Is facing the No. 9 team in the nation a blessing or a curse?
That depends on the UNM football team's perspective.
One thing is for sure: The Lobos have a chance to realign the football cosmos and throw a monkey wrench into the BCS picture Saturday when they take on BYU.
But any logical person looks at the numbers and wonders, does UNM have a chance to beat BYU in Provo, Utah, where the Cougars have won 15 consecutive games?
Las Vegas doesn't think so and favors BYU by 23 points.
But devout college football followers and Lobo fans will point to one word to counteract oddsmakers' logic: parity.
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In a week in which BYU should focus on preparing for UNM, BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall spoke about how "it isn't out of philosophy" to consider similar the brands of football TCU and UNM play.
TCU? BYU has to play the Lobos first.
At least one Lobo said he felt that BYU, too, could fall at the hands of the Lobos if the Cougars look ahead.
"Rumor has it that they had a media (event), and basically they looked ahead of us and were talking about TCU," cornerback DeAndre Wright said. "I don't know what their approach to us is, but I just hope they're ready to play some football this Saturday."
If there's one cardinal sin in football, it's looking ahead.
Just ask then-No. 1 USC - which lost to Oregon State 33-31.
Clearly, BYU has proven to be a better and more gifted team than the Lobos.
BYU is No. 1 in the Mountain West Conference and ranks among the nation's top 13 in passing offense, averaging 333 yards per game in the air and 468.8 yards per game in total offense. In addition, the Cougars put up an average of 41.2 points per outing.
On the other hand, the Lobos have struggled mightily through the air, especially in the past two weeks. UNM had a total of 88 passing yards in the last two games.
The Lobos have relied on a trio of running backs - Rodney Ferguson, Paul Baker and James Wright - in the two grind-out wins.
But Baker said that at some point, preferably this week against BYU, the passing attack needs to break out.
"We've been too conservative in that area," he said. "If we just throw it around a little - play catch - we'll be all right."
Wright said all the intangibles must come together if UNM is to bust BYU and the BCS.
"It's a once-a-lifetime opportunity," he said. "Since I've been here, we haven't beat BYU. If we play to the best of our ability and not beat ourselves, we can win this game."
For the Lobos, this is the MWC version of David vs. Goliath?
"It's us against the world out there," fullback Matt Quillen told GoLobos.com.
