University Stadium is dead, dormant, hibernating. It has been since Dec. 22, 2007, the last time the Lobos took to the field in a 23-0 trouncing of Nevada in the New Mexico Bowl.
Since then, 31 Saturdays have come and gone, all without the click-clack of cleats, without the boisterous whoops and hollers of the "Red Sea," as quarterback Donovan "Moses" Porterie calls it.
But it's coming. Thirty-three days until August 30; 33 days until UNM vs. TCU; 33 days until the "Red Sea" parts, filling in the bleachers on the north and south sides of University Stadium. And "Moses" can't wait to rumble down the tunnel.
"When you're running, and you see and hear all the fans cheering, the cheerleaders and the band, all the little kids," he said. "It's worth playing for. It makes you want to play hard."
But 38,634 fans, 53 teammates and 12 coaches are looking for Porterie to do more than play hard. They're looking for him to lead the Lobos to the Promised Land.
"It's a 9-to-5 job," Porterie said about being quarterback. "I probably put in a good 40 hours (a week)."
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That's the part of the game the fans don't see - the time and preparation a quarterback must put in. There is no "Quarterbacking for Dummies" booklet. The only book quarterbacks have, Porterie said, is a playbook.
"It's a ton of concepts," he said. "There's probably more concepts than plays."
Toss in the concepts he must learn in the classroom, and Porterie has a full schedule. But don't expect any gripes from him.
"If I want to be the best I can be," he said, "as far as getting my degree and being a good athlete, I have to sacrifice. Monday through Friday, it's all about football and school."
Sounds overwhelming. And Porterie admits it was for the first year or so.
"When I was younger, like my freshman year, I didn't know what to expect," he said. "Everything was coming at me so fast on and off the field that it was like, 'What next? What next? What next?'"
Instead of coming in and playing right away, the coaches decided Porterie would redshirt in 2005. Porterie said it paid off.
In 2006, Porterie played in five games, finishing his redshirt freshman season and completing 53.4 percent of his passes while throwing for 967 yards, six touchdowns and just two interceptions.
Call it the Tony Romo Effect - instead of allowing a quarterback to come, immediately play, struggle and lose his confidence, you allow him to spend a year or two on the bench, become familiar with the offensive scheme and then throw him in there.
"I got a chance to learn from Kole McKamey and Chris Nelson," Porterie said. "I attribute that to much of my success."
Porterie continued to develop in 2007, despite having to learn a new playbook under offensive coordinator Dave Baldwin.
In his first year in the system, Porterie blossomed under Baldwin's spread offense, throwing for 3,006 yards and tossing 15 touchdowns.
More importantly, Porterie showed how complete a quarterback he was. Long bombs, dump passes, screens, lasers, bullets - Porterie threw them all and helped receivers Travis Brown and Marcus Smith post career-high numbers. Smith caught 91 balls for 1,125 yards and four touchdowns, and Brown raked in 76 catches for 1,031 yards and six scores.
But with Smith gone to the Baltimore Ravens and Brown graduated, some are expecting the Lobos' win total to taper off, and, by extension, since he is the man behind center, Porterie's numbers to dip. In the Mountain West Conference preseason media poll, the Lobos were selected to finish fourth, with BYU expected to win the conference.
After coming off one of a successful 9-4 campaigns, in which the Lobos finally captured that oh-so-elusive bowl win, Porterie said the MWC media still doesn't give the Lobos the respect they deserve.
"Every year, they pick us to finish fourth or fifth in the conference," Porterie said. "It just goes to show that you can only control what you can control. I can't control anybody's mouth. The team can't control anybody's mouth. And coach (Rocky) Long can't control anybody's mouth."
But there's one thing Porterie can control: Where the ball goes and, to a degree, how this season plays out.
"I'm not going to sit up here and say, 'We're going 12-0. Rah-rah this, rah-rah that.' But it's a wonderful goal," he said. "And I'm not shying away from it."
