Boy oh boy — this year’s version of the UNM football team makes the lottery seem predictable. Throw out little things like logic. Discard sensibility. And statistical trends? Well, those are irrelevant. It didn’t matter that, heading into Saturday’s game with NMSU, the Lobos had won the last six matchups with the longtime rival.
Lobo kicker James Aho crouched on the 37-yard line with his hands on his head as the Aggies’ bench rushed the field and the clock showed double zeros. Aho had just pushed a 47-yard game-tying field goal wide right that otherwise would have sent the Rio Grande rivalry into overtime. The Lobos fell 20-17.
Welcome to the Hatch green chile hot seat, Mike Locksley. The Salem Witch Trials will appear tame if the first-year head coach loses to NMSU Saturday. Locksley understands that losing to NMSU verges on sacrilege — especially since the Lobos have won the last six matchups between the two teams.
The UNM women’s soccer team has surpassed all expectations. The Lobos are 8-0-2 overall this season, and they’ve matched their number of wins from last season after handling Northern Colorado, 3-1, on Wednesday at the UNM Soccer Complex.
Apparently, two quarterbacks are better than one — which underscores just how desperate first-year head football coach Mike Locksley is to find a spark at the position. Visibly frustrated by how quarterbacks Donovan Porterie and B.R.
UNM’s new-look basketball arena, The Pit, will host first and second-round men’s games in 2012. The games are scheduled for mid-March. The NCAA announced preliminary round sites for the 2011, 2012 and 2013 NCAA men’s basketball tournaments on Monday. UNM Vice President for Athletics Paul Krebs said in a statement that this wouldn’t have happened without financial support from Gov.
Three games into the 2009 football season, it seems defense is about the only thing the Lobos have going for them. UNM lost its Mountain West Conference opener to Air Force 37-13 on Saturday at University Stadium. With a little more than three minutes left in the half, UNM’s offense scored its first touchdown after 15 scoreless quarters.
Jamie Foxx told us to “Blame It on the Alcohol.” Mike Locksley told us to “blame it on Locks.” Sorry, coach, but on the continuum of culpability, you’re about as guilty for the UNM team getting shish-kebabbed 37-13 by Air Force football as Denzel Washington was in that movie, “The Hurricane.” Can’t say the same about the players. Trust me, Johnnie Cochran would have a hard time defending these guys, because if the glove fits, you must convict.
If a positive can be taken away from the Lobo football team’s 37-13 loss to Air Force on Saturday, it is James Wright’s running game.
The UNM men’s soccer team capped a good weekend with a convincing 3-0 win over Gonzaga University on Sunday at the UNM Soccer Complex. The Lobos improved to 4-2 overall for the season. “It was an all-around great performance,” said head coach Jeremy Fishbein.
Nobody said losing a team’s on-court vocal and inspirational leader would be easy. With senior outside hitter and co-captain Rose Morris on the sidelines with a pinky injury, the UNM volleyball team came out flat and was defeated by Texas Christian University on Wednesday 25-18, 16-25, 25-22, 25-22 in the Mountain West Conference opener.
The UNM football team has already dubbed their offensive line the “Hitmen.” Now head coach Mike Locksley is calling for his linemen to block — and his team to execute. After taking two beatings this season, schematic wizardry is not going to get the Lobo football team over the hump against Air Force, Locksley said.
The injury-plagued UNM volleyball team managed a runner-up finish at the Lobo Challenge this weekend. After sweeping Cal State Fullerton on Friday — 25-19, 25-17, 25-22 — the Lobos were handed their first loss of the season Friday at the hands of Baylor in a hard-fought 3-2 thriller.
The record-shattering UNM women’s soccer team’s historic ride continues. UNM remains perfect at 6-0-1 and has tied the school record for most matches without a loss after battling Tulsa to a tie at the UNM Soccer Complex on Sunday. The Lobos played through two tough overtimes, but in the end neither team could find the back of the net.
Through thick and thin — and mostly thin — the Lobo football team has been able to count on one thing: the running game. From Don Perkins to Don Woods, from Winslow Oliver to Rodney Ferguson, almost every era of UNM football has had a marquee back to carry the team. So, when this year’s Lobo squad averages 38 yards on the ground and a dismal 1.6 yards per carry over its first two games, there’s some cause for concern among the UNM faithful. Even head coach Mike Locksley, who perhaps got spoiled by the dominant Rashard Mendenhall during his tenure at Illinois, is struggling to find a remedy. “With this same style of offense (at Florida and Illinois) we led the SEC and the Big 10 in rushing,” Locksley said.
New Mexico is a grand whine cellar. Choosing to chastise Lobo football aficionados in his scathing departing shot, former head coach Rocky Long said in not so many words that UNM football supporters were nothing more than wine-and-cheese fans.
The UNM football team has yet to score an offensive touchdown after their 44-10 loss at the hands of Tulsa on Saturday at University Stadium. “It’s been a long time since I went two games without scoring a touchdown,” head coach Mike Locksley said.
There’s a hurricane warning this Saturday in Albuquerque. Early reports indicate the eye of the storm is headed straight for University Stadium. UNM will face Tulsa in its home-opener, but head coach Mike Locksley doesn’t want his team looking for vengeance from last year’s 56-14 beat down at the hands of the University of Tulsa Golden Hurricane, said linebacker Clint McPeek. “We would like to redeem ourselves,” he said.
There comes a point when even a loyal soldier realizes some wars are lost causes — they aren’t worth investing in anymore. That point might have come for Lobo safety Ian Clark, the UNM football team’s most raucous and experienced defensive leader. A source close to Clark is “90 percent sure” Clark is out for the season after his left shoulder was re-injured for the second time in less than a month.
Jeremy Fishbein is, and always has been, a knowledgeable soccer coach. His .666 career winning percentage is an indication of that. Fishbein has 87 wins in 125 games coached during his seven years at UNM, including one national championship appearance in 2005.
Solutions by The State News
