Quarterback Toa Fa'avae, defense shine in New Mexico's dominant win over UTEP

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You heard it all week from coaches.

The more reps Toa Fa’avae gets …

“The more improvement he’ll show,” New Mexico head coach Jason Eck said Monday.

In his second full start, the Lobos’ sophomore quarterback showed plenty — much to UTEP’s misfortune.

Fa’avae completed 15 of 19 passes for 249 yards, three touchdowns and one interception as UNM thoroughly dismantled the Miners in a 61-7 win Saturday at University Stadium.

After being anointed as the Lobos’ down-to-down starter ahead of a 42-18 win over New Mexico State, Fa’avae connected on 11 of his first 12 passes on his way to a career-best 79% completion rate. Four of his passes went for 20-plus yards against a UTEP defense that had only allowed nine such plays entering Saturday.

“I think (Fa’avae) took another step forward,” Eck said Saturday. “ … When you’re coaching, you just kinda make a lot of decision on what’s the best thing to do, and you hope it works — you try to make the best guess. But it’s going the way I kinda hoped when we went to one quarterback.”

UTEP quarterbacks EJ Colson and Raymond Moore III combined to complete 8 of 18 passes for 101 yards and three interceptions. Moore’s first interception was returned 65 yards by safety Austin Brawley to make it 28-0 early in the third quarter.

UTEP got the bulk of its offense off runs from Colson and Moore, who finished with 135 yards and one touchdown on the ground. The latter broke up UNM’s shutout with an 86-yard touchdown run in the third quarter.

UNM outgained UTEP 492-270.

"It's embarrassing,” UTEP head coach Scotty Walden said Saturday. “Embarrassed for our fans. Embarrassed for our team. New Mexico is a good team and when you help them out, this is the outcome. I told our team we are going to take full ownership in the loss. There's no excuses."

UNM led 21-0 at the half after Fa’avae led the Lobos on three straight scoring drives. Run-first quarterback James Laubstein capped the first with a 14-yard rushing score while Fa’avae closed the latter two off with touchdown passes to tight end Cade Keith and receiver Bailen George.

Fa’avae went on to throw his last touchdown to George in the third quarter before running back Scottre Humphrey’s 1-yard plunge put UNM up 44-0. In the fourth, the Lobos got a 53-yard fumble return from defensive lineman Jake DeVos to set up a 61-7 ‘final.

“I really liked how we played in the second half,” Eck said. “I didn’t want to let up … I kinda challenged (the team) — ‘we won the first half by 21, let’s win the second half by more than 21’ and not let somebody creep back in … I thought guys really took that to heart.”

Turning point: With the exception of some truly electric runs from Moore, UTEP didn’t do much to threaten UNM in this one. But safety Austin Brawley’s brilliant third quarter sequence featured a pick six and a blocked punt that resulted in a safety to put the Lobos up 30-0, a bridge too far for the Miners.

As a bonus: Brawley’s interception return is the first that’s gone for a UNM touchdown since 2022 and his blocked punt is the first the Lobos have made since Oct. 31, 2009.

Key stat: UNM scored 31 points (!) off five total turnovers to finish the day +18 in turnover margin on the season — far and away the best mark in the country.

First downs: UNM’s freshmen receivers — George, Massiah Mingo and DJ Darling — combined to catch eight passes for 167 yards and two touchdowns.

In the wake of receiver Troy Omeire’s season-ending Achilles tear, the emergence of those three into reliable players can’t be understated.

“They all have a role and they’re doing a tremendous job,” Eck said.

Short of the sticks: Fa’avae threw his first career interception to safety Kode Lowe late in the first half, ending UNM’s improbable turnover-free streak. Safety Jayden Flaker also threw an illegal block in the back on what would’ve been a 71-yard touchdown return for Marco Beltran.

Other than that? It’s hard to nitpick a game as lopsided as this.

Add-ons: World record miler and former UNM runner Josh Kerr was recognized on the field in the first quarter … UNM announced a crowd of 28,256, its largest of the season … With Saturday’s win, the Lobos are 1-0 in Mountain West play for the first time since 2018.

Next up: UNM (4-1, 1-0) is idle next week before an Oct. 17 game at Hawaii.

Sean Reider covers college football and other sports for the Journal. You can reach him at sreider@abqjournal.com or via X at @lenaweereider.

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