New Mexico head coach Jason Eck was not happy that his players were not keeping their focus during Saturday night’s game, and he made sure they knew it.
The Lobos were trailing the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors 10-7 early in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s game at the Clarence T.C. Ching Athletics Complex in Honolulu, and were in danger of falling further behind. However, with the ball at New Mexico’s 12-yard line, the Rainbow Warriors fumbled in the end zone, and the Lobos were able to recover.
Naturally, New Mexico players began celebrating with their standard “turnover belt.” Eck, however, was not at all happy about that, and stormed over to confiscate the belt from his players.
New Mexico head coach just took the turnover belt away from his players lol https://t.co/Am9HOiLnvD
— gmannVOLS (@gmannVOLS) October 18, 2026
As important as the turnover was, the Lobos were still losing to a team that started the season 1-5, and they were frankly lucky that Hawaii failed to expand that lead when given the chance. Eck clearly did not want to see his players dancing and celebrating while they were still losing the game.
New Mexico seemed to respond to Eck’s intensity. They went on to put together an 80-yard touchdown drive to take the lead, then held Hawaii the rest of the way in what ultimately turned out to be a 21-10 victory.
Eck is in his second season as New Mexico’s head coach. After winning nine games last season, he has his team out to a 5-1 start in 2026. They have played some fun football under his watch as well.
