Wisconsin Football: Initial thoughts on New Mexico

Wisconsin Football will face off with New Mexico on Saturday, the first-ever matchup between the two programs.

Wisconsin Football blew out Western Kentucky to open the season last week, and the expectation is it should be more of the same on Saturday against New Mexico.

The Lobos may have laid the hammer down on Incarnate Word in their season opener, demolishing the FCS program 62-30, but needless to say, the No. 5-ranked Badgers could be just a slight step up in competition.

If you don’t know much (or anything) about this New Mexico team, I can’t say I blame you. Luckily, that’s what we are here for.

With that being said, here are our initial thoughts on how the Lobos match up with Wisconsin.

1. The New Mexico offense could present some useful challenges for the Wisconsin defense. 

Head coach Bob Davie brought in Calvin Magee to be his offensive coordinator this season, which could be just what the doctor ordered for this New Mexico offense. Magee has led some formidable offenses over his career, as he was a coordinator under Rich Rodriguez at West Virginia and then Arizona. At Arizona last season, he found great success in utilizing the Wildcats’ Heisman Trophy-contending quarterback Khalil Tate.

The Lobo’s young quarterback, Tevaka Tuioti, has a similar skillset to Tate in that he can beat defenses both on the ground and through the air. Tuioiti passed for 327 yards and four touchdowns in New Mexico’s blowout victory Incarnate Word last Saturday, adding an additional 54 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries.

In total, the Lobos had 361 passing yards and 319 rushing yards for the game.

They are certainly not going to be putting up those gaudy numbers against the Badgers, but nonetheless, the Lobos appear to be a bit more of a balanced offense than the pass-heavy one Wisconsin faced against Western Kentucky last week and appear as though they could provide a bit of a better overall challenge for the Badger defense.

At the least, having to contain Tuioti’s dual-threat ability will be good practice for when this defense faces similarly skilled (but much more talented) quarterbacks such as Trace McSorley and Shea Patterson later on in the season.

2. Wisconsin should score at least 50 points on the Lobo defense.

New Mexico may have a serviceable offense, but it is difficult to say the same of its defense, especially when that unit is matched up against a Power 5 opponent such as Wisconsin.

Under defensive coordinator Kevin Cosgrove, a former assistant to Barry Alvarez at Wisconsin, the Lobos defense did allow its fewest yards per game in 9 years in 2017. That’s certainly something they can hang their hat on.

However, the Lobos will be hopelessly mismatched against this dynamic Wisconsin offense. They gave up 30 points, 244 rushing yards, and 322 passing yards to Incarnate Word. If New Mexico had trouble containing that offense, imagine what Jonathan Taylor and company are going to do to the Lobos.

3. The Badgers are going to crush New Mexico. 

This isn’t exactly a hot take.

It’s possible that this Lobo offense could put up a touchdown or two, but Wisconsin’s defense was absolutely lights-out against Western Kentucky last week, especially the linebackers and the secondary, and I expect them to build on that performance on Saturday.

As mentioned, don’t expect the New Mexico defense to provide much of a resistance against the Badgers offensive attack, which should put up quite a few more points than last week’s total. In addition, the Lobos have really struggled to force turnovers over the last few seasons, which is a key ingredient for underdog teams of this magnitude looking to stay competitive in games like this, let alone win.

Back when we came out with our season predictions, I estimated a 52-7 Wisconsin victory against New Mexico, and I’m going to stick with that.