The UNM football team has reached the halfway point of its season and finds itself struggling to come up with big plays that could turn a competitive football team into a good one.
The Lobos are 2-4 and 1-2 in the Mountain West Conference after six games with five remaining in the season.
The close loss bug has hit UNM again this season after it lost four games last year when leading going into the fourth quarter. Five of the Lobos last eight losses have been by four points or less, including last season when UNM finished 5-7. The Lobos have had three close games in its first six this season and are 1-2 in those games.
"I think we are cursed," senior running back Javier Hanson said. "The record shows that we play hard, but we still lose. It is something we need to work on. I think it is more mental than physical."
Head coach Rocky Long said he does not believe that the team is snakebitten, but he expects more from his team.
"I think overall we haven't performed up to our expectations, we thought we'd perform at a higher level," he said. "What we've proved is that we are a very competitive football team and that we can play with anybody. What we haven't proven over the last two years is that we can win enough close games to make ourselves a good football team."
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Long said the reason why the Lobos are losing the close games time and again are the lack of plays in critical situations by his players.
"It bothers the coaches and it bothers the players that we're not able to come up with enough plays," he said. "We know we have the athletic ability to win a lot of games, but for whatever reason we are not making those critical plays in the critical situations. We have some good athletes that are laying it on the line every week, but we have a mental hump to overcome that we haven't overcome."
Long said the team is aware of the problems at the end of games, but he does not think the team tightens up in tough situations.
He thinks the team has been unlucky in certain situations and that luck has to turn in the Lobos favor sometime.
The ball did bounce UNM's way in a close victory over the University of Wyoming 30-29 Oct. 6. Wyoming scored a touchdown and looked to tie the score with an extra point with seconds left in the game. However, the ball hit the post and the Lobos escaped with a win.
The luck began and ended with that game. UNM lost in overtime 16-13 to Baylor University Sept. 29 when senior fullback Jarrod Baxter lost a fumble at the goal line in the overtime. During the most recent game, the Lobos lost to Brigham Young University 24-20 when the Cougars made critical plays at the end of the game to win.
Long also said the Lobos have been on the wrong end of some missed calls.
"We are not strong enough mentally to overcome those things, but you can make that transformation at any time," he said. "A player making a play in a critical time, several players making plays at critical times and then all of a sudden you believe you can and you know you can and then you do it more often. There are a lot of mental aspects to the game that people disregard at times."
Long said the coaches try to create as stressful situations as possible in practice to prepare the team for close games. He said they work offensively and defensively on short yardage, inside the 20-yard line, overtime situations and the two-minute drill.
Long expects that the last five games of the season will be close, with four of the games being in conference.
The Lobos beat two of its second half opponents by a total of nine points last season, beating the Air Force Academy 29-23 and New Mexico State University 16-13.
UNM also plays three conference opponents - Colorado State University, the University of Nevada at Las Vegas and San Diego State University - it lost to last season by a combined eight points.
"We got to come out with big plays and got to know that we are going to win, " Hanson said. "We got to be more relaxed with the lead in order to keep the lead."
Long said he hopes his team can come up with the big plays in the second half of the season, but has mixed thoughts on how the Lobos performed during the first half.
"I give them a high grade for effort and competitiveness, never dying and never giving up, but I give us an average to poor grade for results because we don't make enough critical plays at the critical times," he said.
