Great Expectations, Central Michigan Could Be Handful for New Mexico Football Season Opener
“We had high expectations, probably higher than the outside world did (last year),” Eck said. “We have very high expectations again inside of our locker room for what this year takes. It’s focusing on the task at hand and taking care of your business.”
The University of New Mexico has a central issue to overcome in its 2026 football season opener.
The Lobos enter the year with higher expectations than they have ever had.
Saturday night’s season opener against Central Michigan at home may seem a formality to the casual UNM fan tuning into 2026 because of the heightened hoopla surrounding the program.
The Lobos aren't facing nationally-ranked or Group of Four perennial powerhouse Michigan, whom they faced in their 2025 season opener – sans expectations or hoopla.
C-e-n-t-r-a-l Michigan.
Big difference. Huge. In the minds of UNM fans.
Lobo coach Jason Eck earlier this week felt like he had to pump the brakes quickly on the cherry and silver masses counting on an automatic W on Saturday.
“Historically, these intersectional rivalries at the Group of Six level – I think like maybe the fans and people, because you don’t know a lot about them, you assume they’re not very good,” Eck said at his opening weekly news conference Monday. “Central Michigan, historically, has been a better program than New Mexico – all-time winning percentage, winning seasons, bowl appearances.”
#NewMexico head coach @Coach_Eck’s opening statement as we officially kick off game week. @UNMLoboFB host Central Michigan on Saturday night in Albuquerque. Week 1 is here folks… pic.twitter.com/3KGrbzzNhp
— The Pit Press NM (@ThePitPressNM) August 31, 2026
Last year, the Chippewas finished 7-6 and played in the GameAbove Sports Bowl. Their overall record included losses to three Group of Four teams.
Lobo fans may look at the common opponent in Michigan that UNM and CMU faced last season and see that the Top 25 Wolverines crushed the Chippewas 63-3 while getting stronger resistance from New Mexico in a 34-17 dogfight.
Those same fans, however, might overlook CMU’s 16-14 win at San Jose State in the 2025 season opener. Those same Spartans conquered UNM 35-28.
That won’t matter in this season of hype and high hopes on South Campus. A Lobo victory should be inevitable.
This is the year. There have been other isolated preseason big dreams, but when’s the last time a 10-win season was thinkable in Albuquerque?
1982, when Eck was 5 years old. Even then, few thought that team would go 10-1 until they actually went 10-1.
Much like last year’s team that was predicted to finish 11th in the 12-team Mountain West (remember when there used to be MW preseason polls?). Nary an expectation of success. Even the 20-17 overtime loss to Minnesota in the Rate Bowl to close 2025 wasn’t devastating.
Burqueños weren’t expecting to care about Lobo football after September, like always. A six-game winning streak and an undefeated home record later, and fans now think they have the miracle worker coach that former coach Rocky Long said a week before his departure in 2008 that the program needed to take a seat among college football’s elite.
2026 is set up to be Eck’s UNM masterpiece. Even without quarterback Jack Layne, who’s out for the season because of a second surgery to repair the elbow on his throwing arm.
You can forgive Lobo fans for thinking FBS playoffs this season. They don’t know anything about expectations for football; how are they supposed to moderate expectations now that they finally have tasted them?
UNM certainly isn’t tempering its goals any.
“We had high expectations, probably higher than the outside world did (last year),” Eck said. “We have very high expectations again inside of our locker room for what this year takes. It’s focusing on the task at hand and taking care of your business.”
So, the Lobos are supposed to be worried about C-e-n-t-r-a-l Michigan? The home team is a 10 ½-point favorite.
More like Comedy Central Michigan.
Which is dangerous thinking for a program that has only had a small taste of success.
Suffocate, throttle, or dominate—pick your verb, because New Mexico’s defense executed them all on Saturday night.
In front of 24,126 fans, their largest home-opening crowd since 2014, the Lobos dismantled Central Michigan 38-7 to secure their most decisive season-opening victory against an FBS opponent in 42 years. Defensive coordinator Spence Nowinsky’s unit delivered a masterclass in relentless execution, holding the Chippewas without a single first down for nearly the entire first half and surrendering just three yards across CMU's opening 12 plays.