UCLA Football Preview: New Mexico Offense May Give Bruin Defense a Reprieve
The Lobos' offense does not appear to be as good as UCLA's first two opponents.
After two games, the New Mexico Lobos are 1-1. After losing the season opener at Michigan by a score of 34-17, the Lobos defeated Idaho State last weekend, 32-22.
The good news is that the Lobos have only scored seven points this season in the first quarter. Even better, they’ve been outscored 34-24 in the first half. Of course, that doesn’t mean that UCLA won’t change one or both of those trends. It also doesn’t mean that the Bruins will be able to replicate the first half offense generated by the Lobos’ opponents.
But the fact that both teams have struggled it does put a premium on first half scoring for both teams.
Let’s look at New Mexico’s offensive personnel who will be trying to break their first quarter and first half trends against the Bruins.
Quarterback
The Lobos will be led by junior transfer Jack Layne. Layne followed both his head coach and his offensive coordinator from Idaho. Through two games, Layne has completed 44 of 68 pass attempts (64/7%) so far for 363 yards. The good news is that he’s thrown three interceptions but only one touchdown.
Some more good news is that Layne is not a very mobile quarterback. He’s carried ten times for -8 net yards.
D.J. McKinney has run the ball nine times and gained 50 net yards. At the same time, he’s only thrown one pass through the Lobos’ first two games. So, when #10 enters the game, UCLA should be able to key on McKinney and expect him to run the ball almost exclusively.
Running Game
New Mexico’s primary running back is Montana State transfer Scottre Humphrey. He’s gained 174 net yards on 28 carries, which gives him an average of 6.2 yards per carry. He’s scored two touchdowns so far.
D.J. McKinney has run the ball nine times and gained 50 net yards. While he’s the only player who has thrown a pass besides Layne, the fact that McKinney is listed as a running back would seem to indicate some sort of gadget play where the Lobos had McKinney pull up and throw the ball.
In addition to Humphrey and McKinney, the only other Lobo who has gained more than ten net yards is senior transfer Damon Bankston. He’s carried ten time for 46 net yards with one touchdown run.
Passing Game
The Lobos will likely start three receivers, a tight end and a running back.
New Mexico’s top receiver is actually redshirt sophomore tight end Dorian Thomas. Thomas joined the Lobos after spending his first two seasons at Arizona. He’s made 15 receptions for 127 yards with two touchdowns. He’s not a particularly deep threat. So far, his longest reception of the year has been just 25 yards, but if New Mexico gets into the Red Zone, the Bruins will certainly need to keep an eye on him.
Bankston’s 76 receiving yards is second-most on the team. While he has caught five passes this season, his longest was 55 yards. So, most of his receiving yards came on that play.
Redshirt junior Michael Buckley will likely start at one of the receiver spots, though the Lobos did start McKinney as a second running back against Michigan in Buckley’s spot. Buckley has caught four passes for 46 yards this season.
Redshirt senior Keegan Johnson has joined New Mexico after playing the past two seasons at Kansas State and his first two seasons at Iowa. Johnson has been Layne’s favorite wideout. He’s caught eight passes but only gained 46 yards with a long of 14 yards. So, Johnson isn’t a particularly deep threat, but he will get a lot of balls thrown his way.
The final starting receiver will be Zhaiel Smith. The true freshman from Portland has started both games for the Lobos while grabbing three receptions for 26 yards. Smith’s longest has been only 11 yards.
Sophomore Deshaun Buchanan is another former Vandal who followed Jason Eck to New Mexico from Idaho. Buchanan has caught three passes for 17 yards with a long of seven yards. He also has two rushes for just three yards.
Offensive Line
Redshirt junior Malik Aliane is in his second season with the Lobos. Aliane is a rare international student-athlete from France. You just don’t see many French student-athletes who play football. Last season, he played in 12 games and started twice at center. This year, he is New Mexico’s starting left tackle.
Super senior Israel Mukwiza joins New Mexico after beginning his career at Alabama A&M where he played two seasons before transferring to Mercer for the past three seasons. The 329 lb. native of the Bronx has started both games so far this season at left guard for the Lobos.
Like so many other Lobos, redshirt freshman center Kaden Robnett came to New Mexico from Idaho. Last season, he started two games for the Vandals before experiencing a season-ending injury.
Redshirt sophomore right tackle Tyler Lawrence transferred from the Air Force Academy. He played in six games there last season and started the first three.
Redshirt senior Richard Pearce will start at right guard. Last season was his first with the Lobos after transferring from East Carolina. He started all 12 games last year at right guard where he played more snaps than any other Lobo.
Analysis
It looks like the Bruin defense may finally get a bit of a reprieve after facing two high-powered offenses. The Lobos just don’t have the same kind of offensive firepower that Utah and UNLV had.
As a result, this game should be a good opportunity for the UCLA defense to pull itself together and play their most complete game of the year so far.
Go Bruins!
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UCLA is listed as a 15.5 point favorite. I do not bet against the Bruins but could be a tight game and 2 touchdowns sounds like too big a spread.
Always excellent work, Joe.....When one's defense is ah-hem - anemic - it becomes more critical than otherwise, to score points. They need to run Jaivian Thoms 20 carries, period! The futile, ceaseless shuttling has produced nothing but additional frustration for alumni and fans....GO BRUINS!