New Mexico
Game Thread: No. 14 Michigan Football vs New Mexico
Michigan enters tonight’s matchup ranked No. 14 in both major polls after finishing 8–5 last season, capped by statement wins over Ohio State and Alabama. True freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood, the No. 1 overall recruit in the 2025 class, will make his highly anticipated debut leading Chip Lindsey’s retooled Michigan offense. Transfer additions Donaven McCulley (Indiana) and Justice Haynes (Alabama) headline the new-look offensive skill positions, while the defense promises to be every bit as good as it was last season.
On the other side, New Mexico begins a new chapter under first-year head coach Jason Eck, who arrived from Idaho after building the Vandals into a perennial FCS playoff contender. The Lobos overhauled their roster this offseason, bringing in 75 new players, including 48 transfers. Quarterback Jack Layne (Idaho) and running back Scottre Humphrey (Montana State) provide proven production from the Big Sky Conference, but the Lobos’ biggest question mark remains their offensive line, which returns just one starter.
This marks the first-ever meeting between the two programs. Michigan owns a 119-23-3 record all-time in season openers and is a heavy favorite (-34.5) to add another win to that tally.
Teams: No. 14 Michigan Wolverines vs. New Mexico Lobos
Date: Saturday, Aug. 30, 2025
Location: Michigan Stadium (Ann Arbor, MI)
Radio: Learfield Michigan Sports Network
Spread: Michigan -34.5; O/U: 49.5
Today’s question: How ready is Bryce Underwood for the spotlight?
Michigan hasn’t had this much buzz surrounding a season opener in years, with Underwood’s debut taking center stage. The Wolverines were limited through the air a year ago, but Underwood’s arm talent and mobility give Lindsey the freedom to push the ball downfield in ways last season’s offense rarely attempted. Against a New Mexico defense still figuring things out under new leadership, this could be the perfect opportunity for the freshman to settle in and showcase why he was the most coveted recruit in the country.
If Underwood can find an early rhythm, and if Wink Martindale’s aggressive defense forces short fields against the Lobos’ shaky offensive line, Michigan could have this one well in hand by halftime. The bigger question is whether the Wolverines can turn an expected win into a dominant statement to open the season.
The governor sets the agenda for the session, including for the budget, so here is what they are looking at so far.
SANTA FE, N.M. — As the regular session of the New Mexico Legislature is set to begin Jan. 20, lawmakers have already filed dozens of bills.
Bills include prohibiting book bans at public libraries and protections against AI, specifically the distribution of sensitive and “Deepfake” images
Juvenile justice reform is, again, a hot topic. House Bill 25 would allow access to someone’s juvenile records during a background check if they’re trying to buy a gun.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham sets the agenda and puts forth the proposed budget lawmakers will address during the session. The governor is calling for lawmakers to take up an $11.3 billion budget for the 2027 fiscal year, which is up 4.6% from current spending levels.
Where would that money go? More than $600 million would go to universal free child care. Meanwhile, more than $200 million would go to health care and to protect against federal funding cuts.
There is also $65 million for statewide affordable housing initiatives and $19 million for public safety.
After years of failure to land a “big fish” business for New Mexico’s economy (or effectively use the oil and gas revenues to grow the economy) Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham with the help of her Economic Development Secretary Rob Black have lured no fewer than three large data centers to New Mexico. These data centers are being built to serve the booming world of Artificial Intelligence (AI), and they will have profound impacts on New Mexico.
It is our view that having these data centers locate in New Mexico is better than having them locate elsewhere. While we have many differences of opinion with this governor, we are pleased to see her get serious about growing and diversifying New Mexico’s oil-dependent economy albeit quite late in her second term.
Sadly, the governor and legislature have chosen not to use broad based economic reforms like deregulation or tax cuts to improve New Mexico’s competitiveness. But, with the failure of her “preferred” economic development “wins” like Maxeon and Ebon solar both of which the governor announced a few years ago, but haven’t panned out, the focus on a more realistic strategy is welcome and long overdue.
Currently, three new data centers are slated to be built in New Mexico:
- Oracle’s Project Jupiter in Santa Teresa with an investment of $165 billion.
- Project Zenith slated to be built in Roswell amounts to a $11.7 billion investment.
- New Era Energy & Digital, Inc. While the overall investment is unclear, the energy requirement is the largest of the three at 7 gigawatts (that’s seven times the power used by the City of San Francisco).
What is a data center? Basically, they are the real-world computing infrastructure that makes up the Internet. The rise of AI requires vast new computing power. It is critical that these facilities have uninterrupted electricity.
That electricity is going to be largely generated by traditional sources like natural gas and possibly nuclear. That contravenes New Mexico’s Energy Transition Act of 2019 which was adopted by this Gov. and many of the legislators still in office. Under the Act electrical power emissions are supposed to be eliminated in a few years.
With the amount of money being invested in these facilities and the simple fact that wind and solar and other “renewable” energy sources aren’t going to get the job done. In 2025 the Legislature passed and MLG signed HB 93 which allows for the creation of “microgrids” that won’t tax the grid and make our electricity more expensive, but the ETA will have to be amended or ignored to provide enough electricity for these data centers. There’s no other option.
New Mexicans have every right to wonder why powerful friends of the governor can set up their own natural gas microgrids while the rest of us face rising costs and decreased reliability from so-called “renewables.” Don’t get me wrong, having these data centers come to New Mexico is an economic boon.
But it comes tempered with massive subsidies including a 30-year property tax exemption and up to $165 billion in industrial revenue bonds. New Mexico is ideally suited as a destination for these data centers with its favorable climate and lack of natural disasters like hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods. We shouldn’t be giving away such massive subsidies.
Welcoming the data center boom to New Mexico better than rejecting them and pushing them to locate in other states. There is no way to avoid CO2 emissions whether they happen here or somewhere else. But, there are questions about both the electricity demand and subsidies that must be addressed as New Mexico’s data center boom begins.
What will the Legislature, radical environmental groups, and future governors of our state do to hinder (or help) bring these data centers to our State? That is an open question that depends heavily on upcoming statewide elections. It is important that New Mexicans understand and appreciate these complicated issues.
Paul Gessing is president of New Mexico’s Rio Grande Foundation. The Rio Grande Foundation is an independent, nonpartisan, tax-exempt research and educational organization dedicated to promoting prosperity for New Mexico based on principles of limited government, economic freedom and individual responsibility
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