Looking for an upset
Lobo football is heavy underdog at Utah State
There are a couple of meaningful connections between New Mexico and Utah State with regard to players and coaches.
The Lobos hope there is one more strong relation. They want to be an explosive offense.
UNM (3-4, 1-2 MWC) will most likely need a breakout performance today in Logan, Utah, to have a chance at upsetting 21-point favorite Utah State (6-1, 3-0), which is No. 4 in the nation in scoring (47.7 points per game) and is on a sixgame winning streak.
The Lobos have scored a combined 25 points in their last two games, both losses.
They will also need their defense to step up. That defense hasn’t caused a turnover the past two weeks and have allowed an average of 428 total yards in that span.
Utah State quarterback Jordan Love, who has been named the MWC Player of the Week twice, has thrown for 1,610 yards and 14 touchdowns on 137-for-214 passing with four interceptions.
Utah State is also balanced, as 22 of the
Aggies’ 43 touchdowns have been of the rushing variety. And they have found other ways to score, too. They are No. 2 in the nation with seven non-offensive touchdowns (four special-team TDs and three defensive scores).
Davie calls Utah State a “very aligned program.”
“You can tell that they are in the second year with the offense,” Davie said. “They trust the quarterback more.”
Meanwhile, the Lobos are in their first year in the spread. They have seen bright spots, but also inconsistency stemming from injuries to quarterbacks Tevaka Tuioti and Coltin Gerhart.
Davie said that caused UNM to eliminate the triple-option portion of its attack, roughly 35 percent of it. Davie believes the offense would be further along if it had kept aspects of the tripleoption that was its main weapon for six seasons.
Quarterback Sheriron Jones (77-for137 passing, 1,087 yards, 13 touchdowns, seven interceptions) has shown he is capable of converting explosive plays. But he has struggled with the zoneread option when making the decision to either run, hand off the ball or pass, Davie said.
Davie is unsure if improvements can come with repetition or if it is a natural feel to find an open receiver and deliver it accurately out of the zone read.
“It’s a complex thing,” he said. “That’s been a problem for us.”
The Lobos also look to correct all the mistakes that came from nine penalties for 125 yards against Fresno State. Five of those penalties were personal fouls or unsportsmanlike conduct.
“There’s a very small margin for error with us,” Davie said. “We’re a pretty good team. We need to win. It’s not all about that we’re competitive, or resilient, or we can come back from large deficits. It’s about winning, and we have a ways to go until we start winning. But I do feel we’re on track to be better.”
About those connections … the UNM defense includes sophomore linebacker Sitiveni Tamaivena. Today’s game will be a special game for him. His identical twin brother, Suliasi Tamaivena, is a senior linebacker for the Aggies. Suliasi led the Aggies in tackles last season with 111 but has played in only four games this season because of injury.
The other connection involves Utah State head coach Matt Wells and running backs coach DeAndre Smith. Wells was an assistant coach at UNM (2007-08, 2010) and Smith was on coach Davie’s staff at UNM in 2012.