ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — It might be the only time no one is jealous of a football team going to Las Vegas and Honolulu in the same week. That exactly what UNM is doing as the team will leave Las Vegas where they are practicing to head to Honolulu to take on the Hawai’i Rainbow Warriors at 9 p.m. Mountain Time in a game broadcast on the islands on Spectrum Cable. The game will be available to stream but only through the Team1Sports App via a phone or tablet. The game will also be available via the Lobo Radio Network with Robert Portnoy on the call as well as on the Lobo Sports App, powered by Fan360.
New Mexico is coming off a season-opening loss to San José State 38-21 in a game that showed glimpses of the program that head coach Danny Gonzales is trying to build, as well as the one he is trying to erase. The best case in point was on the opening drives of the second half. UNM, down 21-14, forced a quick three-and-out (a fourth straight in the game) and Tevaka Tuioti showcased some mettle, driving UNM down the field and sneaking the ball over from a yard out to tie the game, the first time UNM has been at least tied in the second half of a football game since September 21, 2019 when UNM beat New Mexico State 55-52.
However a penalty on the kickoff gave San José State 15 free years and those yards were the difference in a punt and a field goal. The field goal was true, and SHSU had a 24-21 on the way to a 38-21 win. The loss for UNM was its 16th straight conference loss and 10th straight overall, numbers Gonzales is working at changing.
“Those types of stats should gnaw at you, and it should bother you. It bothers me,” said Gonzales. “It’s a culture shift that we are working on, and it will take a little time but we will get there.”
In Hawai’i, UNM faces a team with a new coach as well in Todd Graham, who has faced off against UNM as the head coach at both Tulsa and Arizona State. Hawai’i went 1-1 on the mainland in a two-game road trip beating Fresno State and losing at Wyoming. Tevaka Tuioti, who nearly threw for 300 yards last year in a 45-31 loss to the Rainbow Warriors, showcased to Gonzales that he is the quarterback he needs him to be.
“Tevaka brought toughness and was willing to stay in bounds and hit some people. He showed tremendous leadership on the field and on the sidelines, and that’s what we need,” said Gonzales.
Tuioti was a true freshman that was redshirting the last time UNM traveled to Honolulu in 2016, and that trip was decidedly than the one UNM will be making this time around in 2020. UNM is truly in a bubble in Las Vegas, staying in a hotel with players confined to meeting rooms, study hall or their rooms. Players, coaches and staff don’t leave the hotel, and when UNM gets to Hawai’i that will continue, meaning the beach might look nice from the hotel window, but that’s the extent of it.
NOTES: UNM has won four straight games against Hawai’i at Aloha Stadium, a streak that dates back to a 38-21 win in 1994 … UNM’s last trip to Hawai’i was the last Lobo game played in a rainstorm.