The player who fanned the “fire Mike Locksley” flames by supposedly agreeing with a Facebook post encouraging UNM to go winless doused them just as quickly Saturday night at University Stadium.
In converting a 38-yard, game-clinching field goal that gave the Lobos a 34-31 win over Wyoming, kicker James Aho — who expressed “full support for Coach Locks” after the story surfaced Oct. 13 — might have taken Locksley’s job off life support.
“He’s one of our guys,” Locksley said. “He went out and he’s executed what he’s asked to do.”
Yet after banging it through the uprights, the shy kicker was uptight. Aho was unavailable to the media, and declined an interview request through Assistant Sports Information Director Chris Deal.
Weeks ago, Aho made headlines by allegedly responding to a post that UNM should lose the rest of its games so as to dismiss Locksley by saying, “ … not a word to say ‘cause I’m pretty sure the whole team feels this way.” He denied the post was his.
Yet Saturday he ensured UNM wasn’t denied victory.
Just as he did last year against Colorado State in Week 11, Aho delivered — except two games earlier. And it was against the Cowboys, a team one year removed from a bowl-winning season.
In short order, Wyoming is a parable for the Lobos: Teams can progress and regress in a year’s time.
But the question I continue to ponder: Is it too little too late? UNM concludes the season on Mountain West Conference death row, with games at BYU and Air Force, before returning home to face No. 3 TCU, which swiftly dispatched No. 5 Utah 47-7.
None of that mattered Saturday.
Perhaps it was Locksley’s heartfelt speech earlier in the week, but the Lobos — not competing for the post-season or even a .500 record — played with more than pride; they played like a team trying to save their head coach’s job.
“I told the team this week, ‘If you feel it’s coaching that’s holding our team back, we’ll overcome coaching,’” Locksley said. “The day before the game, I didn’t have anything to say to them. I walked out of the locker room. I said, ‘This is your team, your game. Play for each other. If you feel as though we can’t get you guys the victory you need, then band together and fight for a cause.’”
Play with a cause they did. The effect: UNM looked like a competent college football team. The Lobos’ defense forced four turnovers — three of those coming inside UNM‘s 20-yard line. Bubba Forrest’s interception before the half meant that Wyoming led by just seven points heading into intermission.
Emerging as a reliable threat, Locksley said, UNM witnessed the maturation of freshman quarterback Stump Godfrey. The fourth Lobo quarterback to start this year, Godfrey filled in for the injured B.R. Holbrook and orchestrated two late-game drives — one that gave the Lobos their first home fourth-quarter lead of the season, and the other that set up Aho’s kick.
Godfrey showed a knack for improvisation, tucking the ball and trucking for a five-yard touchdown to give UNM a 31-24 advantage with 8:16 left in the game.
Poised, he then engineered what might be the defining drive of the season — not an easy-button task for young quarterbacks.
“You just got to believe in yourself and believe in your team,” Godfrey said, explaining how he kept his wits about him during that fateful drive. “You got to believe that coaches are going to make a good call to be in scoring position. Once you do that — and everybody executes — the others do the rest.”
What the Lobos do with the rest of the season, though, might determine whether Locksley returns next year or gets a pink slip.
A man of declarative statements, Athletics Director Paul Krebs said little about the win when asked for comment at the conclusion of Saturday’s game.
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“It’s great,” he said, before disappearing to mingle with fans, donors and boosters who greeted him
outside the Lobos’ locker room.
That’s it? For now, that’s all that needs to be said. On this night, the Lobos were better.
Godfrey knew it, but he still couldn’t bear to watch the last four seconds, as Aho’s kick spiraled toward its ending point.
“I kept my head down,” he said.
But unlike other nights, Godfrey’s head popped back up.
The “fire Mike Locksley” flames have been contained. This three-week push will tell whether they can be exterminated.
