Expectations: A Title or Toxicity for New Mexico Lobo Football in 2026?
“Our goal is to always have a team in the College Football Playoff”
There was a new sense of optimism buzzing around the halls at The Palms Resort and Casino last week in Las Vegas, Nev., as the Mountain West Conference introduced a new version of itself at football media days.
As the players, coaches and conference personnel spoke to the dozens of media partners, the event had a newness and felt more welcoming than previous years. It was more bold and assertive; the league is proud, and each member institution expressed it was, too.
A new tagline (“Built Bold”), new logo, a new viewership app (MW+) and a newly designed championship trophy exemplify the conference's belief it is one of the best Group of 6 conferences in the country as it continues to bet on its current members.
As MW commissioner Gloria Nevarez opened her address, she made the conference’s goals very clear; driving revenue through creative means, postseason opportunities and specifically the CFP.
“Our goal is to always have a team in the college football playoff. This year, the non-autonomous automatic qualifier spot goes to the highest ranked team of the non-autonomous conferences, instead of the champion… the MW continues to be focused on positioning our teams to have the best chance to be in the selection for the CFP,” Nevarez said. “Our championships and regular [conference] seasons continue to deliver excitement and relevance to the entire FBS ecosystem.”
When looking at the newly reformed MW membership, the landscape and identity have changed, but the expectations in postseason play have not.
For the University of New Mexico football team, new expectations could be a heavy, double-edged sword.
On one hand, higher expectations encourage preparedness, attention to detail and accountability. On the other, it could be a distraction - or worse: poison.
Quarterback Jack Layne doesn’t try to pretend that expectations don’t exist at UNM, but his mentality prefers to focus on more important things.
“We’re trying to not let it [mentality] change, but human nature, complacency - it’s real, and we're trying every day to stay focused on what’s important now and putting our best foot forward,” Layne said. “But all that … those ‘expectations, they’re rat poison,’ as we like to say, we gotta try to ignore it the best way we can. And that’s doing the work every day and working hard.”
The mentality has shifted into a hyper focus of self-evaluation. The surprises are essentially obsolete; the Lobos aren’t going to sneak up on teams this year. Now they carry a much larger target on their backs, and MW Preseason Defensive Player of the Year linebacker Jaxton Eck knows it.
”No one is going to take us lightly. Everyone is going to give us their best shot,” Eck said. “And we learned as much as anyone last year, you gotta show up every week. We had a slow start to MW play, and it dug us into a hole we couldn’t get out of (missing a chance to play in the MW Championship game)”.
That slow start consisted of losses at San Jose State and Boise State to start league play.The Lobos ended up in a first-place tie for the conference title but missed the championship game due to a computer ranking system the MW used to address tiebreakers.
”… But this year is about controlling our own destiny and going 1-0 each week,” Eck said about the approach the team has taken during the offseason and summer period.
Expectations, rat poison and mentality-shifts aside, the Lobos are no longer college football doormats entering the upcoming season. And although the MW didn’t release a preseason poll, the MW media consensus has them anywhere in the top third, along with UNLV, Hawai’i and newcomer North Dakota State.
An early evaluation of the 2026 schedule’s first-four games (Central Michigan, Mercyhurst, at Oklahoma and at rival NMSU), UNM could find itself 3-1 heading into conference play - and a 4-0 nonconference slate, although still a longshot - yes, a win against the Sooners in Norman, Okla,. would still constitute a seismic, but not as preposterous a proposition as it was last year in the 505.
Obviously, this is all based on theoreticals, but if the Lobos go into conference play with a 3-1 record, have a strong showing in the MW and finish atop the league, is it impossible to think that UNM can strive toward a College Football Playoff appearance?
A bit of a stretch … but is it really? Coach Jason Eck has this program believing it can do wondrous things, like he proved last year.
”Internally, our goals have changed. Last year, we went from talking about going to a bowl game, going 6-6,” the elder Eck said, “I wouldn’t really be content with that [this year]… We want to win the conference championship; we want double-digit wins. And if you’re going to raise your goals, you must raise your behaviors to higher levels. Be more consistent, be detail oriented. … If we want to win this conference, we’ve got to up our game, and I think the team has responded well to that.”
