The Lobos opened their 2015 season with a dominating performance against Mississippi Valley State University, completely overpowering the Delta Devils in their 66-0 victory, making my 63-14 prediction seem downright pessimistic. While the outcome was expected, it was still encouraging to see how well both the offense and defense played. The offense scored eight touchdowns (all on the ground), racked up over 500 yards, and didn’t have a single turnover. The defense not only pitched a shutout, they held MVSU to 74 yards of offense, forced three turnovers, and only gave up one play for more than 15 yards. They even returned an interception for a touchdown, for good measure. All in all, it was a very satisfying win that will give the team confidence as they begin to start playing FBS teams next week.
Here are a few observations from the game:
- Although it seemed like there might be a quarterback controversy going into this game, it certainly didn’t feel like it when the game started. Lamar Jordan started and remained behind center until Austin Apodaca entered the game in the second quarter and then returned for the third quarter. Jordan looked really good tonight, playing with a lot of confidence and doing a good job of running the offense. He was only asked to throw seven times, completing all of his passes for 103 yards, and he ran five times for 62 yards and a touchdown. Apodaca, on the other hand, looked a little shakier. When he was in the game, there was a noticeable shift in the play-calling, where the Lobos were looking to pass more often. I don’t know if it nerves on his part, the lack of familiarity that the team has with that type of offense, or some combination of the two, but he was not particularly effective passing the ball. Next week will give us a better idea of what Davie is planning on doing at QB, but my feeling is that Jordan will be getting the majority of the snaps.
- The defense played well as a whole, but perhaps the most promising thing I saw was the pressure they were getting on the quarterbacks. Several times it seemed like MVSU’s quarterbacks threw the ball up for grabs because they were about to get hit by a Lobo charging straight at him. It will be interesting to see if they can continue that when they face stiffer competition, but if they do that will bode well for their season. As for individuals, Travis Green had a nice interception return for a touchdown, Maurice Daniels seemed to spend most of the game in the Delta Devil’s backfield, Kimmie Carson was all over the place and made a couple of nice plays, and Dakota Cox looked healthy, which means he looked good. This defense looks to have a lot more talent than they have had in recent seasons, so I hope that translates into a much better defensive season.
- Daryl Chestnut started his Lobo career by running his first two carries for 101 yards and two touchdowns, basically just sprinting past everyone on defense. UNM has an embarrassment of riches at running back.
- For one shining moment, Reno Henderson was tied for the team lead in touchdowns. Reno Henderson is the starting left tackle.
- The new cherry uniforms look sharp and are a big upgrade from last season’s. This has been your uniform update.
- The announced attendance was 21,930, which is almost exactly what the average attendance was last season (21,937). I like to think that if it wasn’t raining at the beginning of the game, seven more people would have showed up. So, with this being a game with bad weather (at the start of the game, at least) and against an FCS team, I think we’re already seeing signs that attendance will be up a bit this season. We’ll get a better idea of that next week. Anything more than 26,000 fans would be an encouraging sign.
Next week Tulsa comes to town, and we’ll have a preview of that later this week. Until then, Go Lobos!