Davie under investigation as big game looms

Craig Neal to the controversial ending to former athletic director Paul Krebs’s tenure and the financial crisis stemming from overspending within the athletics department, Wednesday’s news is just another scar on the school’s reputation.

Davie has been UNM’s football coach since 2012. He took over a program that had lost 37 of its 40 previous games but has slowly turned things around by winning 16 games the past two seasons, earning bowl bids each time.

Earlier this week, he spoke about the rise his team has made the last few years and how games like Thursday’s validate the steps the Lobos have made the previous five years. The culmination came in December with a win in the New Mexico Bowl and includes the trip to Boise State.

“I can’t imagine a few years ago that ESPN would look at a New Mexico-Boise game and say, ‘Boy, there’s some intrigue in that,’ ” Davie said Monday at his weekly press luncheon. “You know, the only intrigue is how many points is Boise going to score a few years ago and maybe totally watching Boise. Maybe somebody out there kinda likes to watch us.”

GAME NOTES

Scouting report: Boise State head coach Bryan Harsin said he’s not preparing for the Lobos the same way Davie describes them.

As Davie has said repeatedly since the season opener, the Lobos’ typically reliable option attack has been anything but this season. In two games the offense is generating more than 125 fewer yards per game than last season’s NCAA-leading average.

“I really haven’t seen anything that tells me they’re not as good or can be,” Harsin said. “As far as throwing it, you know, they have their reasons.”

The fact that the Lobos have thrown 58 passes in two games also means little to the Broncos. They’re still preparing for the run game first, passing game second.

“Whatever they’re thinking in the games, you know, I’m not quite sure,” Harsin said, “but we’re preparing for a team that can run it — and we’ve seen it.”

Kimmie’s return: Davie said senior linebacker Kimmie Carson could return as early as Thursday’s game, but more than likely it will be next week’s visit to Tulsa, Okla.

A starter in every game last season, the 6-foot-1, 225-pound Carson was held out of the first two games and for several preseason practices while dealing with personal and academic issues.

Carson went to high school in Tulsa, making the Sept. 23 nonconference game a homecoming, of sorts.