How successful was the debut of New Mexico 's multi-quarterback offense?
James Laubstein didn't think it was much of a question.
"The whole offense ended up in the end zone," UNM's sixth-year quarterback said Tuesday. "You could pick an adjective."
To pick one: Promising.
In a 38-7 win over Central Michigan , Laubstein, Luke Moga and Toa Fa'avae combined to split the lion's share of reps in UNM's multi-quarterback system. And if the numbers weren't eye-popping, they were more than solid: The three collectively completed 17 of 25 passes for 159 yards and a touchdown with 62 rushing yards and two touchdowns to boot.
While a new experience for some, all three quarterbacks agreed the experience of rotating in and out — Moga and Fa'avae started drives while Laubstein subbed in — went off without a hitch. The former two mostly rotated every two drives, an arrangement Fa'avae said he prefers.
"It's hard going three and out, and then (there's) another quarterback going in — it's just more like a rhythm thing," he said. "Getting into the flow, stuff like that."
"It just felt like practice, right?" Laubstein added. "We're all rotating during practice — (it was) the same thing as the game. So, no different, really — it was smooth, it was easy."
Through that rotation, the reps split between Moga and Fa'avae was nearly even Saturday: Fa'avae notched 33 snaps to Moga's 32, per Pro Football Focus (PFF). The run-oriented Laubstein (18 rushing yards) saw the field for six snaps, the majority of which were short yardage situations.
While highly successful with his workload as a rusher, Laubstein said he wants to break a few tackles in the future in addition to improving on minor things with Moga and Fa'avae.
"Whether that's our footwork, our eyes, our operation in and out of the huddle," he added. "It's minuscule things, but those small things add up, right? So you just gotta get all the small things right, and then the big things will come out."
One area head coach Jason Eck would like to see improvement: managing run-pass option (RPO) plays. Eck said there were a few times where Moga (a team-best 13 of 17 for 116 yards and one touchdown) passed instead of handing off the ball.
"I remember when RPOs were new — when I was a (graduate assistant) — our offensive line coach was worried the quarterbacks would throw every RPO, just because it's fun to throw," Eck said Monday. "So we gotta get with Luke on that and again, if he doesn't get better, then we just need to call runs and not RPOs if we want to get it handed off."
For his part, Moga said he's looking to improve in that regard.
"I just got greedy with one of them, and that led to the intentional grounding penalty (in the second quarter)," Moga said. "It was a dumb decision … I got greedy and wanted to throw the ball, but it was a perfect run look all the way. I'll learn from it."
Offensively, UNM succeeded in most metrics against Central Michigan: 364 total yards, 205 rushing yards and 28 first downs. But a handful of drives on the Chippewas' side of the field sputtered, forcing the Lobos to settle for field goals.
Eck chalked most up to self-imposed errors – mainly penalties – but said Fa'avae needed to get rid of the ball instead of taking a third-down sack on a drive in the fourth quarter.
Kicker Grant Glasgow subsequently made a 49-yard field goal, providing a little extra relief to the sophomore signal caller.
"I don't how to explain it, but it's just like, 'O.K. I'm safe' in a way," Fa'avae said. "Obviously you're in the mindset of, 'we gotta score.' But we gotta have good ball security because we're in field goal range, so it's like we already got points on the board.
"He made a lot of great kicks Saturday, (which) was very good to see. Grant, he's the guy."
Overall, Eck felt there was plenty of good – and plenty to improve on. Handing off here, not tacking a sack there.
Saturday, he hopes to see some of that improvement against Mercyhurst (2 p.m.).
"I expect to play multiple guys," Eck said. "Again, probably all three of those guys having a role, and I thought they all did good things for us."
Sean Reider covers college football and other sports for the Journal. You can reach him at sreider@abqjournal.com or via X at @lenaweereider.
