by David J. Chavez
Daily Lobo
The UNM football team's offense struggled in Saturday night's game against Division I-AA Portland State, and the end result was a 17-6 loss that was littered with mistakes.
The Lobos were deep in Viking territory several times but were not able to put the ball in the end zone.
Senior Kenny Byrd kicked two field goals in the first half to put the Lobos up 6-0 going into halftime, but that was the only offense UNM could muster.
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UNM played poorly the whole game, and it was fortunate to be ahead at halftime, said Lobo head coach Rocky Long.
"Obviously, if you don't score points, that means you didn't execute very well," he said. "We didn't do anything very well. We made too many mistakes in the first half, and we were lucky to get ahead. We didn't get any better in the second half. We probably got worse."
The tide turned for the Lobos when they went for a fourth-and-one conversion and failed to move the ball at midfield on the opening drive of the third quarter.
Portland State took over and four plays later, the Vikings were celebrating in the end zone after Sawyer Smith threw a 39-yard pass to Brendan Ferrigno to give them a 7-6 lead.
Portland State was given a second chance to score when UNM linebacker Major Mosley committed a crucial face-masking penalty after the Lobos stopped the Vikings on third down in the third quarter.
Eric Azorr finished that drive with a field goal, putting the Vikings up 10-6 going into the fourth quarter.
The final quarter didn't start out any better for the Lobos. With 13:36 left in the game, UNM halfback Paul Baker dropped a punt, and Portland State's Kelena Ho'okano recovered it on the UNM 29-yard line.
The drive continued as Smith ran the ball to the UNM four-yard line before the Vikings were pushed back by a penalty. Smith then fumbled the ball, but recovered to give the Vikings a second-and-17 from the 29. Smith threw a pass to Tremayne Kirkland, who broke a few tackles in his romp for a touchdown.
Senior Quincy Black said a collection of things led to the Lobos' loss.
"They had a lot of quick screens, and they were busting us for 20 or 30 yards," he said. "We gave up some big plays, and we can't do that if we want to win. We can't point fingers and say, 'If we would have done this one thing better then we would have won.' When we get better, we do it as a whole and a group."
The silver lining for the Lobos in Saturday's loss was on the stat sheet. They finished ahead of Portland State in almost every statistic. The Lobos had 21 first downs to the Vikings' 13 and 339 offensive yards compared to 233 by Portland State.
Despite winning many offensive categories, the Lobos were unable to put many points on the board.
Sophomore Rodney Ferguson said Saturday's game isn't a representation of how the Lobos will play throughout the season.
"We need to come back tomorrow, work hard, study hard and practice hard," Ferguson said. "We have to make sure everything is on point, so we can show everybody that we made a mistake this week."
