After losing to underdog Portland
State last week, the Lobos aren't going to need any extra encouragement going into Saturday's rivalry with the aggies.
"Especially after what happened last weekend, this game is going to be something very important to us," Lobo junior Tyson Ditmore said. "It's not only rivalry week, but it's a game that we have to bounce back and prove ourselves with. We're all athletic out there, but a rivalry game comes down to who has the most heart."The UNM football team lost 17-6 last week to Portland State in its season opener, while NMSU snapped a 13-game losing streak to beat Southeastern
Louisiana, 30-15.The two schools will meet for the 97th time Saturday in Las Cruces.The UNM-NMSU rivalry is the 35th-longest series in the NCAA and dates back to 1894.UNM has won three straight over NMSU and leads the series 63-28-5. Last year, the Lobos beat the Aggies 38-21 at University Stadium
in front of 44,760 fans, which is a state record.
Junior Travis Brown said the team knows how meaningful the game is to the fans."As a team, we're preparing to the highest possible standard," he said. "Coach Long makes it known how important this game is to everybody, and I think the team is coming in with the mindset that this is do or die. Bragging rights and respect for the whole year are at stake this weekend."The last time UNM played in Aggie Memorial Stadium, it beat NMSU 38-3, which is the biggest margin of victory in the Lobos' 43 trips to Las Cruces.UNM is looking to carry its three-game road wining streak from last season into this weekend's game.
Head coach Rocky Long said the team is primed to extend that streak Saturday."Our whole team was shocked that we didn't play better last week," he said. "We have some very good competitors on the team that are really disappointed, and that, combined with us playing New Mexico State, should have them ready to go."UNM is shooting for its sixth-straight winning season. It hasn't been done since a seven-year run from 1958-64. The Lobos are a young team with 16 seniors, 27 juniors, 18 sophomores and 47 freshmen. Only 35 lettermen returned, the fewest in the Mountain West Conference. Long said the verbal exchanges between the two teams haven't been as heated this year compared to recent years, but once the game starts, talking is useless."This rivalry game is probably the most important of the season for both teams and communities,"
he said. "Since I've been here, there has been a lot of trash talking from both sides. Our group has done it a couple of times, and their group has done it a couple of times, but it doesn't make any difference once the ball is kicked off."
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