Everything you need to know about New Mexico's game at San Jose State

Everything you need to know about New Mexico’s game at San Jose State, the program’s second visit there in as many years:Who: New Mexico (6-1, 3-0) vs. San Jose State (4-4, 2-2).When and where: 2 p.m. Saturday at CEFCU Stadium in San Jose, Calif.How to watch/listen: MW+ will carry UNM-SJSU with Chris Sylvester (play-by-play), James Jones or David Fales (analyst) and Lindsey Pallares (sidelines) on the call. Robert Portnoy (play-by-play) and DonTrell Moore (analyst) will broadcast the game on the Lobo Radio Network (770 AM/96.3 FM).Who’s favored: UNM is listed as a 14.5-point favorite, per DraftKings. The over/under is set at 41.5 points.Top storyline(s): One of the more baffling streaks in UNM football’s long history is back on the line this week.Since 1969, the Lobos have played at San Jose State nine times. And in all but one of those games — a 21-21 tie in 1971 — UNM has left CEFCU Field with a loss.Jason Eck would like to see that streak come to an end Saturday.Just not entirely for that reason.“I think I’ll mention that (to the team),” UNM’s second-year head coach said Monday. “I’ll probably make more of a point of, we had an opportunity to win there last year, and we didn’t.”It cost the Lobos dearly. While that game wasn’t the sole culprit — they did lose at Boise State a week later — UNM’s 35-28 loss to SJSU’s is widely viewed as the game that kept it out of last year’s Mountain West Championship. Win that one against a team that finished 3-9, and the 10-2 Lobos would’ve avoided having their conference title fates decided by computer metrics.Instead, UNM struggled to contain SJSU’s spread-and-shred offense, turned it over three times and lost in a game that wasn’t as close as the score might’ve suggested. With a four-way tie for first place in the Mountain West, UNM was left out of the conference championship in favor of Boise State and UNLV.And, for another year, the streak lived on.“(SJSU) kicked out butts last year,” Eck said, “in a game that ended up really hurting us, even though it was our first conference game. So we gotta handle going back there again.”But unlike that SJSU team, the one UNM plays this weekend has found more of its recent success on defense, not offense. After giving up a league-worst 32.5 points per game last season, the Spartans are respectably middle of the pack in scoring defense (22.5 points per game) and lead the league with 29 sacks.In SJSU’s offense, Eck sees a unit that’s still trying to find its identity halfway through the season.“But they have a lot of good players, and those passing-attack teams have given us troubles at times, more last year than this year,” he added. “(SJSU has) an active defensive line, a good front that we gotta block better. We didn’t run the ball very well against this team last year, so we gotta find ways to run the ball.”Lobos to watch: After kicker Grant Glasgow missed two field goals in UNM’s victory over North Dakota State, Eck felt UNM didn’t win the special teams battle the way it should’ve and said there will be some competition between the Lobos’ kickers and punters during practice this week. Keep an eye out for who sees the field Saturday among UNM’s specialists.“In all phases, we can kick better than we kicked last week,” Eck said. “In field goals and punts and on kickoffs — we had one kickoff that went to, like, the 15-yard line and a lot of times we’re hitting them out of the back end zone, so we gotta be more consistent that way.”Spartans to watch: SJSU isn’t just the best team in the conference when it comes to sacking quarterbacks. With 29 sacks, the Spartans are third in the 138-team FBS; only SEC heavyweights Tennessee (35) and LSU (34) have more.A big part of that? Jayland McGlothen, a junior defensive lineman who leads the Mountain West with six sacks.“He’s been around there,” Eck said. “They have a number of experienced guys, a lot of guys that we played against last year, and they’re twitchy and athletic up front.”What happened the last time these teams played: Former Spartan quarterback Walker Eget passed for 327 yards and three touchdowns and UNM’s Jack Layne threw three interceptions in a 35-28 SJSU win on Oct. 3, 2025, the Lobos’ 11th loss to the Spartans over the last 13 games between the two.And why is UNM playing at SJSU two years in a row? Eck said it was “kind of the way our schedule worked out” after a year filled with change for the Mountain West.“That was something our previous athletic director (Fernando Lovo) wanted,” he added, “to try to get UTEP and New Mexico State offset. So you’d have a game, a bus trip, every year rather than having two in the same year.”Sean Reider covers college football and other sports for the Journal. You can reach him at sreider@abqjournal.com or via X at @lenaweereider.More Lobo football coverage*Wright: A not-so-fearless predictionIs the 2026 version the best Lobo defense of all time? 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