries for 113 yards and a touchdown as well for the Aggies, who are now 7-5 and 6-2 in the Mountain West.

The win opens up a lot of doors for Utah State as far as a bowl game goes. The win coupled with Wyoming’s loss could very well mean that the Aggies have the inside track for the Cheez-It Bowl in Tempe next month.

For New Mexico, the focus will now shift 100 percent to finding a replacement for Davie, who ended his career at UNM with a 35-67 mark, and one bowl win. His last three seasons were less than stellar as the Lobos went 8-28. There has been a lot of chatter about potential candidates for the job being; Danny Gonzales, who is Arizona State’s defensive coordinator; Zach Arnett, who is San Diego State’s co-defensive coordinator; and Terrance Mathis, current head coach at Pinecrest Academy in Georgia.

The New Mexico Lobos will kickoff their 2020 campaign on August 29^th against Idaho State. The Lobos will play 13 games in 2020 with their game against Idaho State being apart of week zero.