Bronco Mendenhall’s return to college football was suboptimal. Here’s what happened

After two seasons away from college football, former BYU and Virginia head coach Bronco Mendenhall made his return Saturday as his New Mexico Lobos took on the Montana State Bobcats at home.
It wasn’t great, as the Lobos surrendered a 17-point lead in the fourth quarter and lost 35-31.
The Bobcats were favored by nearly two touchdowns despite being an FCS team facing one from the FBS ranks (Montana State is very good), a testament to how difficult the job Mendenhall took will be.
Through three quarters and change it looked like Mendenhall had already worked wonders in Albuquerque, as the Lobos led 31-14 heading into the fourth quarter, though the Bobcats were driving.
Montana State ultimately scored a touchdown with 13:39 remaining, and that was the beginning of the wheels falling off for New Mexico.
The Lobos put together a decent drive on the ensuing possession, but Luke Drzewiecki missed a 42-yard field goal attempt. That was the first of three straight possessions in which neither team scored, and the Bobcats got the ball at the 7-yard line with 4:35 remaining, still down 10.
That’s when, on the first play of the drive, Adam Jones took a run all the way to the house, cutting the Montana State deficit to just three in a span of 37 seconds. and the pressure was officially on New Mexico.
The Lobos didn’t respond to it well, going just 12 yards in five plays, although their drive took a decent chunk of time off the clock and the Bobcats got the ball back at the 23 yard-line with 1:59 remaining.
Montana State primarily used the passing game to methodically march down the field and scored a touchdown with 10 seconds remaining, and the extra point gave the Bobcats the 35-31 lead.
New Mexico couldn’t do anything in the final two plays and fell by that score.
This is not new territory for Mendenhall, as he lost his first games at both BYU and Virginia. BYU went 6-6 in his first season there (2005) and Virginia went 2-10 in his first season there (2016).
The Lobos’ next two games are on the road at No. 21 Arizona and at Auburn before Mountain West Conference play begins. Montana State will face Utah Tech in the Beehive State next week.