ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — It’s already feeling like a big game. Fans are asked to wear their red for Friday night’s matchup with Boise State, a game that will be broadcast on CBS Sports Network that will be the stand alone game nationally (there’s one other game but it starts 90 minutes prior). But according to head coach Danny Gonzales, all it is is an opportunity.
“That’s what we’ve given ourselves, an opportunity.” That opportunity comes against a team that UNM hasn’t had a whole lot of success against as BSU leads the all-time series 11-1, but it’s a team and a program that UNM tries to emulate.
“Boise State has a bunch of great traditions. The coaches that have gone through there, they all believe in the same model. You see the blue collar that they talk about and that’s who they are, and our program is very similar in the things we do.”
What’s not similar is that the game is one of two teams that had very different opneing game experiences against very different opening game opponents. UNM enters feeling good after a 41-0 win over FCS Maine, a team that even Gonzales said afterwards just wasn’t as good as UNM. Quarterback Miles Kendrick was 14-of-17 passing with two touchdowns as UNM turned in its first shutout in seven years. On the other side is Boise State, which lost 34-17 to a 2021 bowl team in Oregon State on the road. However, Gonzales is quick to point out that Boise State after a couple of quick turnovers and falling behind 24-0 put themselves right back in the game, and that’s the Boise State team he expects to see on Friday. “You know they got down early and you can see the confidence they have as a football team because they never changed their motives at all and got back in it. They played really well in the second half.”