by David J.Chavez
Daily Lobo
The UNM football team will have a chance to earn its first winning record of the season when it heads to Colorado State on Saturday.
The Lobos (4-4 overall, 2-2 Mountain West Conference) are riding a two-game winning streak after come-from-behind wins over the University of Nevada-Las Vegas and Utah.
The Rams (4-3, 1-2) are struggling offensively and have dropped their last two.
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Head coach Rocky Long said both teams are hungry, which should lead to another close game.
"I think this game is going to be just like the last two," Long said. "Colorado State's a good football team that has struggled for the past two weeks, but the talent levels are very close, and both teams will be desperate to win, so I'm expecting the game to go down to the wire."
The UNM offense came together last weekend and put up 34 points and 467 yards. Freshman starting quarterback Donovan Porterie passed for 350 yards and three touchdowns.
Porterie earned MWC Offensive Player of the Week honors last week.
Porterie's performance helped Lobo wide receiver Marcus Smith move into second in the MWC in receiving with 73 yards per game, and Travis Brown slid into third with 71.6 yards per game.
The Lobos have been struggling in the first half of games but have outscored their last two opponents 43-15 in the second half.
Brown said the team has had trouble performing well for four quarters.
"We've got to come out and put together a full game this weekend," Brown said. "We've been playing a lot of two- and three-quarter football games, and it's just a matter of bringing it together in every aspect of the game."
Both teams are struggling on the ground right now, with UNM averaging 93.5 yards per game and the Rams averaging 80 yards per contest.
While the Rams haven't been effective on the ground, they could be a challenge to the Lobo defense through the air. Quarterback Caleb Hanie is second in the MWC in passing with 223.1 yards a game.
The MWC's leading receiver, Johnny Walker, is on the receiving end of a lot of those passes.
UNM nose tackle Wesley Beck said stopping the Rams' passing game starts at the line by putting pressure on the quarterback.
"We need to get after the quarterback and throw some blitzes at him," Beck said. "We have a great secondary, and they need to lock down the receivers, and that should cause turnovers and allow us to stop the quarterback from making those long passes."
UNM has the advantage in turnovers with a plus-five margin. It has picked up 17 turnovers and lost the ball 12 times. The Rams have turned the ball over 13 times while forcing a league-low seven turnovers.
The Lobos are second in the MWC in sacks with 20. The Rams have allowed 26 sacks in seven games, so Hanie could be spending a lot of time on the ground come Saturday if Colorado State doesn't protect well.
However, the Rams are third in the MWC in sacks with 19. UNM's quarterbacks have been sacked 31 times, so it could be just as unpleasant for Porterie.
Beck said the team is on a roll and optimistic about beating its next three opponents.
"We have a great chance of winning this next game and potentially win the rest of our conference games," he said. "As a team, we're getting better every game. We have a great game plan, so that puts us in a position to go up there and get a win."
Football
At Colorado State
Saturday, 3:30 p.m.
Fort Collins, Colo.
