Lobos Host Wyoming in Season Finale
New Mexico Game Notes | Wyoming Game Notes | Mountain West Weekly Notes
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — It’s the end of the 2018 season, and The University of New Mexico is hosting the University of Wyoming for the final game of the season at Dreamstyle Stadium. Kickoff is slated for 12:30 p.m. with the game being broadcast of AT&T Sports Network with Drew Goodman, Sed Bonner and Brad Thompson on the call. The game will also be on the Lobo Radio Network with Robert Portnoy and DonTrell Moore.
And while it’s the end of the 2018 season, everyone can be forgiven if it feels like the end of the 2014 season, because the similarities are downright eerie.
In 2014, the Lobos defeated a fairly new Division I football team from Texas (UTSA), UNLV on the road and New Mexico State on the road. In 2018, the Lobos defeated a fairly new Division I football team from Texas (Incarnate Word), UNLV on the road and New Mexico State. In 2014, UNM was defeated soundly by four teams that were either nationally ranked at the time, or at the end of the season. In 2018, UNM was defeated soundly by by four teams that were either nationally ranked at the time, or at the end of the season. In 2014, the Lobos were 3-8 heading into the final game of the season, a home day game on AT&T Sports Network against Wyoming. In 2018, the Lobos are 3-8 3-8 heading into the final game of the season, a home day game on AT&T Sports Network against Wyoming.
That 2014 season saw UNM win the finale 36-30, a game in which Wyoming ran 94 plays to UNM’s 39, and saw the Lobos hold off Wyoming in the final minute after the Cowboys had first and goal at the Lobo five yard line. Wyoming had four shots to win and UNM’s defense came up big all four times. That win kick started a solid offseason that eventually saw UNM go 7-6 in 2015, losing to Arizona in the Gildan New Mexico Bowl. The similarities, and how big this game can be for UNM, is not lost on seventh-year head coach Bob Davie.
In remembering that 2014 finale, Davie said at his weekly press conference of the 36-30 win, “That was a big, big game for us. We won seven the next year, we won nine the next year. So, we have a lot to play for.” While UNM is playing for the future, Wyoming enters on a two-game winning streak and is playing for the now. They Cowboys can get bowl eligible with a win as they enter at 5-6 overall. It certainly turns it into a big game for both teams.
It’s not just a big game for the Lobos, it’s a big day for Lobo athletics, as the game is followed up with a men’s basketball game hosting UTEP at 5:30 p.m. Lobo fans can get a Black Friday Special ticket deal that is impossible to top. Lobo fans can purchase a $15 ticket to Lobo football and get a free ticket to the Lobo-UTEP men’s basketball game. Fans don’t even have to move their cars for parking. That offer is good while supplies last.
It’s also the final home game for 23 seniors, including the program’s all-time leader in games played in Aaron Jenkins, receiver Delane Hart-Johnson who overcame a horrific automobile accident to become UNM’s leading receiver just two years later, and a host of other great stories.