by Steven Fernandez
Daily Lobo
Coming into the 2005 season, the Lobos were picked to finish second in the Mountain West Conference preseason poll.
After a three-game losing streak, the team has a mediocre record of 3-3 and sits tied for fourth place with the University of Utah in the MWC.
UNM head coach Rocky Long said the team is disappointed, but is by no means panicking.
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"I think all things in football are momentum-driven," he said. "Sometimes you're on a hot streak and doing well, and sometimes you're on a down streak and not doing so well."
Wide receiver Travis Brown said the team has the talent to play better than it has been and to overcome the three consecutive losses.
"We've just made mistakes on our own part," he said. "We haven't really lost to a team that was better than us. We just have to come out and keep working hard and execute better."
Long agrees that the Lobos have been hurting themselves lately.
"We're not doing things as good on both offense and defense, and we're making more mistakes," Long said. "The first three weeks of the season we didn't have a turnover. Since that time, we've had quite a few turnovers and some in critical situations."
After protecting the ball in their first three victories, the Lobos have turned the ball over eight times during the three-game losing streak.
The blame cannot just be placed on the offense, however. The Lobo defense had started to come together early in the season, but has given up big plays and blew a 24-13 lead last Saturday at home against Brigham Young University.
"Early in the season, when we had a lead, we were able to protect the lead on defense," Long said. "Lately, we haven't been able to protect the lead. We're trying to re-evaluate our players' talents and see what they do well and what they don't do well and design our game plan around what they do well."
Defensive end Evroy Thompson said the defense has been out of place on the field - and that's something they need to fix.
"It's just been assignment errors on defense and making little mistakes here and there," he said.
Long said he is confident in the players he has on the field, but needs to see better performances from them on game day.
"There's no question in our mind that they have the physical talent," he said. "They have to be better mentally, and they have to be more technically sound for them to play better."
The Lobos will try to learn from the mistakes they made in the losses, but they will also try not to dwell on them.
"We don't harp on it, but we go back, and we try to teach ourselves as coaches and try to teach players on film and try and learn from the film and from the mistakes so we don't make those mistakes again," he said.
With a .500 record, the key for the Lobos is to focus on taking every week one game at a time.
"I think when you're on a downer, like we are right now, the only thing you can take into account is what's happening this week," Long said.
Thompson said if there is any chance of returning to a bowl game or winning the MWC, the Lobos must give complete attention to their opponent every Saturday.
"That's probably the most important thing," Thompson said. "You can't look ahead at all, because every game counts."
