Locksley: Be like a race horse

Will the UNM football team end its season the same way it started?
Well, the Lobos will find out Saturday.

Undefeated and third-ranked TCU rolls into Albuquerque, and with some help from other teams around the country, the Horned Frogs could potentially find themselves in the BCS National Championship on Jan. 11.
UNM head coach Mike Locksley said his team is ecstatic to play TCU.

“This week wraps up the 2010 season for us, and we have an exciting opponent coming into town,” Locksley said. “As I have talked to our team about all week, if you can’t get excited about having the opportunity to play one of the top teams in the country the last two years, then you shouldn’t be playing Division I football.”

Last year in the Lobos’ season
finale, TCU dropped UNM 51-10 in Fort Worth, Texas, and crashed the BCS party.

The Horned Frogs then lost to college football’s Cinderella, Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl. With a week off, TCU has had two weeks to prepare for UNM.

TCU head coach Gary Patterson said the Frogs have an opportunity to clinch the Mountain West Conference regular-season title.

“All we’re trying to do is win, and that is the most important thing to us,” Patterson said. “We are trying to just win by one point. I read some article in Albuquerque that we had to come (here) and get some style points. It gives us a chance to be 12-0, win the conference title because that’s what we’ve been working on the last two weeks.”

TCU might have one of the best quarterbacks in the country and arguably the best player in the MWC in Andy Dalton.

In 2010, Dalton has not disappointed. This season he has thrown 23 touchdowns and six interceptions.

The Horned Frogs also have dynamic skill player Jeremy Kerley. Kerley has 50 receptions this year, and 10 are touchdowns.

Locksley said he understands the Lobos’ task this Saturday.
“I often use the analogy this week with our players: horse racing,” Locksley said. “You know those horses have odds on them, and when you open the gates on them, do you think the horse knows what the odds were?
They don’t.”

Odds are, that’s a good thing for the Lobos.