The Oklahoma Sooners head back home for their final non-league game of the 2026 season on Saturday night. OU will host the New Mexico Lobos in Norman in Week 3. After beating UTEP 51-0 in Week 1, Oklahoma dropped to 1-1 on the season after losing 17-10 on the road against Michigan in Week 2.
New Mexico went 9-4 last year, losing in the Rate Bowl in overtime against Minnesota. Last season marked the first year of the Jason Eck era, as the former Idaho head coach took over after Bronco Mendenhall departed the program. This is Eck's fifth season as head coach, after a long career as an offensive line coach and offensive coordinator.
Eck's team is 2-0, but they haven't been tested the way they will be this week against Oklahoma, led by head coach
Brent Venables. New Mexico beat Central Michigan 38-7 in Week 1 and then demolished FCS Mercyhurst 70-7 last week. This team profiles as one of the best non-power conference teams the Sooners have faced in the regular season in recent memory. They are looking to win the Mountain West Conference and challenge for a playoff berth this season.
New Mexico's offense is led by offensive coordinator Luke Schleusner, and he'll call the plays against Venables on the other sideline. Schleusner has spent a number of years working under Eck, and the Lobos have been a top-10 offense to begin the season.
After starting quarterback Jack Layne was ruled out for the season due to injury, the Lobos have been using a two-quarterback system this year, and they reportedly plan to continue doing so against the Sooners. New Mexico has been starting Toa Fa'avae, who is a very strong runner, but Luke Moga has been getting equal opportunities in the two-man rotation. Moga is the better passer of the two. New Mexico's system is built around running the ball, as the offense has thrown just 43 passes in two games, compared to 96 running plays.
While Fa'avae will definitely tote the rock a lot on Saturday, especially with the Sooners showing they aren't great against the QB run game yet this season, the Lobos will have plenty of different ball-carriers to watch. Running backs Scottre Humphrey, Kiefer Sibley, and Darrion Bowers will all run the ball. Humphrey is the Lobos' leading rusher so far. Because this team rarely throws the ball, their leading targets have been tight end Cade Keith and wide receiver Troy Omeire, who have nine combined catches this year.
On the other side, OU offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle will face New Mexico defensive coordinator Spence Nowinsky. He was at Memphis before coming to UNM ahead of last year. He's led a top-10 defense so far in 2026, allowing just 14 total points in two games. Linebackers Mercury Swaim and Clay Martineau are the leading tacklers so far, while defensive end Brett Karhu has already racked up three sacks in two games.
After last week's debacle, the Sooners will hopefully be looking to run the ball early and often against the Lobos. Although New Mexico has only allowed 137 total rushing yards this season, they haven't played a team as talented as OU, and they haven't hit the road at all yet, certainly not to a place like Norman. Arbuckle will also need to make life easy for quarterback John Mateer, and both are feeling the pressure after failing to deliver last week.
OU special teams coordinator Doug Deakin will face off against New Mexico's new special teams coordinator Erik Link. The two should be familiar with each other, having faced off each of the last two seasons when Link was at Missouri. The Sooners blocked a field goal against the Tigers last year, and they'll focus on winning the field-position battle this week after losing it last week. Fortunately for OU, their special teams unit has been rock-solid to start the year.
Oklahoma and New Mexico have met just twice on the gridiron, with both matchups coming in the 1930s and resulting in home shutout wins for the Sooners. A 47-0 win in 1930 was followed up by a 27-0 win in 1935 for Oklahoma.
The bottom line coming into this game is that the Sooners have the obvious talent advantage, but the Lobos are very well-coached and they believe they can come into Norman and shock the nation with an upset win. Oklahoma's offense absolutely must use this game to get back on track, because much, much tougher opposition is coming very soon. For the third straight week, the OU defense will see an offense that wants to emphasize the run, including running the QB. It's something the Sooners have struggled a bit to defend to open up the year.
Venables needs to have his team fired up after a bad loss, and a team that is a contender would make short work of the Lobos at home. Much bigger tests await, but Oklahoma can't afford to find themselves in a tight game this weekend. Execution in all three phases will be what the coaching staff will be looking for.
Kickoff for Oklahoma-New Mexico is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. in Norman on Saturday.
Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes and opinions. You can also follow Aaron on X@Aaron_Gelvin.
This article originally appeared on Sooners Wire: Know Your Foe: Oklahoma Sooners vs. New Mexico Lobos
