LOBO FOOTBALL: You’re NOT my boy, Blue
UNM wide receiver D.J. Washington jumps to make a catch in the Lobos 56-14 against UNLV. The Lobos have a huge road test against Boise State on Saturday.
BOISE, IDAHO - It’s not an episode of “The Young and the Restless.”
It’s also not one of the premiere national games in Week 11 like Mississippi at Georgia.
But the Boise State and UNM football teams haven’t lacked any drama this week.
On Sunday after a 56-14 loss to the UNLV Rebels, UNM head football coach Danny Gonzales fired his special teams coach Jamie Christian.
In a disastrous game in which the Rebels had 161 punt return yards against the Lobos, Gonzales made a tough decision the day after another blow-out loss.
“I think we have struggled a lot in the return game this year,” Gonzales said. “I just thought it was the time for a different voice.”
Christian was a member of Gonzales’ original staff when he took the job in Jan. 2020.
According to a report by The Albuquerque Journal, in Christian’s first three seasons as special teams head coach, the “units were rated 65th (2020), 104th, (2021) and 67th (2022) in the country, per Pro Football Focus’ grading system.”
But this season Pro Football Focus graded the unit at 128th overall. That’s out of 131 Division I teams.
The Journal reported that the “Lobos gave up three 40-plus yard punt returns in a 56-14 loss to UNLV on Saturday and have now allowed eight 20-plus yard returns – the most of any team in the country.”
“I think Jaime Christian is a good coach, I just think we need to go in a different direction on that aspect of the football team,” Gonzales said.
Gonzales has an open-door policy with the Lobos. He said the team has a leadership group and he spoke to them before the decision was made to fire Christian.
He said he’s hoping it will provide a spark for, not only those on the special teams, but the entire team as a whole with three games remaining in the season.
All the coaches on the staff will be chipping in as a collective to fill the void for Christian.
“I thought the energy outside (at Tuesday’s) practice was great,” Gonzales said. “But that’s been a third of the game and obviously, we didn’t perform well enough, especially Saturday, to give ourselves a chance (to win).”
The special teams should be a concern for Gonzales and company as Boise State has blocked three punts for touchdowns in the last two meetings against UNM.
NOT THE BOISE STATE OF YESTERYEAR
As for the Boise State Broncos, this week was eventful as well. The team was dealing with a key departure.
According to a Bronco Nation News Report on Sunday, Boise State’s leading receiver Eric McAlister announced he would be transferring from the school.
McAlister, a redshirt sophomore for the Broncos, led Boise State with 47 catches for 873 yards and had five touchdown receptions. He had eight catches in his final game for BSU, which was a 37-30 loss at Fresno State.
“Eric McAlister has chosen to no longer compete as a member of our program. We wish him the best in the future and our focus remains on our next game,” Boise State head football coach Andy Avalos said in a statement released by the BSU Athletic Department.
Gonzales said that the Broncos will continue to run the same offense without McAlister in the lineup and that it won’t change the way UNM scouts.
“When he’s not in the game, they don’t change,” Gonzales said. “Obviously, he’s a really good player, so schematically, they won’t change.”
While the Lobos might not have to worry about McAlister, there should be a cause of concern for running back Ashton Jeanty.
Jeanty didn’t play in BSU’s loss to Fresno State last week, but he is expected to play against the Lobos.
Jeanty has 921 yards on 157 carries and 11 touchdowns on the year.
Jeanty is also an incredibly elusive back and very hard to tackle. Not good news for a UNM team that has shown several times during the year the inability to tackle.
Jeanty leads the nation with 72 broken tackles, which is nine per game.
“We are practicing as if he is back,” Gonzales said. “And they also have the two-quarterback machine that they go back and forth. Taylen Green can run, he’s big, he’s got a good arm and can throw it over the top and Maddux (Madsen), he can run just as well… I think Maddux can make all the throws. They are both good quarterbacks.
“We’ll prepare for both and they do a little bit different things which each is in the game and we’ll have to adjust as they play,” Gonzales said.
WHO COULD FORGET 2015?
UNM has only one win against Boise State and it came back in 2015 (remember the same night that Holly Holm defeated Ronda Rousey for the Women’s Bantamweight Belt?)
That night the Bob Davie-led Lobos defeated Boise State 31-24 and at the time had the second-longest active home winning streak at 18.
The Broncos are 13-1 against the Lobos all time.
UNM at BOISE STATE
Albertsons Stadium, Boise, Idaho
Kickoff: 8 p.m.
Watch: FOX Sports 1: Guy Haberman (play-by-play), Charles Arbuckle (analyst)
Listen: Lobo Radio Network: 770 KKOB-AM: Rob Portnoy (play-by-play), DonTrell Moore (analyst)
Odds: UNM +27.5, UNM +1550, Over/Under 59.5 (Odds provided by Caesars Sportsbook)
