The UNM football team takes to the road for the first time this season as it plays against offensively explosive Texas Tech University.
The defensive side of the football for the Lobos (1-0) will have a tough test Saturday as it faces an experienced, high scoring football team in the Red Raiders. Texas Tech opens its season against the Lobos. The Red Raiders, who were 7-6 overall and 3-5 in the Big 12 Conference, have nine of 11 starters returning from last year’s team that set numerous school records on offense.
“They have some really good players coming back,” head coach Rocky Long said. “They have a very good offense. They have an experienced quarterback, a good running back and a very difficult scheme to prepare for.”
Known as the “Air Raid,” Texas Tech set 23 passing records last season under the helm of quarterback Kliff Kingsbury. The senior led the nation in pass completions and pass attempts. Also returning is running back Ricky Williams, who led the team in receptions with 52.
The offense was successful last year when it switched to a more wide-open attack. It is predicated on spreading the field and passing the ball quickly to try to get one-on-one matchups.
Long said the offense is difficult to defend because it has so many formations and players in motion that it creates confusion among the defensive players.
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However, last season the Lobo defense played very well at Texas Tech in a 24-3 to start the year for both teams. The game was a hard fought defensive battle that was decided by turnovers. The Lobo offense, under former quarterback Jeremy Denson, had three turnovers in Red Raider territory, spoiling a good defensive effort. The UNM defense held Texas Tech to 255 yards of total offense, its second lowest total of the season.
“They’ve gotten dramatically better offensively as the season wore on,” Long said. “They are a much better offensive team than the one we played at the beginning of last year. It would be naive to think the defense could have the same performance as last year.”
Although the Red Raiders have an experienced offense, senior linebacker Gary Davis expects the defense to step up to the challenge.
“A lot of the games, teams know what we’re going to do, but they can’t stop us,” he said. “When a team plays us the quarterback is on edge because he knows he is going to get hit.”
Davis, who had two-and-a-half sacks in the Lobos 26-6 victory over the University of Texas at El Paso, said the defense is also very confident because of the way the it dominated UTEP’s offense.
Texas Tech’s defense only returns four starters from last year’s team, but they have one of the best linebackers in the nation in Lawrence Flugence. Flugence led the team in tackles last season with 156, which ranked fourth nationally.
Senior fullback Jarrod Baxter said the Tech defense might be a little tougher to move around than UTEP because the Red Raiders are bigger on the front seven and are a lot faster.
Last year, senior tailback Holmon Wiggins was the only one on offense that had much success against the Tech defense. He carried the ball 24 times for 91 yards.
The offense moved the ball fairly well in that game, but the three turnovers lost the game for the team.
Baxter said he is confident the team can move the ball on offense, but they have to hang onto the ball and mix up the offense.
“Hopefully we can come out and run the ball and get the ball in the air,” he said. “We have to be balanced to win this game. If we come out and do that it will be OK.”
Junior quarterback Rudy Caamano will have to pick up the passing game as it produced 52 yards through the air in last weeks victory.
Long said he is comfortable with Caamano leading the offense in the hostile environment at Texas Tech.
“He’s are guy; he’s our best quarterback,” Long said. “What he has done in practice is proof that he is going to be very effective for us this year.”
UNM will need all its weapons against Texas Tech because the Red Raiders have the Lobos’ number. The game will be the 38th meeting between the teams, with the Red Raiders holding a decisive 30-5-2, including a 19-2 record at Texas Tech. The last time the Lobos beat Texas Tech on the road was in 1983.
“I don’t know what they think of us; I doubt they think we can compete, but I know we can,” Baxter said. “We’re big enough, we’re strong enough, all we have to do is show up without the mistakes.”
