Toa Fa’avae started, Luke Moga completed 13 of 17 passes for 116 yards and a touchdown, and James Laubstein ran for two scores as New Mexico beat Central Michigan 38-7. The three-quarterback group did not commit a turnover, which is the most encouraging part of the arrangement now that returning starter Jack Layne will miss the season and undergo another operation on the elbow that sidelined him throughout fall camp.
The Lobos controlled much more than the scoreboard. They held the ball for 37:29, ran 69 plays to Central Michigan’s 48 and produced 28 first downs to nine. Central Michigan managed only 33 yards and two first downs before halftime, failing to earn a first down until the final minute of the half. That was convincing opening evidence that the quarterback rotation can run the offense while the defense dictates the game. It was one performance, however, and it did not tell Jason Eck how those quarterback roles will travel.
Root for definition against Mercyhurst
New Mexico hosts Mercyhurst at 2 p.m. MDT Saturday on MW+, with a 99.1% chance to win. The Lobos should win while establishing a clearer division of labor among the quarterbacks.
Fa’avae opened the Central Michigan game and supplied 45 net rushing yards. Moga handled most of the passing work, while Laubstein carried six times for 18 yards and two touchdowns without attempting a pass. Those complementary jobs make sense. This week can show whether they are firm roles, situation-specific choices or merely the first version of a plan still being assembled.
That distinction matters because this is the last game of New Mexico’s opening homestand before road trips to Oklahoma and New Mexico State. Mercyhurst and New Mexico are meeting for the first time, so there is no rivalry debt to settle. The value lies in giving each quarterback meaningful work while the game still offers room to evaluate decisions, timing and command. A big score by itself will not answer whether Moga should own more conventional passing downs, how much of the offense should lean on Fa’avae’s mobility or whether Laubstein’s package can threaten defenses beyond short-yardage runs.
The same standard applies to the playmakers around them. Ten Lobos caught a pass in the opener; Bailen George led them with four catches for 36 yards and the touchdown, while Troy Omeire had two catches for 20. That distribution kept the offense from depending on one target, but it left the receiving order unsettled. Root for the quarterbacks to keep spreading the ball without turning variety into randomness, and for somebody to demonstrate that he can be the dependable answer when Oklahoma takes away the easy throws.
This is also a chance to preserve a strength rather than rush to manufacture a featured player. New Mexico’s climb from 2-10 in 2022 and 5-7 in 2024 to 9-4 in 2025 was substantial. Last year’s team finished 6-2 in the Mountain West, tied for first, and missed the title game on a computer tiebreaker. The opener suggested that production can remain distributed even after an offseason of change. Mercyhurst should help refine that formula, not tempt the Lobos to abandon it for artificial stat lines.
Keep the defense’s standard intact
New Mexico’s transformed 2025 defense was described late last season as the nation’s most improved against the run and its third-most improved in scoring defense. Holding Central Michigan below a first down for nearly the entire first half was an excellent continuation. Against Mercyhurst, the defense should end possessions quickly enough to create useful snaps for every part of the offense.
Do not confuse that with demanding perfection. The defense’s task is to repeat its discipline and keep control of the game; success against this opponent cannot establish how it will fare against Oklahoma. It can still expose busted assignments or a pass rush that arrives only when the score has removed every credible run threat.
There is a home stake, too. New Mexico’s opening win extended its University Stadium streak to eight, matching the program’s longest home run since a streak spanning 1938-40, and the announced crowd of 24,126 was its largest for a season opener since 2014. Saturday can make it nine straight. For a program trying to turn one breakthrough season into a durable standard, protecting that ground is the part of this overwhelming-favorite game that deserves genuine feeling.
North Dakota State at Air Force: root for Air Force
Kickoff is 8 p.m. MDT Saturday on FS1. Air Force has a 43% chance to deliver the preferred result, and it is the week’s only outside game with a measurable payoff for New Mexico.
This one works through the conference race. North Dakota State is the Mountain West participant, so an Air Force win hands a league loss directly to a potential competitor. In the model’s alternative outcomes, New Mexico reaches 44.5% to make the conference title game if Air Force wins and 39.9% if North Dakota State wins, a difference of 4.7 percentage points.
That is useful enough to follow after the Lobos finish, but New Mexico does not need an upset in Colorado Springs to make its season work. The main event remains the chance to leave Week 2 at 2-0, extend the home streak and take a more intelligible quarterback plan to Oklahoma.
See every modeled result in the interactive New Mexico guide, or read how the numbers are produced in the methodology.