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Albuquerque Journal, N.M.
Reider: 3 final takeaways from New Mexico's win over San Jose State
- Story byAlbuquerque Journal, N.M.
- Reider: 3 final takeaways from New Mexico's win over San Jose State
Three final takeaways from New Mexico's 21-16 win over San Jose State:
1. Whatever it is, change is needed to get this passing game in order
"Insanity is doing the same thing, expecting different results."
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Jason Eck said that on Sept. 26 after Toa Fa'avae's first game as the Lobos' full-time starting quarterback, a 42-17 win over New Mexico State. The move was made because UNM's second-year coach felt Fa'avae and Luke Moga weren't developing the way he wanted in a multi-quarterback system, at least not in the way he had previously seen.
So, in an effort to get better results, UNM pivoted to Fa'avae. The 6-foot, 188-pound sophomore wasn't going to "win the Heisman Trophy overnight," Eck added, but the hope was that more reps would hasten his development process and, in turn, give this passing attack a little more consistency.
"We thought we maybe were doing a disservice to the team," Eck said on Sept. 26, "because I thought both quarterbacks needed to be better in the passing game."
Five games since that move, it's fair to question how much development has happened: Against NM State and UTEP, Fa'avae completed 25 of 36 passes (69.4%) for 426 yards, four touchdowns and one interception. But over his last three games, he's completed 22 of 38 passes (58%) for 252 yards, one touchdown and six interceptions in wins over Hawaii, North Dakota State and San Jose State.
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Saturday was the day it truly almost cost UNM. If Fa'avae cracked 100-plus passing yards for the first time in nearly a month, he also threw one touchdown to three interceptions, the last of which was returned for an 89-yard touchdown by the Spartans.
"I thought he did some good things, but he can play better," Eck said Saturday.
He stopped himself.
"Needs to play better for us."
Of course, there's some key caveats. After all, San Jose State and Hawaii have good, active defenses. As of Sunday, North Dakota State is tied with UNM for the top scoring defense in the country. The version of Fa'avae you saw in a 61-7 thumping of UTEP was unlikely to appear every single week, even if it was awfully tempting to think so.
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And not all of the passing game's woes should be put on Fa'avae. With Troy Omeire's season over and Shawn Miller still sidelined with a concussion, his best options at receiver are true freshmen, a group of talented — but young — players finding their way.
Let's be clear, too: If UNM isn't getting excellent results in the passing game, it's still getting the results it needs. The Lobos are 7-1 overall, 4-0 in Mountain West play. They won at Hawaii for the first time since 2016. At San Jose State for the first time since 1969.
Things are still on schedule. UNM's loftiest goals are still attainable.
That shouldn't be forgotten.
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But if the sky isn't truly falling, it's hard to look at the recent results and not think some change — whatever it is — is needed.
The stats are one thing, and they're easy to point to no matter how you feel. The overall strategy is another: UNM has largely won off historic defensive and solid special teams play. As Eck has said, it needs an offense to complement that by running the ball well, winning the time of possession battle and not turning the ball over.
Against San Jose State, UNM ran the ball for 231 yards. It eked out another win in the time of possession battle, beating the Spartans 31:30 to 28:30.
But the turnovers nearly undid all of that good work. And from the outside looking in, Fa'avae looked closer to the quarterback that was a longshot for the starting job at the end of spring practice, a player who was just putting too many passes in harm's way.
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"By whatever means necessary, we gotta do a better job protecting the football," Eck said. " … Whatever (the) answer is, we gotta do a better job of doing it."
Before and after the last three games, Eck has said UNM's staff needs to make sure they're putting Fa'avae in the best spots to succeed. Sometimes that's been offered as a little more of a general platitude. Sometimes it's been a little more definite, depending on the game or situation.
Saturday, it was as specific as it's ever been. Eck said Fa'avae's fourth-quarter pick six should've been a run, that UNM should've played for the outside chance of a field goal to go up by 15.
Instead, Tuli Tagovailoa-Amosa returned a deflected pass from Fa'avae to make it 21-16 with 10:57 left.
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"I haven't even looked at (the play)— because I was just pissed at myself for screwing it up — to see exactly what schematically went wrong on everything," Eck said. "But that was a bad call by me."
Bad calls aside, at what point would UNM consider going in a different direction at quarterback?
"I think it starts with us coaching things better," Eck said. "Maybe having less stuff to execute better. I wouldn't say that's off the table, playing multiple (quarterbacks). But we gotta make more progress and have more positive plays.
"We had some positive plays tonight, it was just that we had some real negative plays."
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I don't believe benching Fa'avae entirely or severely limiting his role is a real opinion. There might be a little sunk cost fallacy in that thinking, sure. But what he gives UNM with his legs and how he's found ways to respond to adversity in games shouldn't be discounted or ignored — if he's put UNM in some tough spots, he's gotten them out of its fair share, too.
The results have to change, though. This team needs a passing game it can trust.
Should UNM go back to a multi-quarterback offense? If I'm open to the idea, I struggle to see how the arrangement UNM pivoted away from solves the problems it still has.
Should UNM radically adjust its offense, simplifying the picture for Fa'avae as much as possible? Maybe. But that seems like a risky and unrealistic proposition, especially at this point in the season.
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Should Moga get another look? If UNM had enough of a feel for him to opt for Fa'avae, it has to reevaluate all of its options. That much seems clear.
In short: I don't know what the fix is.
I'm not sure UNM knows yet either.
"We gotta get better in the passing game. No question," Eck said. "And I think that's gonna be a big point of emphasis. It's up to us as coaches — we gotta figure out the best way to go about that."
2. The Lobos might have another MW DPOY in their midst
In five seasons as a head coach, Eck has never given out game balls after a win. And if he didn't say why he hadn't done so, he didn't have to explain why he gave out two after Saturday's game.
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The first went to defensive coordinator Spence Nowinsky, who apologized to Eck after UNM lost 35-28 at San Jose State last season.
The second went to safety Austin Brawley, a fifth-year senior who wouldn't be playing right now if last season went according to plan.
He's now firmly in the conversation for Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year.
UNM should thank its lucky stars that last season didn't go according to plan.
Because if Brawley's case for DPOY isn't ironclad, it's getting real. The former Ohio transfer has four interceptions, a mark that's tied for second in the country. Two of those picks have gone for touchdowns, the second of which came at a critical moment against NDSU.
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Brawley also leads the country in interception return yardage (132) by a large margin. The one he couldn't really return sealed the win for UNM on Saturday.
He still has work to do. But Brawley should be treated as a real candidate for the league DPOY honor going forward.
3. Scottre Humphrey's offseason work is starting to pay off
Scottre Humphrey probably won't rush for 1,000 yards this season. But after an 87-yard performance against the Spartans, it's clear he's running harder and faster than he did at this point last season, no certainty for a player who was due to receive a heavy workload.
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Not dealing with a nagging injury helps, of course. But he's overdue for some credit for finding a way to reinvent himself and improve his game after a disappointing finish last season.
"I was lifting with the linebackers all summer," Humphrey said Saturday. "(Mercury Swaim and Jaxton Eck), they push me in different ways that I haven't been pushed before."
Sean Reider covers college football and other sports for the Journal. You can reach him at sreider@abqjournal.com or via X at @lenaweereider.
