New Mexico head coach Rocky Long:
Question: Is it too early to gauge how the team will respond after the loss to Colorado State?
Rocky Long: We had a short practice on Sunday night. In our meetings before practice and in our practice we try to analyze the previous weeks game, get it out of our system and go on to the next game when we come back to work today. Its a little early to tell, but its the quietest our team has been in my four years as coach in our Sunday meeting. Now I dont know what that means, but usually they have to be quieted down when we start the meeting and there wasnt one of them talking.
Question: Do you think the teams energy will rise as the week goes on leading up to Saturdays game?
Rocky Long: Thats why I like the (New Mexico-New Mexico State) game at the end of the year. I think if both teams were 0 and whatever, both teams would still get excited about playing and if both teams were 10-0 theyd be excited about playing. I think rivalry games ought to be like that, but they dont get like that if you play them early in the year because theres too many things going on after them. You have to worry about everything else. So its nice to have it at the end of the year, I like that part of it, and I think both teams will be excited by Saturday. Theyve struggled through disappointing losses too. They lost two really, really close games that probably couldve put them in the New Orleans Bowl. Theyve had a couple weeks to get over it and theyre playing better again now. We dont have as long to get over it, but we are getting better.
Question: How does New Mexico States defense compare to some that youve faced this year?
Rocky Long: Their defense has been patterned after Colorado States defense. They went to Colorado State last year and they basically run the same defense. Colorado States defense has a tendency to give up some yards, but doesnt give up very many points. We didnt play very well against Colorado States defense, so I would say no matter how New Mexico State has played before this game that its a real challenge, especially for our quarterback.
Question: After watching film, what were quarterback Casey Kellys major problems?
Rocky Long: He overthrew a couple of receivers on a couple of interceptions. On a couple of them, he tried to force it into seams where it shouldnt have been forced and on one of them he and the receiver misread the coverage. The receiver read it as one coverage and broke one route and he read it as another and threw it a different way. You kind of expect those where a young quarterback would misread a coverage though. I think Casey was in a big game and tried to do too much. Hes got great confidence in his arm and I think he was trying to force it. Instead of letting things happen, he was trying to force good things to happen. Thats a common mistake by a lot of players in big games.
Question: Do you think youll get a good gauge on how he bounces back and his leadership qualities this week?
Rocky Long: Itll be a good gauge to see how he plays this week. Hes basically playing against the same type of defense in a very big game, in a rivalry game. I dont think itll bother him. Im sure it bothered him after the game and probably still bothers him that he didnt play very well, but he keeps himself pretty even personality wise. He doesnt get overly excited either way. When things go good and when things go bad, he doesnt overreact, which is a good attribute for a quarterback. With all his problems on Saturday, if a couple of other passes are caught, the game probably goes to overtime. Then all of a sudden its overtime, you dont know whats going to happen in overtime and if we win nobody cares how many interceptions he threw.
Question: What are some of your overall thoughts about the NMSU offense?
Rocky Long: They do a great job with their offense. I think they do a great job of coaching. We dont play any teams all year long that are coached any better than those guys coach at New Mexico State. They coach that team better than most of the teams we play against. These guys have been in head coach Tony Samuels program, they know his stuff and they execute it very, very well and theyve been starters for a long time. Thats the main reason they fought for (the Sun Belt) conference championship. I think theyre the best team in that conference to be honest with you, after watching them against all the other teams in the conference. Theres a couple plays against North Texas and a couple plays against Middle Tennessee or theyre heading to the New Orleans Bowl. They were late in the game too, in the fourth quarter.
Question: Is your defense a good fit for their offensive style?
Rocky Long: Well you can decide after the game because their running style is exactly like Utah. Their passing game is a little different, but their running game is the same as Utah and the same as Nebraskas. The difference between them and Utah is that they run the option and they run it very well. Now senior quarterback K.C. Enzminger hasnt run the option as well since he hurt his knee, but they put (redshirt freshman quarterback) Buck Pierce in to run the option and hes really fast.
Question: Does the NMSU option present the same kind of problems that Air Forces did?
Rocky Long: No, its a completely different kind of option, theres no read involved. Its a lot simpler type of option than Air Force has. Its easier to know what theyre going to do, but its not easier to defense because you have so many other things to try to defense. Against Air Force, the main scope of their offense is the option, so you spend all your time on the option. Against New Mexico State, well spend only about five percent of our practice time on the option because they do so many other things well.
Question: What are they doing to protect Enzminger so well?
Rocky Long: Theyve given up fewer sacks than anybody weve played and fewer sacks than anybody in their conference. In 11 games theyve given up 12 sacks. Part of it is hes mobile. Even with his knee, when he gets pressure he gets out of trouble, thats part of it. The other part of it is theyre very experienced. I think three of their big guys have started for three years, so you cant give them too many things they havent seen before or cant adjust too. So a lot of it is experience.
Question: How are your seniors taking the loss to Colorado State?
Rocky Long: I think our seniors were extremely disappointed. I met with the seniors on Sunday night and I think they were very, very disappointed because I think they thought they were going to be the group that got us over the hump and it was relayed to them that they could still be the group that gets us over the hump. I think they were very surprised that we didnt play better on Saturday.
Question: Youve improved every year that youve been here, do you feel that the foundation is laid for bigger things to happen?
Rocky Long: Im more proud of this team than any other team that Ive had since Ive been here because of the efforts theyve put in to make it something special. No matter what happens Saturday, Im going to be more proud of this group of seniors than any other group that weve had here, but Im disappointed for the program. Weve improved this year, weve made progress and were a lot better now than we were at this time last year. The program has a chance to improve, but if wed have won Saturday, wed have a made a leap. Were inching up on the kind of program I want to be. Somewhere along the way you have to get over the top and we havent gotten over the top yet.
Question: How does a season like this factor into recruiting?
Rocky Long: Were going to recruit the same kind of kids we have the last couple years because we keep telling them were getting better and a lot of athletes want to come to those types of programs because they want to be involved with the group that gets you to the top. If youre not getting better, your possibility of recruiting is horrible, but as long as you can show improvement, you have a chance. If we wouldve finished second or third in the conference and gone to a bowl game it wouldve been much easier to recruit and the caliber of recruits wouldve been much improved. So were going to get the same kind of kids weve been getting, which is fine because we get kids that want to. We dont run as fast, we dont jump as high, were not as big and as strong, but we get kids that want to as bad or probably worse than anybody we play and I like being around those kind of kids. Thats why we have eight walk-ons starting for us because they want to. Its not because theyre superior athletes or they wouldve been recruited, but they want to and I happened to be a kid like that.
Senior lobo safety Scott Gerhardt
(On his emotions going into his final game with UNM.)
It really hasnt hit me yet, but slowly it is starting to. You always want your last game to be against your big rival, New Mexico State. That all started when I was a freshman and we went on our first road game. The fans were throwing cokes at us and yelling and it was the first real experience I had on the road. That just built a big rivalry between me personally and New Mexico State. Every year there is always a lot of talking. Both teams play to the best of their abilities and it is going to be a hard-fought, exciting game. Im excited.
(Have you gotten over the CSU game on Saturday?)
I try not to let those things bring me down. Going into that game I try not to think about a bowl game. Yes it does hurt, but were still in the picture. I believe that if we win big we still might go to a bowl.
(On New Mexico State.)
Theyre tough. They always are. Theyre a tough team. Just look at their quarterback, he has a torn ACL and he is playing. That just shows you how hard they play. They really want this game so they are going to play hard.
(Being Thanksgiving week, do you have anything to be thankful for.)
I am thankful for my family and friends, and ever since September 11, I am thankful to be here in America and have the opportunity to play football.
(On your experience at UNM.)
Its been awesome. I wouldnt trade it for anything in the world.
Senior receiver Joel Baker
(Can you believe your Division I career is almost over?)
I really cant. I think about last season when coach Modkins told us about how our clock was ticking. At the time when you hear those things, it doesnt seem like your career will be so short. Now every game that goes by you just start thinking about the few you have left.
(On your emotions going into the final game.)
Half of me is excited – I am excited to move on to a new part of my life. The other part of me is really starting to like playing now. I am getting the opportunity to play and I dont want to leave. I could use one more year.
(Being from Las Cruces, were you ever recruited by New Mexico State?)
No, there never was a whole lot of recruiting by New Mexico State. Both out of high school and (junior college) they wanted me to walk on. This game means a little more to me because now I get the chance to go out there and beat them.
(On New Mexico State.)
Theyre a lot like Colorado State in their defensive schemes are really well planned by their coaches and their players play really hard. Were just going to have to go out there and out-execute them.
Senior defensive end Brian Johnson
(On the mood of the team.)
I think the team is hungry. We have another week to play and this is the last game against New Mexico state. A big in-state rivalry, so I think the team is pretty positive.
(On the new stadium and the new fan support.)
I think we will set the record this week. We have a chance to fill the place up, especially if the New Mexico State fans come as well. Its great for the program, on the rise. I wish the circumstances were different and we were going to a bowl game, but maybe their is still a possibility of being bowl eligible.
(On the direction of the program.)
We are a lot more physical than we ever were. In 1998 and 1999 we were small and weak. Weve really spent a lot of time in the weight room and become more physical. We just have to execute better.
(Whats you best memory as a Lobo?)
Going to the bowl game in 97, even though I was only a member of the scout team. I had a lot of fun in Arizona.
Senior RB Jarrod Baxter
(On his emotions going into the last game.)
This is it for me. There are no more chances to have a winning season. We have to beat those people from down state. It is good to be playing on our home field against our in-state rivals.
(Is NMSU a friendly or unfriendly rival?)
It depends. I know a lot of the guys from down there so for me it is friendly. For the fans it is a pretty evil rivalry.
(On New Mexico State.)
They do a whole lot of things Colorado State does on defense. They slant a lot. They use some of the same blitzes.
(After last weeks loss, do you feel like playing this week.?)
Oh yes, I feel like playing a couple more.