Here we go. After months of anticipation, hopes, and expectation, the football season finally gets going this weekend. But first:

Awesome. Looks like they’re ready too.

So who are we playing?

Mississippi Valley State will be the first team to visit University Stadium, and they’re earning a nice paycheck to do so. The Delta Devils are an FCS team from the Southwestern Athletic Conference and coming off of a 2-9 season. Last year was their first under Coach Rick Comegy, who has been successful at other stops (including winning the SWAC championship with Jackson State the year before he took over at MVSU), so they’re certainly in the middle of a rebuild. In fact, a quote that stuck out to me from an article on their team website reminds me of where UNM stood a couple of years ago:

“One of my concerns was the team being young and the depth, however today proved the team has the depth we will need going into the season. This is a team that will not quit,” said Comegy.

Because they are an FCS team, stats are a little more difficult to come by than UNM’s other opponents, but we can get at least a sense of what to expect on Saturday from the way they played last year. First and foremost, as it is an issue near and dear to Lobo fans right now, they seemed to operate with a dual-quarterback system last year. Quantavius Peterson was one of those QB’s, and we’ll certainly see him get at least part of the action. Last season, he wasn’t a particularly accurate passer, completing 45.21% of his passes with a 6/7 TD/INT ratio. He was much more of a threat to run, serving as the team’s leading rusher while also leading the team in rushing touchdowns. My guess is that keeping him in check, as well as anyone else who lines up at QB for the Delta Devils, will be the primary focus for the defense.

As a whole, MVSU’s offense seems to be relatively balanced with a slight emphasis on running, with 56.6% of their offensive plays staying on the ground. That offense, however, wasn’t particularly effective, as they only scored 17.73 points per game last year. A couple of significant reasons for that were their 28 turnovers last season and their 44 sacks allowed. Their defense wasn’t much better, as they allowed 37.46 points per game. A lot of their issues can stem from their inexperience and lack of depth, but it will probably be at least another year or two until they’ll be able to make significant strides in those areas.

The bottom line is this: MVSU is getting paid to come here with the expectation that UNM will have an easy victory. The last time UNM faced a SWAC team, they beat Southern by 45 in 2012. All signs point to a similar result this weekend. This is the sort of game that a team schedules to ensure that they only have to win five more games to be bowl eligible.

What’s going on at quarterback?

As of right now, Lamar Jordan is QB1 and Austin Apodaca is QB2, although that apparently means that they’ll both see snaps on Saturday. Neither quarterback has claimed sole possession of the position, so Davie seems fine letting it play out on the field. The upside to that is that each quarterback seems to have a different strength: Jordan with his ability to run the ball and Apodaca with his ability in the passing game. Everything else seems to fall more in the downside category. The offense can’t be designed around one guy’s abilities, it might be difficult for both of them to get into a rhythm, and it seems to take away some of the surprise element of the offense. Unless Jordan can show that he’s a threat to pass and Apodaca can show he is a threat to run, defenses will have a pretty decent idea of how to set up their defense based on who is lining up to take the snap. Hopefully Davie can get this to work out, but the list of teams that have had success with a dual-quarterback system isn’t very long. I’d rather see him stick with one guy.

Please don’t get hurt.

Clearly, the worst thing that could happen in this game is for the Lobos to lose. That said, the next worst thing would be for the Lobos to see significant injuries. A huge factor into whether or not UNM will have a successful season is how healthy they stay this year. Losing a key player in what is effectively a glorified exhibition game would put a huge damper on the season. So, the best thing would be for the starters to jump to an early lead, allowing the back-ups to get plenty of playing time in the second half.

Prediction

UNM wins 63-14 and we all go home happy.

Details

What: Mississippi Valley State (0-0) at the University of New Mexico (0-0)

Where: University Stadium, Albuquerque, NM

When: 6pm MT

Where to Watch: The game’s not televised, so unless you’re at the stadium, it will be hard to see.

How to Listen: 770 KOB