Story by
The Santa Fe New Mexican
Lobos embark on season full of promise, hype, national attention
- Story byThe Santa Fe New Mexican
- Lobos embark on season full of promise, hype, national attention
ALBUQUERQUE
Welcome to a season unlike any other in the history of the University of New Mexico football program.
For decades, generations of Lobos fans have spent most of their fall calendars watching their team toil in obscurity, become the butt of jokes, live as an afterthought, and have teams far and wide kick sand in their faces.
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Thanks to the convergence of several major developments over the last few years, things have taken an interesting turn.
The Lobos open their season Saturday night at University Stadium against Central Michigan. Both teams went to bowl games a year ago, and both have their eyes on the coveted prize: consideration as the Group of Six entrant in the College Football Playoff.
A crowd of roughly 30,000 is expected. As of earlier this week, more than 11,000 season tickets had been purchased, a 165% increase over the year before.
"I told our staff [Monday morning] this is one of those weeks where we all wake up, and we're all reminded why we do this for a living," said UNM athletic director Ryan Berryman. "The excitement is real, and you can feel it in the room, and people are really excited for the week ahead."
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The splintering of the Mountain West Conference was but the latest in a series of seismic events that put the Lobos on a new trajectory. Gone are perennial league powers like Boise State , Fresno State and San Diego State , as well as Colorado State and Utah State.
Joining them are struggling teams like UTEP and Northern Illinois, along with rising FCS powerhouse North Dakota State.
College football observers from around the country have named the Lobos as a Mountain West contender and a viable candidate to make the CFP. For anyone who has spent a minute rooting for UNM, the mere idea of being part of the playoff is almost too large to fathom.
"Well, I'm happy we have high expectations," Eck said. "We didn't have very high expectations from the outside last year, but we were very focused on going to a bowl game. We probably had higher expectations than the outside world did."
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A singular focus, he added, is all it takes to get the team where it needs to be.
Well — that and a whole bunch of talented football players.
Eck built a coaching staff he could trust, and together they used every NIL and revenue-sharing opportunity they could to put together a roster with star-potential players ranging from Eck's son, Jaxton Eck , who's the reigning MWC Defensive Player of the Year, to former FCS star running back Scottre Humphrey and NFL-potential players like defensive back Tavian Combs and tight end Cade Keith.
Everywhere you look, players are becoming familiar names to a fan base that's starting to pay attention. Unlike the final days of the Bob Davie and Danny Gonzales years when home basketball games outdrew the football team, Eck and his outgoing, likable style have won the fans over.
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Those expectations are now uncharacteristically high for a team coming off an undefeated season at home, returning most of its starters and having everything laid out in front of it.
Three of the toughest conference games are at home with UNLV , North Dakota State and Air Force all coming to University Stadium, and a Week 3 visit to top-10 powerhouse Oklahoma serving as a potential breakout game, win or lose.
"I think we've all heard the things people are saying about this team and, you know, that's one of the reasons we all came here in the first place; to build and be part of something special," Jaxton Eck said. "All the talk is nice, but now we have to go out and do it. I don't think anyone on this team lacks that focus, you know? We come out here every day knowing what we have to do to be better."
The signs of progress are everywhere. The inside of the Tow Diehm Facility at the stadium is a good jumping-off point. The school got an $11 million investment to build a new weight room just outside the south end zone, then constructed a modern theater that acts as the team's meeting room. Its rows of plush seats sit in front of a movie projector screen for film study, its northern wall a photo mosaic of Albuquerque and the Sandia Mountains.
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A few paces away is the team's locker room and equipment center, which houses the fan-favorite turquoise jerseys and row upon row of helmets ranging from red to white to silver.
Jason Eck got his first shot as a head coach at Idaho before taking the UNM job as a relative unknown less than two years ago. A coach who is open about the struggles of trying to make ends meet as an assistant is now the highest-paid public employee in New Mexico.
And now he's setting sail on what could be the most memorable season in Lobos history, or at least something close to it.
The fans are taking notice. The national media is starting to catch on. Now the only thing missing is the kind of season that makes legends out of everyone inside the walls of the Tow Diehm.
