It was quite the Saturday for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team last weekend, as Brian Kelly’s squad managed to not lose despite failing to score a single point. The strange second-weekend bye, due to the Labor Day evening tilt with the Louisville Cardinals the previous Monday, left ND fans desperate for Irish football after having such a strange, not-satisfying first game thrust in front of them just before returning to work from Labor Day Weekend.
Thankfully, the wait is over, and the Irish will be back at it this weekend with their home opener against the New Mexico Lobos. Bob Davie’s team will be traveling to South Bend without him after a recent health scare, and ND looks for a more encouraging tune-up before they travel to Athens to take on the Georgia Bulldogs in a top-10 battle next weekend.
But before we get ahead of ourselves and talk Georgia, the Irish will need to take care of business against New Mexico. So, with that in mind, I reached out to my guy Adam Evarts, who covers the Lobos for Mountain West Connection. He helped me understand everything from which New Mexico QBs are best, to who the defense’s X-factor is, to which UNM players would make the most effective Family Feud squad.
Let’s jump into it and learn everything we need to know about Bob Davie’s 1-0 squad prior to Saturday afternoon!!!
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1. We’re only one game into the season for both ND and New Mexico, but what are your thoughts on the outlook for the Lobos’ 2019 season after a solid thumping of Sam Houston State in the opener? Do you think New Mexico has a chance to compete with teams like Boise State, Wyoming, etc. this year?
Adam Evarts: Heading into this season I thought the Lobos would finish no worse than 5-7 and had a good chance of finishing above .500 and making a bowl game. Even with what transpired with Coach Davie following the Sam Houston State game, I still think this team can finish 6-6, or 7-5. The Lobos aren’t quite on the level with the upper echelon teams in the Mountain West Conference yet.
2. Obviously he won’t be at the game Saturday due to a health scare on the sidelines in Week 1, but what is the overall feeling of the fan base (and your personal feeling) about Bob Davie as coach? He had a couple okay years in 2015 and 2016, but the team has had a rough stretch from 2017 onward (7-18 since the Lobos’ win in the New Mexico Bowl after the 2016 season). Is it potentially time for a change?
Adam Evarts: The fan base around Albuquerque really won’t be having Coach Davie over for dinner anytime soon based upon his last two seasons. That’s evident from the 13,000 or so fans that showed up for the first game. Not only do back-to-back 3-9 seasons look bad in the fans’ eyes, but it also didn’t help that in between he was suspended for 30 days for his mishandling of incidents of misconduct with several of his players. The fans are like any other fan base, winning will bring support.
As for me, I think Davie is a good coach for the program for now. He walked into a huge mess left by Mike Locksley and has done a decent job of turning the program around. However, he needs to find sustained success in order to stay as the coach.
As far as a change goes; given the health incident I wouldn’t at all be surprised if Coach Davie stepped down at the end of the season regardless of what the Lobos’ record is. However, I think that if he wants to keep going beyond this season then anything less than a bowl trip would probably see him getting the ouster.
3. I know the big QB story with New Mexico before the season began was about Davie potentially playing up to 4 QBs this season. So far, he’s utilized two in Brandt Hughes and Sheriron Jones. What are the strengths and weaknesses of each, and do you think one or the other should receive the majority of the snaps this year?
Adam Evarts: The quarterback situation at UNM is about as clear as a cup of black coffee. Brandt Hughes looked okay in week one, although his accuracy needs to get better. Sheriron Jones is the most athletic of all of the Lobo quarterbacks; he can throw it, and he has some great wheels. To me, I would like to see more of Jones.
There is one other quarterback that might see playing time against Notre Dame, and that’s Tevaka Tuioti. He didn’t see playing time in the first game mainly because he had been away from practice for a death in his family. I would suspect that since he’s been back with the team and getting some reps, he’ll see some action. Tuioti has a cannon of an arm, and doesn’t mind running the ball, but that is mainly to set up the pass.
**Pat Rick Note: A day after Adam answered these questions, news broke that Hughes is out for the Notre Dame game due to a shoulder injury, so it will certainly be Jones and probably Tuioti taking the snaps at QB on Saturday**
UNM nose tackle Aaron Blackwell is out for the season with an ACL injury. He will still make the trip. QB Brandt Hughes (shoulder) is out for the game.
— Steve Virgen (@SteveVirgen) September 10, 2019
4. What offensive weapons at the skill positions do Hughes/Jones have to work with? Who does the ND defense need to watch out for on Saturday?
Adam Evarts: The Lobos have been known to have some versatile running backs and this year is no different. The Notre Dame defense really needs to key in on Ahmari Davis of UNM. Davis had 107 yards rushing, along with 58 yards receiving, and two touchdowns in the win over Sam Houston State. If healthy, he’ll easily get anywhere from 20 to 30 touches a game.
From a receiver standpoint, the Lobos like to spread the ball around. They have three speedsters that they try to get the ball in space to and those are Jay Griffin IV, Jordan Kress, and Elijah Lilly.
They will also try to get the ball to some of their tall receivers who are Q’ Drennan, Aaron Molina, and Anu Somoye — all of whom are 6-foot-2 and taller.
5. Tell me about some of the strengths and weaknesses of the New Mexico defense — do any position groups stand out in a good or bad way? What do you think the defense needs to do to stop Ian Book and the Irish, and are they capable of doing so?
Adam Evarts: Under Coach Davie it is safe to say the Lobos defense needs to call a plumber, they are very leaky. Davie tried to change that this offseason by revamping the coaching staff on defense, and, through one game, it didn’t work much. The Lobos gave up 558 yards to San Houston State, which is about how much they have given up per game under Davie. So, it’s going to be very difficult to slow down the Irish attack. I really hope the defense proves me wrong, but I would not be surprised if Notre Dame racked up at least 600 yards of offense on Saturday.
If there is one strong part of the Lobo defense it is at linebacker. UNM has some great ones with Alex Hart and Dylan Horton leading the way. Hart is the leader of the defense, so expect him in on a lot of plays.
The secondary remains the biggest question mark with this team. The Lobos brought in a bunch of JUCO transfers to their roster of underclassmen in that area and it seems as though they just need more time to mesh. New Mexico allowed 443 yards passing to Sam Houston State, and it doesn’t get any easier facing one of the nation’s top quarterbacks in Ian Book.
6. Give me one X-factor each on offense, defense, and special teams for the Lobos — what guy on each unit NEEDS to bring their A-game for New Mexico to have a shot on Saturday?
Adam Evarts: The X-factor on offense for the Lobos will be at quarterback. Interestingly enough in a lot of games that Sheriron Jones played last season, the Lobos went how he went. In the two games the Lobos won with him as a starter last season, Jones was excellent. In the losses that he started, he struggled. He came in in the second half against Sam Houston State and excelled, and the Lobos pulled away. If he gets most of the snaps in this game, how the Lobos do will be dependent upon what kind of game Jones has.
For defense I’d have to say the X-factor there is going to be the whole secondary. The Lobos linebackers and defensive line are good enough to slow down Book and Tony Jones Jr. on the ground, so the real question is can they slow down the air attack from the Irish? That will be the deciding factor in this one.
From the special teams standpoint, I was quite surprised that the Lobos didn’t use Jay Griffin IV as the kick returner against Sam Houston State. As said before he is very fast, and the Lobos need to take advantage of trying to get him the ball anytime they can. Expect Q’ Drennan, though, to be returning kicks. The X-factor in this area will be punter Tyson Dyer, however.
Dyer does have an 84-yard punt in his career (he did that last season against Air Force), and his ability to flip the field has helped the Lobos in many games in his career and will have to do it again in this one.
7. Notre Dame has a sophomore RB named C’Borius Flemister. What are the best/funniest/most ridiculous names on the New Mexico roster, and do any of them measure up to my guy C’Bo?
Adam Evarts: I might be a little reluctant as these guys might come find me on campus and smash me like a bug for doing this, but let’s give it a go. I don’t know if we have one that can live up to C’Bo. I did mention many times above about wide receiver Q’ Drennan. Now that is how his first name is listed — Q’. I know his real first name, but I’m not giving it away. If someone is nosy enough, they can find it.
I will say this, there are some players with names that would make for some interesting attempts at pronunciations. Notre Dame TV and radio better have used the bye week to practice those names — they’ll need it. At the end maybe they’ll feel like they can be on Wheel of Fortune.
8. Karaoke battle between Brian Kelly and Bob Davie - what song(s) does each coach sing, who has the better stage presence and charisma, and who ultimately wins?
Adam Evarts: Now this would be something to see. The Woodstock 50 was canceled this year, but Davie vs. Kelly in a karaoke showdown would top it anyway….okay maybe reaching on that.
Now, given his tenure here at UNM I believe Davie would go with “Days Like This,” by Van Morrison, although he would be tempted to do “Brown Eyed Girl.”
For Kelly, I read once he was a Springsteen fan, so I gotta believe he is going with “Born to Run,” and have Chip Long there to take a hint…maybe.
9. You’re assembling a squad of New Mexico players/coaches for an appearance on Family Feud. Whom do you pick, and who is most likely to say something that makes Steve Harvey make one of those incredulous faces he always makes?
Adam Evarts: I don’t think there’s anything better in the world than seeing Steve Harvey’s stunned face at an answer. For me, I’d have to pick defensive lineman Aaron Blackwell, offensive coordinator Joe Dailey, Q’ Drennan would have some dad jokes no doubt, offensive lineman Teton Saltes is a little entertaining, and lastly I’d go running back Daevon Vigilant. Now Blackwell and Saltes play well off each other, so no doubt they would deliver the Harvey-face line, no doubt.
10. Prediction time: give me the final score, who wins, and your reasoning why.
Adam Evarts: As for the game. I think the Lobos will ride the wave of emotions of not having their head coach there for about the first quarter, maybe the first quarter-and-a-half. I wouldn’t at all be surprised to see the Lobos ahead at one point during that time, but in the end I don’t think this secondary is at a place where they can slow anyone down, especially the likes of Ian Book and company, and it’ll also be tough late in the game to slow down the running game.
I see Notre Dame pulling away in this one to win 45-14.
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I want to give a big-time shout out to Adam for answering all of my questions so thoroughly and thoughtfully — particularly the ones about karaoke and Family Feud.
For any and all New Mexico updates heading into the game, please be sure to check out the Mountain West Connection site, as well as follow Adam and the the official Mountain West Connection account on Twitter.
Alright folks, that’s all for today — see you in my Game Preview on Friday...Go Irish!