Chippewas Fall in Season Opener at New Mexico

Saturday, September 5

Albuquerque, N.M./University Stadium

10 p.m. ET/8 p.m. MT

Central Michigan University

0-1 , 0-0

New Mexico

1-0 , 0-0

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final F
Central Mich.	0	0	0	7	7
New Mexico	7	13	15	3	38

CMU Football vs New Mexico, September 5th, 2026

Photo by: Kailey Hill '26 - @rahsignz

9/6/2026 2:26:00 AM | Football

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By: Andy Sneddon

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Not at all what Matt Drinkall had hoped for or envisioned.

New Mexico dominated the game statistically and on the scoreboard on Saturday night in handing Central Michigan a 38-7 loss in the season opener before 24,126 at the Lobos' University Stadium.

The Chippewas face Football Championship Subdivision Colgate on Saturday, Sept. 12 (1 p.m.) in their home opener at Kelly/Shorts Stadium.

New Mexico outgained the Chippewas 364-149 and finished with 28 first downs to CMU's nine.

"All credit to New Mexico," second-year CMU coach Matt Drinkall said. "That's a good football team. They're well-coached. They're very well-talented. They expect to win. And I really think that is a championship contender (in their league).

"There's good and bad. The bad part is that it's going to eat us up that we did not play our best in any aspect. We don't get that back. But the good part is, New Mexico handed us a blueprint of everything that we are deficient at and that we don't do at a championship level and that we have got to get fixed right away and that's 100 percent on my shoulders.

"I love our players. They do everything right; they do everything that we ask of them. I've got to do a better job of getting in a position to be successful."

New Mexico, which finished in a first-place tie in the Mountain West last season and was picked to finished second this season, forced two CMU turnovers.

The Lobos scored touchdowns on two of their first three possessions and then added two field goals in building a 20-0 halftime lead. The Chippewas struggled against a staunch Lobo defense and did not gain a first down until under a minute remained in the first half.

"Once they get up two or three scores, they can squeeze you pretty tight … and that affects us with our style of play," Drinkall said. "You know, we don't want to sit there and have to throw it 10 times in a row in the second half.

"It was just one of those wonky games where they got the ball and kind of held on to it. We couldn't get it going in the first half. And then the damage was done, and we were playing catchup -- too little too late. We didn't do anything better than they did. They did everything better than us, and that is 100 percent on me. So I've got to get that fixed and get that right."

The Chippewas did a better job of moving the ball in the second half, but they simply couldn't slow the Lobo offense, which tacked on two third-quarter TDs.

CMU avoided the shutout when Nasir Williams scored on a 23-yard run with 4:23 to play.

"These first four games for us, these non-conference games, when you bring in 50-some new players in the offseason, you've got to find out what you're good at, what you can do, and what you can't do very well," Drinkall said. "So we're in the process of figuring that out, and obviously New Mexico helped out with that a bunch."