Mike Locksley may just have an undiagnosed case of dissociative amnesia.
The same could be said of the UNM football team.
Neither Locksley nor defensive end Jaymar Latchison can recall the Lobos’ series record against BYU: 43-14-1.
Curiously, Locksley rapidly rattled off a barrage of statistics during Tuesday’s weekly media luncheon.
But when it came to the Lobos’ record against ranked BYU squads, Locksley conveniently skipped over it, until a reporter brought it to his attention.
“I like to have selective memory when it comes to negative things, for the most part,” he said.
He kind of has to, since UNM, when facing the Cougars while ranked, has managed just an anemic 1-15 record.
Nonetheless, for the Lobos, in a season gone rancid, beating BYU would be welcomed fumigation, Latchison said.
“To a degree, a win is a win,” he said. “But either way, BYU ranked or not ranked, I’ve seen the history between the two teams, and a win against them would be great. And for them to be ranked — we would love to spoil their holidays.”
Even though it’s the last card he has to play, Locksley stubbornly refuses to admit UNM is playing the role of spoil sport.
“To me ranked or non-ranked, we’ve got three opportunities left, and I’d like to win as many of them as we possibly can, regardless,” he said. “A win to us is a win. The icing on the cake is if you have a chance to be a spoiler for a team like BYU.”
Not only that, but a win could be the tonic to Locksley’s acidic drink.
Still, Locksley said he doesn’t believe getting the community back into a buddy-’ol-pal mood with him is that easy, but winning certainly couldn’t hurt.
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“(It’s) not that simple,” he said. “But a great friend of mine once sent me a text saying it’s a great elixir for immediacy. ”
That plan, so far, has been largely derailed, in part because the first-year head coach has failed to win a game and in part because of his tumultuous off-the-field incidents.
Locksley said he just wants to get back to coaching.
“I’m looking forward to the day when I can worry just about football,” he said. “But, when it’s all said and done, it’s like anybody that’s starting a new business.
Obviously, you have to put a bunch of time into all the other factors that lead that business to production or to making money. Once it’s on stable ground, and you’ve got some continuity over a period of time, a program kind of runs itself, and that allows you to get back into the football part.”
And the football part has undoubtedly been suffering. The Lobos are cellar dwellers in various categories: 110th in rushing offense, 109th in total offense, 117th in scoring offense, 111th in passing-efficiency defense, 104th in total defense and 112th in scoring defense, to name a few.
Meanwhile, the Cougars are a well-oiled machine: The Cougars are ranked in the top 10 nationally in scoring offense and passing efficiency.
And Latchison knows the Cougars aren’t going to keel over for UNM.
“They’re not going to sleep on us,” he said. “They know we play them tough.”
Just how tough doesn’t matter, really. UNM’s still a 27-point underdog to the Cougars.
Let’s hope for their sake they can be just as absentminded and forget quickly at the conclusion of Saturday’s game.
