New Mexico

Bulldogs Sweep New Mexico 38-21

Published

1 year ago

September 22, 2024

The late, great, F1 champion Niki Lauda once said that the goal of racing is to win going as slowly as possible. Fresno State apparently adopted that ethos against New Mexico this week, as they finished a 2 week sweep of the state 38-21 and shutting out NMSU 48-0. I believe that legally makes Mikey Keene governor, but I’ll have to check the state bylaws.

All 3 wins for the Bulldogs this year have featured incredibly fast starts, even though this game took all the way until the 2nd drive to get points on the board. New Mexico’s first drive was derailed on their 3rd play as Malachi Langley forced the ball free, and Jahzon Jacks fell on the ball at the Lobo 39yd line. Fresno would push it into the redzone before Mikey Keene found Josiah Freeman for a 5yd touchdown catch, his first of the season. As they did two weeks ago, the Dogs ran a trick 2pt play with Jayden Mandal threw a quick pass to Brock Lium to go ahead 8-0.

New Mexico responded with a 14 play drive down the field, but the Bulldog defense stood tall at the end, and forced the Lobos to settle for a field goal to narrow affairs to an 8-3 margin. In response, Fresno ran down an 11 play drive before local product Bryson Donelson punched in the first touchdown of his young career stretching the lead to 15-3. Malik Sherrod wasn’t able to play after testing a lower body tweak during warm-ups, which meant that Elijiah Gilliam and Donelson would shoulder the load for the Dogs Saturday night. The two would combine for 86 yards on 26 carries, but the Dogs did not need to rely on the running game too much.

The next Fresno State drive got all the way down to the New Mexico 18 aided by a targeting penalty on the Lobos before Dylan Lynch needed to come in and kick a 36 yard field goal moving the Bulldogs ahead by 15. New Mexico’s next drive looked to be moving well until Devin Dampier’s pass sailed over his receiver, and right into the hands of Alzillion Hamilton setting up another Fresno touchdown. This one would be a little bit different than usual, as the Dogs again went into their bag of tricks with a double pass, and Raylen Sharpe throwing a 26yd strike to Kamron Beachem in the side of the endzone. This now gives Sharpe a passing, receiving, and rushing touchdown so far this season, a great start for the transfer receiver from Missouri St.

As the clock ticked down towards halftime, New Mexico put together what looked like their best drive of the game, as they went no-huddle to move the ball down the field quickly and get a touchdown on the board to narrow the margin to 25-10. If the Lobos had stuck to that version of the offense, they might have made it a true game. Bronco Mendenhall’s squad might be young, but they are feisty and will win games this year as they put the pieces together.

After the half, the Lobos began with the ball but could not get moving and punted after 6 plays and 1 first down. The punt landed deep in Bulldog territory, forcing Fresno St to take a long drive over 15 plays including a 4th down conversion pass from Keene to Sharpe, but they ran out of gas at the New Mexico 23, and Dylan Lynch sent through another field goal to go ahead 28-10. Devin Dampier would try to engineer the next drive, but it ended with his 2nd INT of the game, this time Julian Neal coming down with the ball for the Bulldog defense on their 3rd turnover (see picture at top).

Unfortunately, the defense couldn’t turn this turnover into points, and sent the ball back to the Lobos. They would answer with points of their own, as an 11 play, 65yd drive resulted in a field goal kick by Luke Drzewiecki from 32yds out to open to the 4th quarter. The next New Mexico drive would go poorly for them, as they tried running on 4th and 1 from their own 12 yard line. Devin Dampier tried stretching the ball to the edge, but was pushed back and the Bulldogs took over deep in the redzone. 3 UNM penalties on this round of plays would move the Dogs to the 2 yard line, where Mac Dalena would take a jet sweep to the 1, and Elijah Gilliam would punch it in from 1 yard out to get ahead 35-13.

New Mexico would answer with a touchdown drive of their own similar to how they scored at the end of the half. This shows that UNM is capable leading quick touchdown drives and getting their offense moving, they just aren’t quite together enough yet to consistently do that. That will come with time, and they played better in the 2nd half against the Dogs than they have previously.

Fresno State would send through one more field goal after the Lobos’ attempt at an onside kick failed to set the final score of 38-21. New Mexico would have one more drive as the clock wound down to 0, but their final play was a failed 4th down conversion as Dampier was tackled for no gain at the 26yd line. The Bulldogs moved to 3-1 and won their first conference game of the season, while the Lobos fall to 0-4 and 0-1 in Mountain West play.

A massive contest now looms for the Bulldogs, as they travel next Saturday to Las Vegas for a noontime tilt against the undefeated Rebels in what very well could be an elimination game for both the conference title and the G5 representative in the College Football Playoff. The Rebels had a bye week to prepare, while Fresno will have their bye week after next Saturday’s game. We’ll have to hope for good health and a consistent offense against the Rebels if the Dogs want to maintain their spot atop the conference standings. Playing UNLV and Washington State, both undefeated, in back to back weeks will either derail the dreams of the Dogs, or put them in the driver’s seat in the Group of Five. New Mexico will make the short trip to Las Cruces for the huge in-state rivalry game with New Mexico St Saturday night. For coverage of both games, keep it here on MWC Connection.

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New Mexico

Understanding New Mexico’s data center boom | Opinion

Published

4 hours ago

January 8, 2026

Press Room

Understanding New Mexico’s data center boom | Opinion

Paul Gessing, Rio Grande Foundation
| Las Cruces Sun-News

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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New Mexico

New Mexico maintains full childhood vaccine recommendations despite HHS rollback

Published

16 hours ago

January 7, 2026

Press Room

New Mexico maintains full childhood vaccine recommendations despite HHS rollback

SANTA FE, N.M. (KFOX14/CBS4) – The New Mexico Department of Health says it will continue to recommend the full schedule of childhood vaccines.

State officials announced the move Tuesday, directly defying a new federal policy that scaled back routine immunization guidance.

The announcement comes after U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS), under Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., reduced the number of vaccines it recommends for all children.

The New Mexico Department of Health stated the federal changes were “not based on new scientific evidence or safety data.”

“New Mexico will not follow the federal government in walking away from decades of proven public health practice,” said Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham. “Our recommendations remain unchanged.”

State health officials sought to reassure parents, emphasizing that vaccines remain widely available and covered by insurance.

“We know this is confusing for parents, but the science is clear: vaccines are safe, effective, and save children’s lives,” said Dr. Miranda Durham, chief medical officer for NMDOH.

All childhood vaccinations will continue to be covered under programs like Medicaid and the federal Vaccines for Children Program.

The state encourages parents to consult their healthcare providers using the American Academy of Pediatrics’ immunization schedule.

RECOMMENDED: CDC cuts childhood vaccine list, sparking healthcare professionals’ concerns

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