“Really proud of the way we responded in the second half... In the first half, we had a lot of self-inflicted errors, 12 penalties, more than we’ve had in (entire) games all year. The second half, we executed better, had a lot of huge individual plays to get us going.”
It certainly was no vacation, but the University of New Mexico football team is coming home happy.
Or likely much more relieved than happy.
Despite committing 16 penalties – six resulting in Hawaii first downs and one calling back a Lobo touchdown – three turnovers, two snaps over the quarterback’s head and likely losing a key player for the season, UNM somehow rallied from a 10-0 halftime deficit to defeat the Rainbow Warriors 21-10 on Saturday night in Honolulu.
The Lobos overcame their largest deficit this season, moved to 5-1 to maintain their best start since the 1997 team started 6-0 and have started 2-0 for the first time ever in Mountain West play.
The comeback was near miraculous, considering how bad things went in the first half and how bleak the situation looked to start the fourth quarter for the visitors.
“Really proud of the way we responded in the second half,” coach Jason Eck said during his postgame news conference. “In the first half, we had a lot of self-inflicted errors, 12 penalties, more than we’ve had in (entire) games all year. The second half, we executed better, had a lot of huge individual plays to get us going.”
None bigger than Lobo safety Drew Speech punching the ball out of Hawaii quarterback Micah Alejado’s hands just before he crossed the goal line in the first minute of the fourth quarter that would’ve given the Rainbow Warriors (1-6, 0-4) a two-possession lead.
Linebacker Mercury Swaim, who was tasked with leading the defense due to the absence of fellow LB Jaxton Eck (shoulder injury), fell on the ball in the end zone to prevent Hawaii from adding to its 10-7 advantage.
UNM quarterback Toa Fa’avae, responsible for all three turnovers with two interceptions and a fumble, regrouped to march the Lobos 80 yards on 13 plays, scoring on a 21-yard run to give New Mexico its first lead of the game, 14-10 with 6:57 left in the game.
Fa’avae completed just 5 of 10 passes for 59 yards and two interceptions during the game. He did have 10 carries for 77 yards and the go-ahead TD, but he also coughed up the football after a 41-yard run in the first quarter.
But it was Fa’avae's 35-yard reception of a Bailen George pass on a wide receiver reverse pass on fourth-and-2 from the Rainbow Warriors 40 on UNM’s opening possession of the second half that jump-started its comeback.
Scottre Humphrey’s 1-yard TD run three plays later cut Hawaii’s halftime lead to 10-7.
“Bailen did a good job being poised,” Eck said. “We got them in man coverage; the thing about man coverage is nobody ever has the QB … so we knew that we’d get (Fa’avae) free down the sideline.
Humphrey broke through the line on UNM’s first play on its ensuing possession for a 49-yard touchdown and a 21-10 lead with 3:31 left, all but clinching the victory for UNM,
The play capped an emotional rollercoaster of a week for Humphrey (15 carries, 90 yards, two touchdowns), whose father died last Sunday.
“It was a horrible, hard loss for sure,” Humphrey said. “I just knew I had to get back to my brothers. There was no doubt in my mind; I was sure I was going to play. My dad was a football coach; he would’ve wanted me to play.”
There was considerable doubt, however, about UNM’s readiness to play after turning in what was easily the worst first half of football in Eck’s tenure with the program.
The team’s 12 penalties kept both Hawaii drives alive that allowed the home team to score its 10 points and took away a 50-yard Fa’avae touchdown run in the first quarter. UNM’s last penalty of the half, a dubious pass interference call on a third down, gave the Rainbow Warriors a first-and goal at the 1.
Micah Alejado’s 1-yard pass to Titan LaCaden with six seconds left in the half extended Hawaii’s lead to 10-0.
After allowing 89 points to Oklahoma State, New Mexico responded with a dominant defensive performance in a 92-64 exhibition win over Washington State. The Lobos held the Cougars to 35% shooting, limited them to 12 points in the paint and forced 17 turnovers that led to 23 points. UNM’s defense fueled its transition offense, while Uriah Tenette, Jake Hall and Tunde Vahlberg Fasasi led a balanced scoring attack as 10 Lobos scored from the field.