New Mexico
Scouting report: What to know about New Mexico ahead of matchup with Auburn
Auburn football is looking to bounce back in Week 3 after an ugly loss to Cal in Week 2.
The Tigers will face New Mexico, and despite being a heavy favorite, will look to avoid a result similar to when they faced a different team from New Mexico in 2023.
While New Mexico is an 0-2 team from the Mountain West, that doesn’t mean it can’t cause problems. The Lobos scored 39 points in its Week 1 loss to ranked Arizona and are capable of hanging around with Power 5 opposition.
Here’s a closer look at what New Mexico brings:
Dynamic threat Devon Dampier
Everything New Mexico does offensively starts and ends with sophomore quarterback Devon Dampier.
While that’s obviously the case for most offenses and their quarterbacks, Dampier’s versatile skillset makes him unique. A true dual threat, much of what New Mexico does offensively involves getting Dampier on the move whether it be through RPOs, bootlegs or designed quarterback runs.
Dampier was especially effective against Arizona, throwing for 260 yards and three touchdowns, while adding another two touchdowns and 130 yards on the ground.
He’s averaging 9.1 yards per rush through two games this season and is the team’s leading rusher despite having 15 less carries than the next leading rusher.
Dampier to Wysong connection
Through two games, Dampier’s favorite target has undoubtedly been junior wide receiver Luke Wysong.
Wysong leads the team in receptions and yards with 14 and 224, respectively. Against Arizona, he was consistently effective, catching eight passes for 129 yards and a touchdown.
He’s also the second-highest graded player on the team by Pro Football Focus (only trailing Dampier). Wysong isn’t a particularly big target at 5-foot-10, 184 pounds, but still has an impressive ability to make contested catches, highlighted by a play he made in double coverage to set up New Mexico’s first touchdown against Arizona.
The defense
New Mexico’s defense is where the team fell short in its early season losses.
Through two games, the Lobos are giving up an average of 597 yards and 48 points per game. Those numbers rank New Mexico dead last in total defense and 131st out of 133 FBS teams in scoring defense.
Despite the overall poor showings, New Mexico has already scored two defensive touchdowns, both coming on fumble returns in Week 0 against Montana State.
The downside to the Montana State performance was that the Lobos still gave up 567 total yards in the loss, with 362 yards coming on the ground.
Both Montana State and Arizona averaged just under eight yards per rush against New Mexico. With Hugh Freeze voicing his satisfaction with Auburn’s run game against Cal, that may be the place for Auburn’s offense to start against New Mexico.
Peter Rauterkus covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @peter_rauterkus or email him at prauterkus@al.com
Grant’s Thursday Evening Forecast
Showers and thunderstorms will continue in eastern New Mexico tonight into Friday. Breezy winds will bring an elevated fire danger in the western half of the state.
Thunderstorms are firing up Thursday afternoon along and east of New Mexico’s central mountain chain while gusty south winds over 30 mph are driving an elevated fire danger across western parts of the state. Storms will continue spreading across eastern New Mexico through this evening, bringing locally heavy rainfall, lightning, small hail, and gusty winds. The winds will weaken later tonight, but showers and thunderstorms will keep going across eastern New Mexico overnight into early Friday morning.
A few spotty storms will redevelop Friday afternoon across eastern New Mexico, with a couple near the Texas state line capable of turning strong to severe. At the same time, breezy southwest winds will ramp back up across western New Mexico, with gusts over 35 mph creating another round of elevated fire danger. Storms will push east out of New Mexico Friday evening while winds gradually ease overnight.
Quieter and drier weather takes over this weekend. Temperatures Saturday afternoon will cool a few degrees but still stay near average for late May. Breezy afternoon winds will continue Saturday before lighter winds and warmer temperatures return Sunday.
Moisture will start building back into eastern New Mexico Monday, bringing a slight chance for thunderstorms near the Texas state line. Monday will also be the hottest day of the warming trend statewide. More moisture spreads into the eastern half of the state Tuesday, increasing storm chances along and east of the Rio Grande Valley by afternoon. Even deeper moisture arrives statewide by Wednesday and Thursday, fueling more widespread showers and thunderstorms through the middle of next week.
NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – Skies are partly to mostly clear with most similar or slightly milder than yesterday. Winds are a little breezy occasionally with the highest humidity values mostly from out east and to the north.
Air temperatures in the north are mostly starting off in the 30s to the low 50s. Elsewhere to the south, air temperatures are mostly ranging from around the high 30s to the low 60s.
Many areas from eastern New Mexico to the Pecos River Valley area will range from the high 60s to the 80s from north to south from high to low elevation. The northern higher elevations will mostly range from the high 40s to near 60°, while the northern valley floors to western and central areas will mostly range from the high 70s to the low 90s.
Southerly upper-level winds, in combination to the low-level moisture still lingering around the northern high elevations to out east, will lead to few thunderstorms capable of producing brief bouts of heavy rain, small hail, some lightning, & gusty conditions.
Ridging in the jet stream will then allow for clearer conditions, drier air, and for temperatures to rebound for the remainder of the week. However, slightly more thunderstorms will form for some eastern and mountainous areas late in the week, resulting in outflow-southeasterly winds to occasionally pick up.
Even hotter air returns late this weekend into early next week before thunderstorms are more likely to form next week.
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