More Defensive Thievery Helps Fa’avae, Lobo Football Team Throttle NMSU Aggies
“I thought we improved (on offense), but it’s not like we solved world hunger. We’ve got to get better at fixing things.”
They get by with a little help from their friends on defense.
The University of New Mexico football team's defense again took over after its offense sputtered for 30 minutes, leading the Lobos to a 42-18 victory over New Mexico State on Saturday at Aggie Memorial Stadium.
Settling on Toa Fa’avae at quarterback, UNM still had an uneven effort on offense, creating some big plays but stopping themselves with penalties and missed opportunities.
So, the defense did what it does best in 2026: get takeaways on back-to-back possessions to start the second half. The Lobos (3-1 after four games for the second consecutive season) extended a 14-3 halftime lead to a 28-3 bulge that helped the offense relax.
“I was hoping giving Toa all the reps in practice would help his development, and I thought he had his best game,” coach Jason Eck said in UNM’s postgame news conference, naming Fa’avae the starter moving forward. “I thought we were doing a disservice to the team because both quarterbacks needed to be better in the passing game. Toa adds such an element running the football in the Oklahoma game and making stuff happen. … I thought we had to work on his development.”
Eck added that the team cut the playbook by 25% to help the entire offense get better at execution.
“I thought we improved (on offense),” Eck said, “but it’s not like we solved world hunger. We’ve got to get better at fixing things.”
The Lobos did amass 253 rushing yards—a season high. Scott Humphrey had 98 yards and a pair of scores. Kiefer Sibley added 63 yards and a TD, and Fa’avae had 57.
But the Aggies (1-3) also moved the ball well on the No. 4 defense in the country. Like UNM vs. Oklahoma the week before, NMSU had little to show for it—three points through three quarters.
New Mexico running back Scottre Humphrey (22) and safety Frankie Edwards (5) carry the the chile roaster trophy after defeating New Mexico State 42-18 on Saturday, Sept. 26th, 2026. Photo: Ryan Kelly-Romero / R/R Sports Photography
The defense forced three more turnovers while the offense held onto the ball for the fourth straight game. UNM has an unheard-of plus-14 turnover margin through four games and took the crowd of 25,404 completely out of the game.
“You saw the (momentum) change,” Fa’avae said after the third-quarter takeaways on defense. “Our job now was to score.”
Except for the requisite short-yardage runs that required James Laubstein, who scored on a nine-yard run in the third quarter, Fa’avae played the rest of the snaps on offense for the Lobos.
After going 4-of-10 passing for just 56 yards in the first half, Fa’avae was 5-of-5 in the third quarter for 121 yards in a pivotal 21-0 UNM run.
For the game, he finished 10-of-17 for 177 yards and one touchdown. Fa’avae only threw two poor passes—a missed out route to wide-open linebacker/wide receiver Brett Karhu in the end zone and an attempt to tight end Cade Keith that was almost picked off.
Both took place in the second quarter.
Fa’avae, however, denied he had any more of a groove due to knowing Moga wasn’t going to substitute in.
“Even when we were rotating quarterbacks, my mindset when I’m in the game is score every time,” Fa’avae said.
Aggie quarterbacks Trey Hedden and Adam Damante exposed some holes in the Lobo secondary, but not enough to create doubt in the visitors’ minds.
The Lobos scored on their opening possession for the first time this season to take the upper hand, but then played listlessly for most of the first half. They had 168 yards rushing, but seven first-half penalties and incompletions stalled drive after drive.
An unusual 28-yard field goal miss by kicker Grant Glasgow contributed to the first-half struggles on offense.
With short fields to work with in the second half, the offense made the most of its opportunities, scoring five TDs.
With the defensive assist, of course.
LATE LOBO TD – NOTHING TO SEE HERE: The Lobos, holding a 35-11 lead, converted a fourth-and-6 at the NMSU 1 with 1:54 left in the game. Laubstein went in for his second TD on the next play instead of taking a knee and running out the clock.
Eck explained that NMSU still had its full complement of timeouts, and he didn’t think NMSU would let the clock run. Otherwise, UNM would have taken a knee.
NMSU coach Tony Sanchez also downplayed the UNM score.
“When I was a younger coach, I’d be mad about stuff like that,” Sanchez said. “But it’s your job to play football. If they want to go ahead and punch it in, it’s your job to tackle them.”
Double-overtime thrillers, rivalry beatdowns, and a hierarchy fast taking shape - Week 4 of Mountain West football delivered all the chaos and clarity college football fans crave. As New Mexico solidifies its quarterback situation and Air Force pulls off a gutsy high-wire act, the conference title race is heating up. Meanwhile, bounce-back performances and early-season shocks are completely shifting the tier list. Here are the top five takeaways from a wild weekend of Mountain West action.