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SAN JOSE, Calif. 鈥� Final thoughts from New Mexico鈥檚 35-28 loss at San Jose State:

1. That was 鈥� weird.

Weird in the sense that UNM played its worst game of the season 鈥� and only lost by seven.

Weird in the sense that the Lobos鈥� quarterback threw three interceptions 鈥� but probably didn鈥檛 play as bad as that suggests.

Weird in the sense that SJSU had its way with UNM鈥檚 defense 鈥� yet that might not be cause for major alarm.

Weird, weird, weird. After a game that was reluctant to provide UNM with a whole lot of absolutes, Jason Eck sat in a quiet room and casually offered one himself.

鈥淲e鈥檙e not quite good enough yet,鈥� Eck said.

That it took as long as it did for that truth to reveal itself this season, in the context of a program starting anew?

That鈥檚 weirdly impressive 鈥� or impressively weird. Take your pick.

2. Of course, no player embodied the weirdness of Friday鈥檚 game quite like Jack Layne: Pro Football Focus (PFF) gave UNM鈥檚 junior quarterback the highest grade (81.5) of any player on the Lobos鈥� offense. He was credited with two big time throws, per PFF, and completed 70% of his passes, 78.4% when adjusted for drops. He managed a big, thankless workload, moved the ball and gave UNM a shot (however thin) at the end.

鈥淚 thought he competed his tail off,鈥� Eck said.

He was also credited with four turnover worthy throws, per PFF. There were points where he held the ball for far too long, taking a few too many steps in the pocket. And he threw three interceptions, a major mark on a quarterback that always cites limiting turnovers as the first or second key in any game.

Eck鈥檚 view on the first one, picked off by safety Larry Turner-Gooden at the tail end of a first quarter on a flea flicker: 鈥淭hey were in man coverage and the guy who was (covering wide receiver Zhaiel Smith), who went on the reverse, just kinda zoned off and he was reading the quarterback鈥檚 eyes,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd then he just becomes a free player, comes over and makes a nice play.鈥�

The second one, a pick by cornerback Jalen Bainer on a moon ball intended for wide receiver Keagan Johnson: 鈥淗e gets hit right as he throws a deep ball, a deep 50/50 ball, and the kid makes a nice play,鈥� Eck said. 鈥淲e should鈥檝e been better in protection, not giving up a hit. We had enough guys to protect it.鈥�

And the third, another Bainer pick intended for tight end Dorian Thomas down the sideline: 鈥淭he kid makes a nice break on the ball,鈥� Eck said. 鈥淚 think our receiver kinda fell out of it. He鈥檚 gotta come back to the ball a little.鈥�

Of course, none of that helped UNM on a night where they ended up being a possession short. But I鈥檒l give Layne as much of a pass as one can give on the second pick 鈥� he hit on that exact same throw last week to wide receiver Shawn Miller. And it鈥檚 the type of chance Layne鈥檚 said he鈥檚 needed to take to get the passing game going.

鈥淚 think when you have an aggressive OC, and you have an aggressive quarterback, things like that happen,鈥� Johnson said. 鈥淚t's a tough conference. It鈥檚 not gonna go your way every time. And I wouldn鈥檛 say he had a tough night. I think as an offense, we can all help Jack.鈥�

That seemed most apparent on some of the plays where Layne held on to the ball one, two, three seconds longer than he should鈥檝e. Then again, even if SJSU was covering well, he probably should鈥檝e just got the ball out anyway.

Again: weird night. And a weird performance to get your head around. But I don鈥檛 think Layne lost this one for UNM.

3. If Friday provided one abject disappointment for UNM, it came from 鈥� of all places 鈥� the ground game. SJSU outrushed the Lobos 153-76, averaging 4.3 yards per carry to UNM鈥檚 2.8.

Or, more bluntly: 鈥淲e got outrushed by a team that really doesn鈥檛 even love to rush the ball,鈥� Eck said.

Indeed. Over its first four games, the Spartans ran the ball an FBS-low 93 times. Friday, they ran it 36 times, seizing on UNM鈥檚 three-man front for 84 yards (4.9 per carry) early and forcing the Lobos to get another player in the box.

And why did the Lobos鈥� open in a three-man front? 鈥淵ou know you鈥檙e not going to get a lot of pressure the way their offense works,鈥� Eck said. 鈥淪o it鈥檚 tempting to say, 鈥榟ey, why rush another guy who鈥檚 not going to get there? Let鈥檚 put another guy in coverage to try to stop their good receivers.鈥�

鈥淏ut it didn鈥檛 really hurt us in the passing game. It hurt us in the running game, with them bleeding us early and running the ball well.鈥�

More glaring is UNM鈥檚 lack of production in the run game. Damon Bankston (nine carries, 51 yards, one touchdown) looked like far and away the most effective option Friday night. Touchdown aside, Scottre Humphrey (six carries, 10 yards) didn鈥檛 look like the back who earned preseason All-Mountain West honors. D.J. McKinney (four carries, 11 yards) and Deshaun Buchanan鈥檚 (one carry, five yards) workloads were probably a little too small to draw much of anything from.

It鈥檚 important to note UNM more or less abandoned the run game when they went down 35-17 in the third quarter. The Lobos went up-tempo and mixed in a few runs here and there and 鈥渨e had to throw it a lot at that point,鈥� Eck said.

But they didn鈥檛 run it well even before that point. This was supposed to be a running back room, through its depth and versatility, that would be able to wear teams down. That they didn鈥檛 really appear to even get close to that point makes it a relative concern heading into next Saturday.

4. And what was the game plan defensively? The way the Lobos put it, give quarterback Walker Eget different looks in coverage and try to force mistakes. Get stops in the red zone. Limit explosive plays.

UNM didn鈥檛 really do that. Eget was absolutely sensational, completing 26 of 30 passes for 327 yards and three touchdowns with minimal pause and visible ease. SJSU was a perfect 4-for-4 in the red zone with no attempted field goals.

The Lobos did give up only four explosive passes, which halved last week鈥檚 total against NMSU. But that four included a backbreaking 70-yard touchdown pass to Danny Scudero that made it 21-7 in the second, a major tipping point for UNM.

鈥淚n the first half, I felt like we were right there,鈥� linebacker Jaxton Eck said. 鈥淟ike we were making the plays. It didn鈥檛 feel like, 鈥榦h, we can鈥檛 stop them,鈥� it just felt like (we needed to) tighten up our execution (and) we鈥檒l be right there. But I feel like we just couldn鈥檛 find our footing all night.鈥�

鈥淭heir plan ended up being better than our plan, and they executed it better,鈥� Eck said.

I think it鈥檚 fair to note UNM didn鈥檛 play well defensively. It鈥檚 also fair to note there were some red flags for UNM heading into this one 鈥� SJSU is the type of team that was able to take away what the Lobos are good at, and target what they aren鈥檛. The Spartans put UNM in a bind by getting them out of their base defense and minimizing the pressure they could bring.

Was it a bad matchup? There鈥檚 a lot that has to get cleaned up, but I鈥檒l say yes.

As for Eck?

鈥淩elative to the talent and stuff they had, I thought Idaho State was probably our weakest (defensive) performance,鈥� Eck said. 鈥淚 think this is a similar offense with better players. It's something we gotta do a better job of; making sure we have good answers when we play offenses like this.鈥�

5. Through five games against a wide swath of opponents, UNM is averaging 3.5 points in the first quarter, 13.8 in the first half. The first mark is firmly in the bottom third of all 136 FBS teams; the second is slightly above average.

Whether he knows the numbers or not, Eck has seen enough.

鈥淚 got to do a better job getting our team to start faster,鈥� he said.

UNM has earned praise this season for overcoming early errors and closing out teams in the second half. But the sluggish starts are becoming a bit of an issue, and no game made it as clear as Friday鈥檚.

Snap counts

UNM鈥檚 offensive snap counts from Friday, per PFF:

-OL Tyler Lawrence (73)

-OL Kaden Robnett (73)

-QB Jack Layne (73)

-WR Keagan Johnson (69)

-WR Shawn Miller (63)

-OL Israel Mukwiza (60)

-TE Dorian Thomas (58)

-OL Richard Pearce (56)

-OL Malik Aliane (54)

-WR Michael Buckley (46)

-OL/TE Jaymar Tasi (35)

-RB Damon Bankston (32)

-RB D.J. McKinney (27)

-TE Simon Mapa (20)

-OL Nevell Brown (19)

-TE Cade Keith (12)

-RB Deshaun Buchanan (11)

-WR Zhaiel Smith (8)

-RB Scottre Humphrey (8)

-TE Aiden Valdez (5)

-WR Kader Diop (1)

That one snap was Kader Diop鈥檚 season debut.

UNM鈥檚 defensive snap counts, per PFF:

-CB Jon Johnson (64)

-LB Jaxton Eck (61)

-S CJ McBean (59)

-DE Keyshawn James-Newby (59)

-S Tavian Combs (53)

-DL Gabriel Lopez (51)

-CB Frankie Edwards III (44)

-DE Brett Karhu (44)

-S Caleb Coleman (43)

-DE Darren Agu (28)

-LB Mercury Swaim (28)

-LB Randolph Kpai (25)

-LB Ky鈥橶on McCray (24)

-DL Brian Booker (24)

-S Drew Speech (20)

-CB Abraham Williams (20)

-DL Okiki Olorunfunmi (20)

-DE Xavier Slayton (17)

-S David Murphy (14)

-S Chris Gant Jr. (12)

-S Azariah Levells (6)

-LB Dimitri Johnson (6)

-DL Jalen McIver (5)

-DL Landon Williams (5)

-DE Elijah Brody (3)

-S Clint Stephens (2)

Those are injury-shortened snap counts for Dimitri Johnson, David Murphy and Abraham Williams; Eck said Friday he didn鈥檛 know the extent of said injuries after all three left the game early.

And one week after having 2.5 sacks and earning PFF鈥檚 lowest grade among UNM鈥檚 defense, Keyshawn James-Newby had no sacks and three pressures on his way to earning the Lobos鈥� highest defensive grade.

Notes and quotes

-UNM was flagged six times for 49 yards Friday night, bringing its two-game total to 15 penalties for 109 yards: 鈥淚 think we gotta control what we can control,鈥� Eck said of the penalties. 鈥淲e gotta control our technique 鈥� I think if you鈥檙e sloppy with your technique, you鈥檙e at risk for getting called for holding penalties. And we gotta be a little more disciplined.

鈥淚 think we had some foolish ones that were after that play that just gets you beat. I鈥檓 very disappointed by those. I gotta do a better job coaching them.鈥�

-PFF credited UNM with eight pressures to SJSU鈥檚 12 on Friday night.

-A peek into what Eck was thinking at halftime down 21-17: 鈥淚 thought we were in good shape,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 thought we were in good shape because, you know, I thought we kinda took their best shot. We鈥檙e down 14-0 early and cut it to three. I felt really good at halftime.鈥�

And what went wrong after: 鈥淏ut then we come out and have a poor series 鈥� I think we have a penalty on the kickoff that gives us crappy field position. And then we should have had an automatic first down, but we have a late unnecessary roughness on the offensive line 鈥� I thought that kind of a self-destructive series, a lot of things that we can control that we made mistakes on that series more than (they鈥檙e) stopping us.

鈥淎nd then they answer with a big drive to go up 10. So I think those first two drives in the second half kinda took away our momentum that we had going into halftime.鈥�