New Mexico Beats UTEP 61-7 Behind Fa'avae's Fast Start

Sophomore QB Toa Fa'avae opened 11-of-12 passing and New Mexico's freshmen starred as the Lobos rolled past UTEP 61-7 in a Mountain West matchup.

New Mexico routed UTEP 61-7 on Saturday, taking a 21-0 lead into halftime of a matchup between programs that now share a conference again. The victory came in Jason Eck's second season as the Lobos' head coach.

Sophomore quarterback Toa Fa'avae drove the fast start, connecting on 11 of his first 12 passes. He took shots downfield when they were available, mostly settled for shorter throws when they were not, and helped New Mexico build its cushion before a late second-quarter interception snapped the Lobos' turnover-free streak.

Eck credited UTEP's coverage on the interception, describing a three-high safety look, and said he weighed calling a timeout because the defense did not fit the play. In a game decided by that margin, he viewed the mistake as a teaching point: a moment to check the ball down rather than hunt a touchdown throw into coverage built to take it away.

Fa'avae's calm pregame routine has become part of that development. He said he puts on "island reggae" to settle himself before kickoff — an idea Eck first raised before a 14-6 loss at Oklahoma, after joking in mid-September that the quarterback might want to skip the intense pregame speeches of defensive coordinator Spence Nowinsky following some early misfires in a 70-7 rout of FCS Mercyhurst.

New Mexico had moved away from a multi-quarterback offense earlier this season in hopes of lifting its passing game, and Eck said afterward the unit is now probably back up to par. He acknowledged the pass game may have looked like a weakness in the early games but said it is again becoming a solid part of the team.

The roster is built around experience — no Mountain West program brought back more starters from last season — yet first-year players kept forcing their way into the spotlight. Freshman wide receivers Bailen George, DJ Darling and Massiah Mingo combined for eight catches, 167 yards and two touchdowns, while freshman safety Marco Beltran had a 71-yard punt-return touchdown negated by an illegal block in the back.

Eck called that "some good recruiting," noting the freshmen have been in the program less than a year, and described Beltran as a difference-maker who can change a game every time he touches the ball.

The week's other storyline was the state of the series itself. Third-year UTEP coach Scotty Walden said last Monday that rivalries are built on "proximity" — "who owns the turf, who owns the territory" — and with decisive wins over both New Mexico State and UTEP, the Lobos currently hold that regional ground while the Miners sit furthest from challenging for it.

The expectation is that the game will grow in meaning now that the schools are conference mates again, though it is not expected to match the intensity of New Mexico's series with New Mexico State. For now, the gap between the two programs leaves any rivalry talk ahead of the results on the field.