After joining the UNM football team, Clint McPeek was told to eat a little bit more McDonald's.
McPeek, who is UNM's 6-feet-1-inch, 227 pound Lobo back, has had to beef up, adding 50 pounds to his frame since coming to New Mexico.
But all that weight is muscle. McPeek has worked hard to bulk up. In the weight room, McPeek power cleaned 374 pounds, a record that has yet to be touched among UNM defensive backs.
That extra weight - since McPeek plays the hybrid Lobo back position - has helped him develop into a formidable force on the field.
And on Saturday against Arizona, he was all over the field. McPeek, who helped the Lobos get their first win over the Wildcats, didn't appear to have any lingering effects from the neck injury that sidelined him for the final four games of last season.
McPeek led the Lobos in tackles Saturday. He piled up a career-high 13 tackles, nine of which were solo, against a high-powered Wildcat attack.
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"I don't think (Arizona quarterback Willie Tuitama) wanted to get hit," McPeek said. "Once we flushed him out of the pocket, it was good for us. He was uncomfortable."
Early in the third quarter, McPeek made a big play.
He chased down Wildcat tailback Nic Grigsby and slashed the ball out of his hands. Cornerback Glover Quin recovered the ball and returned it to the Arizona 10 yard line.
The fumble recovery set up a pounding 10-yard Rodney Ferguson touchdown run to give the Lobos a 27-14 lead early in the second half.
McPeek said the Lobos' defensive plan succeeded in forcing Tuitama to make quicker decisions during the game.
"Anytime you get four or five turnovers on defense, it is a huge advantage for our offense," McPeek said. "They delivered for us."
In turn, the Lobos' defense cashed in on five Arizona turnovers - two interceptions and three fumble recoveries - setting up the offense with better field position than in the first two games of the season against TCU and Texas A&M.
Arizona, which came into the game averaging 55.5 points, was a good measuring stick for the Lobos' defense to assess itself, McPeek said.
However, McPeek said the Lobos will be up for a bigger challenge next week when they face the Tulsa Golden Hurricanes.
Tulsa's offense is a scoring machine. It has scored 101 points in two games and in the 2007 season was in the top five in total offense, averaging more than 507 yards per game.
But McPeek and the Lobo defense are confident and will be looking to shut out Tulsa, he said.
"It is always a motivating tactic when the team you play scores a lot of points," he said. "It is big motivation to shut somebody like that out."
