It took head coach Bob Davie four long years to lead New Mexico to its first postseason game in nearly a decade.
At the Gildan New Mexico Bowl media luncheon on Wednesday, Davie talked about how big of an opportunity the bowl game against Arizona is for the program. UNM is in a position to finally be able to sustain some success, Davie said.
“We have to seize and capture this momentum we have going forward. This is a just a little springboard for us,” Davie said. “More important than what this game is (are) the byproducts of this game. At least there’s a foundation of credibility that we can take advantage of it.”
This next step in the program came as a bit of surprise. UNM’s last three wins of the season all came as double-digit underdogs. However, the Lobos beat some of the better teams in the Mountain West including Utah State, Boise State and Air Force.
Davie said UNM’s newfound success could be gone quickly if the team doesn’t take advantage of the opportunity.
“It gives us the next rung. Again, just because you get to the next rung it doesn’t mean you’re going to stay at that rung. We can just as easily go backwards,” Davie said.
In the days prior to the press conference, Davie was out on the recruiting trail. When asked if a bowl bid had change the perception of the program to recruits, he said there hasn’t been much of a difference.
“I don’t know (if it's been) different, but there’s more of a credibility issue there. We’ve been on the radar but I think we’re in the pool more for kids that have more options,” Davie said. “It hasn’t changed it dramatically because the perception has been good since we’ve been here. I do sense our credibility has improved.”
In the end, Davie said it comes down to winning a bowl game, something that UNM (7-5, 5-3 Mountain West) hasn’t done since beating Nevada 23-0 at the New Mexico Bowl in 2007.
“It’s all (about)winning the football game. There’s not much time to enjoy it,” Davie said. “It’s all about winning this matchup. I understand what a tremendous challenge this is.”
Long history
Davie isn’t any stranger to the University of Arizona.
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Before becoming a starting tight end for Youngstown State in 1973, Davie earned a football scholarship to Arizona but left after two weeks because he was homesick.
Davie returned to the Wildcats in 1978 to be their linebackers coach for two seasons.
“Now that it is been announced, I think it is a great matchup,” he said. “I think it’s good for the community that it is Arizona and its good for our program that it is a Pac-12 school.”
Not their first matchup
Arizona head coach Rich Rodriguez and Davie have met exactly one time before as head coaches.
That game happened way back in 2001 when Davie was still the head coach of Notre Dame and Rodriguez was at the helm for West Virginia.
The Fighting Irish were able to hold onto a 34-24 victory in that game over the Mountaineers, despite a heavy downpour.
Thomas Romero-Salas is the culture editor for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @ThomasRomeroS.
