LOBO FOOTBALL: UNM departs for UMass in non-conference finale
NMSU quarterback Diego Pavia observes the UNM defense at the line of scrimmage during the Aggies 27-17 win last Saturday at University Stadium in Albuquerque.
Cue the bass.
(da da)
Cue the banjo.
(da da)
Cue the fiddle.
(da da)
The Lobos are shipping up to Boston.
Well, shipped close enough on Saturday. They’ll be about 90 miles west of Beantown.
The UNM football team (1-2) and head coach Danny Gonzales will embark on its farthest continental US trip in the 125-year history of the program. (The farthest east UNM has gone is to Piscataway, N.J. when the Lobos played Rutgers in 2016.)
The Lobos take on the UMass Minutemen (1-3) in Amherst, Mass. on Saturday at McGuirk Alumni Stadium in the two schools’ first-ever meeting against each other.
This is the back end of a home and home that was supposed to be played in 2020. Obviously, the COVID-19 pandemic had other plans.
While mentioned that this is the farthest east the Lobos have played from University Stadium in Albuquerque. Any game played east of the Mississippi River hasn’t been so kind to UNM. They are 1-11 in the Eastern Time Zone.
But Gonzales – as he has said all year and during his tenure – has remained optimistic. This coming off a 27-17 home loss to instate rival New Mexico State last Saturday. That was the Aggies' second-straight victory in the series and both losses for UNM came by double digits.
Gonzales said at the UNM weekly fall sports press conference that UMass and UNM could metaphorically look in the mirror and see the same football team.
“They’ve done a good job recruiting in the transfer portal and they are significantly more talented than they were a year ago,” Gonzales said. “We have to overcome the things that are killing us and I don’t think that is going to be an issue on Saturday. We’re going to have two teams in a very similar mindset going against each other and believing that they can win a football game.”
The big question for Gonzales and the Lobos defense – the UNM secondary has struggled – is who will play quarterback for the Minutemen on Saturday.
Taisun Phommachanh, a Georgia Tech and Clemson transfer, started the season for UMass.
He was an intricate part of the Minutemen’s only win on the season and it came against a familiar – familiar – UNM foe: New Mexico State.
Phommachanh helped UMass end a 24-game road losing streak in Las Cruces to NMSU with a 41-30 victory back on Aug. 27 in Week 0.
Phommachanh's arm and legs gave fits to the Aggies' defense. The redshirt junior 17 times for 96 yards and threw for 192 yards on 10-of-17.
However, Phommachanh's status for the UNM game is up in the air after he suffered an injury in their second game of the season in a blowout, 59-14, loss to Auburn.
Western Carolina transfer Carlos Davis, despite not winning a game for the Minutemen, has posted some decent numbers in place of Phommachanh.
“I would anticipate (Phommachanh) being back this week,” Gonzales said. “(UMass head football coach Don Brown) is very close to the vest. Coach Brown is a veteran, defensive guy. His comment every week has been ‘It’s early Monday, we’ll see.’ So, no idea. I mean, I can appreciate that they are not leaking out anything from their media standpoint on whether Carlos Davis, who’s a big joker and can throw the ball really well and statistically they are moving the ball all over the place.”
In his time as quarterback, Davis has thrown for 690 yards, five touchdowns and three interceptions.
UMass head coach Don Brown told the Daily Hampshire Gazette (Northampton, Mass.) that even though the Minutemen beat the Aggies and the Aggies beat the Lobos, one would think that UMass would beat UNM.
Brown doesn’t care for the transitive property. He said the game against UNM is another opportunity for his team.
“Every week is a new week, every week is a scenario of taking the challenge and going out and competing,” Brown told the Daily Hampshire Gazette. “Otherwise, we wouldn’t play the games, we’d just say, ‘Oh, they’re picked to win, or we’re picked to win, and let’s call it a day.’ You gotta go out and win the game. You gotta force your hand and go out and win the game.”
Vegas oddsmakers have UMass as three and a half points better than UNM as of Friday afternoon.
While Gonzales has had defensive woes with his team, he has concerns for UMass’ defense.
Specifically, the front seven.
Especially defensive tackle Billy Wooden.
“For a lack of a better word – he’s a dog,” Gonzales said. “He plays the game the right way, he’s physical, he makes a ton of plays inside and they are going to give us some different looks in coverage.”
Wooden has ten solo tackles on the season, three sacks and a forced fumble on the season.
He will look to stop a Lobos team that has only scored 27 points against non-FCS opponents in three games.
UNM has found some offense this season in running back Jacory Croskey-Merritt. He has been the strength of the offense and maybe the best player on UNM this season
He’s eclipsed near the top of all major rushing statistics in the NCAA this year through three weeks of action. Croskey-Merritt has 295 rushing yards on 39 carries and is averaging 7.6 yards per carry to add to his five touchdowns (three came against Tennessee Tech in the home opener).
And Croskey-Merritt leads the way for a strong UNM running backs room.
Gonzales said that Rio Rancho native Dorian Lewis is the clear No. 2 behind Croskey-Merritt.
Lewis ran the ball nine times for 44 yards against NMSU. Most of that yardage coming in the second half.
“Dorian is a really good running back and his vision is unbelievable,” Gonzales said. “I give him a hard time all the time, I tried to convince him to come out of Cleveland High School to come (play at UNM after graduating high school), but the junior college route might have helped him with vision and stuff like that, I don’t think it helped him because I think he is a really good football player, he was then and he continues to get better every week.”
UNM at UMass, 1:30 p.m.
Watch: ESPN Plus: Jay Burnham (play-by-play), Andy Gresh (analyst) and Matt Goldstein (sidelines)
Listen: Lobo Radio Network: 770 KKOB-AM: J.J. Buck (play-by-play), DonTrell Moore (analyst)
Odds: UNM +3.5, UNM +144 and Over/Under 48.5 (Odds provided by Caesars Sportsbook)
