New Mexico Lobos Football

The University of New Mexico is spending nearly $70,000 per week to play its football games in Las Vegas amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Speaking to Nicole Auerbach of The Athletic, New Mexico athletic director Eddie Nunez said he is willing to pay that amount of money to have the team play games because it will result in a large payout down the road in distributions from the Mountain West Conference and the College Football Playoff.

"If I'm going to spend $300,000 to put our team in Las Vegas, but I know that at the end of the day, I'm going to get $3.7 million or zero [to not play at all], I think I'd go for 3.7," he said. "To give our kids a chance to play with the circumstances we were dealing with [in the state of New Mexico], it was the right decision."

The eight-game conference-only schedule for Mountain West teams began Oct. 24, but the Lobos found themselves in a bind. Their opening game against Colorado State was canceled because of a spike in COVID-19 cases in Bernalillo County, New Mexico.

Nunez announced Oct. 30 that the football team was moving its operations to Las Vegas, where it will play games at Sam Boyd Stadium, home of fellow Mountain West program UNLV. He told Auerbach the $70,000 being spent each week is used to keep "about 140 people tied to the New Mexico football program living out of the Hilton right now."

The student-athletes are able to attend their classes virtually, but Auerbach noted doing so requires them to wake up an hour earlier because of the time difference between Albuquerque and Las Vegas.

The Lobos have played their first two games of the season on the road against San Jose State and Hawaii. Saturday's contest against Nevada will mark their first game in their adopted home for the 2020 season.

Nahje Flowers, a defensive end at the University of New Mexico, has died at the age of 21.

Head football coach Bob Davie issued a statement through the school's athletic department.

"Earlier this morning we were made aware of the tragic loss of Nahje Flowers," Davie said. "Our entire football team and everyone who knew Nahje are devastated by this loss. Nahje was a wonderful person and great teammate. Our entire Lobo Football family mourns his passing and our prayers go out to his family."

New Mexico athletic director Eddie Nunez said in a statement he was made aware of Flowers' death on Tuesday morning before Davie informed the team:

"Grief counselors, members of our medical team and a psychologist are being made available. [...] Our focus right now is on the well-being of our student-athletes, coaches and staff and the support needed. Nahje was an incredible young man. Our entire Lobo Football family mourns his passing, and our prayers go out to his family."

A cause of death has not been released. Flowers played in five of New Mexico's nine games this season. 

He had been attending New Mexico since 2016. The Los Angeles native appeared in all 24 games for the Lobos in 2017-18. He finished third on the team with 5.5 tackles for loss as a redshirt sophomore last year. 

New Mexico head coach Bob Davie won't travel with the team to South Bend, Indiana, for its Sept. 14 game against Notre Dame as he recovers from a medical setback that led to his hospitalization Saturday. 

In a statement released by the school, Davie said he made the decision to remain in Albuquerque after consulting with his doctors and wife:

Davie was taken from Dreamstyle Stadium to the hospital in an ambulance following New Mexico's 39-31 win over Sam Houston State on Aug. 31. 

Per Rick Wright of the Albuquerque Journal, Davie was believed to be experiencing chest pains when he was taken away. The 64-year-old at one point was seen kneeling on the sidelines during the game. 

The Lobos will go into the Notre Dame matchup with Saga Tuitele, who regularly serves as their run game coordinator and offensive line coach, as their acting head coach. 

Davie has compiled a 34-54 record in eight seasons at New Mexico. He previously spent five years as Notre Dame's head coach from 1997 to 2001 and went 35-25.

New Mexico head football coach Bob Davie was taken to the hospital following his team's 39-31 home win over Sam Houston State on Saturday following "what appeared to be a serious medical incident," per Lobos athletic director Eddie Nunez.

On Sunday, Davie released an encouraging statement via Twitter:

Steve Virgen of the Albuquerque Journal reported that Davie was believed to be suffering from heart trouble and that an ambulance appeared at Dreamstyle Stadium in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to take him to the hospital.

A school official also told the Journal the coach "was experiencing chest pains" (h/t ESPN).

The Davie family released a statement soon after the incident, noting the coach is "doing well and recovering."

Davie, 64, just began his eighth season as New Mexico's coach. He also led Notre Dame from 1997 to 2001 and was an ESPN college football analyst for much of the 2000s.

Per Brandon Ortega of KOB 4, Davie and Lobo players were not made available to speak postgame.

Many people provided well-wishes and prayers after news broke, with ESPN's Holly Rowe, UNM President Garnett S. Stokes and the Mountain West Conference among them:

Davie's best season with the Lobos occurred in 2016, when he led the team to a 9-4 and a first-place tie atop the MWC's Mountain Division. The season included a five-game win streak and a victory over UTSA in the New Mexico Bowl.

New Mexico football coach Bob Davie is reportedly under investigation for various acts of misconduct, which include mistreatment of players and a "compromised" drug program.

Daniel Libit of NMFishBowl.com reported the news Wednesday, which was followed up by a statement confirming an investigation was underway—though the school refused to name Davie.

“I can confirm there is an investigation underway in Athletics,” UNM spokesperson Cinnamon Blair said. “We are not going to comment on the details or the individuals involved until the investigation is complete.”

The investigation reportedly was prompted by a series of athlete exit interviews in the spring. Details on the contents of those interviews have not been made available. Davie was a source of "discontent" among players in exit interviews each of the previous two seasons, per NMFishbowl.com.

The new allegations are reportedly severe enough to necessitate an outside investigation, which was not the case in 2015 or 2016.

Davie is 28-37 at New Mexico. The Lobos went 9-4 in 2016 en route to New Mexico Bowl victory, the first of Davie's career. He previously spent five largely unsuccessful seasons at Notre Dame. 

The New Mexico Lobos and New Mexico State Aggies met on the gridiron for the 104th time, in a rivalry dating back to before the state of New Mexico had even become part of the US. The Lobos won the rivalry game last season, but the Aggies won the previous three before that.

After this year's game, there is absolutely no doubt as to who the top program in the state is currently.  New Mexico rushed for 541 yards en route to a 66-17 dismantling of the Aggies in Albuquerque.

Star running back Kasey Carrier rushed for 126 yards on just 14 carries for the Lobos, and had three rushing touchdowns before the first quarter was even over. QB Cole Gautsche led New Mexico on the ground, with 127 yards and a touchdown on a mere 12 carries, for an impressive 10.6 yards-per-carry average.

UNM was pretty much unstoppable on the ground, no matter who was toting the ball for them. 11 different Lobos registered carries in the game, with every single one of them averaging over five yards per carry. In all, Lobos ball-carriers combined for 541 yards and seven touchdowns rushing, while not committing a single fumble.

New Mexico was so dominant on the ground that they barely had to turn to their passing game at all. Gautsche attempted only four passes, completing two of them for 48 yards and a touchdown.

The Aggies actually weren't terrible offensively, racking up 451 total yards that included a 139-yard rushing performance by running back Brandon Betancourt. They did, however, have some issues with ball security. QB Andrew McDonald threw two interceptions, and NMSU also lost a fumble.

In the end, the Aggie turnovers combined with New Mexico's sheer dominance in the running game led to one of the more lopsided games in the history of the Rio Grande Rivalry, as New Mexico equaled its highest point total in the rivalry.

As Bob Davie continues to rebuild the Lobos after Mike Locksley's disastrous tenure in Albuquerque, he certainly earned a lot more goodwill amongst the UNM fanbase with this year's dismantling of their most hated rivals.

Bob Davie is converting quite a few believers in the desert of New Mexico. His Lobos are 2-2, which is the school's best record to start a season since 2007.

He has the team believing in his message and his playbook, which features the triple option. Davie has dusted off an American tradition and been rewarded with a suddenly relevant season in Albuquerque.

However, the Lobos have not fared well against "known" opponents. In their two games with name-recognition schools, Texas Tech and Texas have demoralized New Mexico by a combined score of 94-14. 

But Appalachian State walked into the Big House and knocked off the Michigan Wolverines. Tiny James Madison handled the big, bad Virginia Tech Hokies. An upset this Saturday isn't impossible, but there are a few things that will have to be done in order to New Mexico's prayers to be answered.

Absolutely, Positively No Turnovers

Boise State is much more talented than New Mexico. The Broncos have been crashing the BCS conversation for years, while the Lobos have barely been able to crash a mixer at a senior center.

Therefore, the Lobos must take care of the football as if their lives depended on it, because for 60 minutes, they will. New Mexico cannot afford the loss of a scoring opportunity or the forfeited field position.

Limit the Total Number of Possessions

The triple-option is not an explosive offense. It's a grind-your-way-down-the-field offense that occasionally has one play break off for a long gain. This actually works in New Mexico's favor.

As stated above, New Mexico is overmatched from a talent standpoint. Limiting the number of opportunities that talent touches the ball, means there are less chances for them to make a play based solely on that advantage. It's akin to plugging leaks with your fingers, eventually you run out of digits and the water comes pouring in.

Run the Triple Option in a Disciplined, Systematic Manner

The above two points lead to this one: New Mexico cannot get sloppy with ball. When either B.R. Holbrook or Cole Gautsche is wrapped up, they need to be careful making any late pitches. While those late tosses occasionally break a big play, they're much more likely to end up on the carpet. 

The most important key of keeping possession will require the quarterbacks to continuously make the right read and play. Giving to the fullback three straight times is fine so long as he is picking up yardage. They cannot be scared of consistency nor get greedy because they want the bigger play.

A Trick Play or Two

Or as it's known in Albuquerque—a "forward pass." 

The Lobos will need to keep Boise State's stellar defense off kilter with the pass every now and then. They only average 60 yards through the air and will probably need at least 100 to make this one a ball game. Boise's secondary is extremely good though, so they must take care to tuck and run when nobody is open.

In all seriousness, New Mexico should come equipped with a couple gadget plays. It worked wonders for the Tennessee Titans this past week, scoring on a punt-return throw back. A well-designed play could very well prove the difference in the game.

The Defense Must Get Stops

Every key on this list is necessary, so if the Lobos offense can keep the Broncos offense on the sideline, the Lobos defense must take care of the rest. Considering the tactics involved, they should be well rested and Boise should be out of sync. Can't build any momentum on the bench. 

Boise State demonstrated they can put up points against an inferior opponent when they ran roughshod over Miami of Ohio for 39 points. However, that's not their norm this year. They can be stopped.

New Mexico will need a lot to go right in order to steal this upset victory, but it can be done. Just stick to the script and hope they get lucky. 

The New Mexico Lobos have been the worst team in FBS-level college football over the last three seasons, to put it bluntly.  So far this season the Lobos have only one win and posted identical 1-11 records each of the previous two seasons.

Quite simply, the Lobos are absolutely terrible.  Right now, University Stadium in Albuquerque is a pit of despair that sucks all traces of hope and happiness out of those few poor souls unfortunate enough to venture into its confines.

It wasn't always that way, though.

Since joining the Mountain West Conference in 1999, the Lobos have been to a bowl game on five different occasions, winning once.  They also finished second in the conference three times, a pretty impressive feat considering they were in the same conference as BYU and Utah at the time (TCU joined the conference after New Mexico's success started to fade).

Things started to unravel for the Lobos after head coach Rocky Long resigned following the 2008 season.  The Lobos decided to replace him with Illinois offensive coordinator Mike Locksley.

The hiring of Mike Locksley now stands as the bleakest day in the history of New Mexico sports.  In retrospect, it's probably the single-worst coaching hire in the history of college football.

Locksley managed to take a middle-of-the-road football program and turn it into the absolute worst football team in the country.  As if the football failure wasn't bad enough, Locksley also presented severe public-relations problems for UNM, as he was the target of several lawsuits, police investigations and NCAA investigations, all for offenses committed while at UNM.  He was finally fired earlier this season after losing to FCS team Sam Houston State.

In short, Locksley turned the Lobos into the college football equivalent of a toxic waste site—a disgraceful mess that most sane people wanted to avoid at all costs.

In the last week, UNM showed the first traces of hope for its football program.  The Lobos beat UNLV on Saturday for their first win of the season.

On Thursday, the New Mexico faithful finally had a strong reason for hope, as Bob Davie was announced as the new head coach of the team.

Davie is an absolute steal for the Lobos, as he is a former Notre Dame coach who left South Bend with a winning record.  If he can win while coaching what was at the time one of the most prestigious programs in the country while playing fierce competition, winning in Albuquerque against much lesser competition seems like a pretty safe bet.

New Mexico football may have been horrendous the past few years, but that futility is hardly ingrained in their history.  One bad coach is all it took to change the Lobos into a bad program.

Bob Davie may very well be the one good coach the Lobos need to revert back to their winning ways and possibly lead them to an even higher level of success.

Bob Davie, current ESPN and ABC football analyst and former Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach, has been hired by the New Mexico Lobos to be their newest coach.

Joe Schad broke the news on Twitter. 

Mike Locksley was fired in late September after leading the team to a disgustingly bad 2-26 record in his two-plus years on the job.

Davie got his first and only head coaching job at Notre Dame after being an assistant and coordinator at Pittsburgh, Tulane, Arizona, Texas A&M and with the Fighting Irish for a number of years.

He went 35-25 during his four-year tenure as the head coach of the team, but failed to win a bowl game.

He was fired in the midst of the 2001 season after winning a game over Purdue and replaced by George O’Leary, who never coached a game after an embarrassing resume scandal forced him to resign. Tyrone Willingham was then hired to lead the team.

Davie took the Irish to their first BCS bowl in school history, but was embarrassed 41-9 by the Oregon State Beavers in the 2001 Fiesta Bowl.

He will certainly be an upgrade over Locksley and could help turn the Lobos around, who have been awful and won their first game this season just this past week against UNLV.

They have only won a single game in each of the past three seasons and haven’t made a bowl since 2007.

While he has no chance to save the program this season, he could easily change the culture with a solid recruiting class and a good season in 2012.

This is a great hire and it should pay off for the lowly Lobos.