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•The New Mexico Lobos (1-1) play their third straight “opener” as they face the Air Force Falcons Saturday in Colorado Springs. After the season opener at North Carolina State and a home opener last week against Weber State, Saturday’s contest will be the Mountain West Conference lid-lifter for both teams. Kickoff is 1:07 p.m., Mountain Time from Falcon Stadium on the grounds of the United States Air Force Academy. SportsWest will televise the game with statewide coverage provided by KRQE-TV in Albuquerque. The game can also be seen on ESPN’s GamePlan package.
•This is UNM’s earliest start to conference play since opening the 1993 season against BYU on Sept. 4. The Lobos’ next conference game is not until Oct. 12 at UNLV. The Lobos were 2-1 in MWC road games last year.
•Behind senior RB Quincy Wright’s school-record 265 yards rushing, New Mexico evened its record at 1-1 last Saturday with a 38-24 victory over Weber State, an NCAA Div. I-AA school. Air Force (1-0) ambushed Northwestern at home, 52-3.
•The Lobos are seeking an unprecedented fourth consecutive win over Air Force, having grounded the Falcons 52-33 last year in Albuquerque. The last time UNM won four straight conference games against the same opponent was Hawaii from 1993-98 in the old Western Athletic Conference. New Mexico dumped UTEP 17 straight games in WAC play from 1970-86.
•New Mexico looks to build upon last year’s strong finish when it went a bowl-eligible 6-5 overall and 4-3 in the Mountain West Conference. After a 1-3 start, the Lobos won 5 of their last 7 games. Picked to finish seventh in the MWC preseason polls, UNM tied Utah for third place. It was just New Mexico’s fifth winning season since 1979. Despite last year’s strong finish, the league’s media projects a sixth-place finish for the Lobos in 2002. Air Force was 6-6 last year and 3-4 in the MWC, tying UNLV for fifth place.
•New Mexico has increased its win total by one each of past three seasons: 4 in 1999, 5 in 2000 and 6 in 2001. The only other schools to make that claim are Oregon and Fresno State.
•Thanks to an odd twist in the calender – there are 14 Saturdays from Labor Day weekend until Nov. 30 as required by the NCAA – teams are able to play 12 regular-season games in 2002. Schools will also be allowed to schedule a dozen in 2003, 2008, 2013 and 2014. The BCA Bowl against NC State was an exempt game, thus giving UNM 13 tries this year. New Mexico has played 13 games only one time in school history. The 1997 squad finished 9-4, including a Western Athletic Conference division title and an appearance in the Insight.com Bowl.
SEASON TICKETS STILL AVAILABLE•Season tickets for UNM’s remaining five home games are currently available at the UNM Athletic Ticket at The Pit. Call (505) 925-LOBO for information.
•Through noon on Friday, Aug. 30, Lobo fans had purchased nearly 14,000 season tickets, eclipsing last year’s total of 13,202. It’s the ninth straight season New Mexico has sold at least 10,000 season tickets. The school record is 14,254 in 1998.
UNM-AIR FORCE SERIES•It’s the 20th meeting in a series that began in 1957 when Air Force won 31-0 at Colorado Springs. The Falcons lead the series 11-8, although UNM has won three straight for the first time.
•Air Force has a 6-5 lead in Albuquerque and a 5-2 advantage at the Academy. The Lobos won in Denver in 1959.
•This will be the first time since 1999 that New Mexico faces Air Force without the benefit of an off week beforehand. UNM did not play the week prior to meeting the Falcons in 2000 or ‘01. The Lobos are 4-0 following scheduled off weeks under Rocky Long, 2-0 against Air Force.
•Last year, the Lobos erupted for a season-high 620 yards and 32 first downs en route to a 52-33 homecoming victory at University Stadium. New Mexico scored TDs via rush, pass, fumble recovery and punt return. UNM overcame an early 10-point deficit to win. The numbers in the fourth quarter were staggering: New Mexico held the ball for 13:46 and ran a mind-boggling 31 plays, generating 162 yards of offense. Air Force gained just seven yards on five snaps in the final period, covering only 74 seconds on the game clock. The Lobos had the ball for 22:35 of the second half.
•The 620 yards of offense are the most by New Mexico since a school-record 691 yards at Utah in 1989. It’s the 13th time in school history the Lobos have surpassed 600 yards, and the total ranks 11th-best all-time.
•New Mexico set season highs in virtually every offensive category in last year’s win: first downs (32), first downs passing (16), rushing attempts (57), pass attempts (41), pass completions (tied with 20), passing yards (324), plays (98), total offense (620), punt return yardage (67), time of possession (39:33) and longest drive (16 plays).
•QB Casey Kelly and WR Joe Manning had the best offensive performances of their careers last year. Kelly completed 20 of 40 passes for 324 yards and 3 TDs. He also rushed 8 times for 46 yards. Manning caught 8 passes for 135 yards and 2 TDs.
•Despite a 10 a.m., kickoff two years ago in Colorado Springs, the Lobos jumped to a 29-7 lead then withstood a furious Falcon rally to escape with a 29-23 victory. UNM held Air Force to 145 yards, outgained the Falcons 421-298 and had a 34:35-25:25 advantage in time of possession.
•The Lobos finished the 1999 season with a 33-28 win over the Falcons in Albuquerque in a game televised by ESPN2. The Lobos came back from a 21-7 first-half hole, scoring 19 unanswered points in the third quarter to take a 33-21 lead.
HOLDING DOWN THE OPTION•No doubt the Lobos’ success the past three seasons has been in their ability to short-circuit the vaunted Air Force option attack, especially the past two years when UNM has gone on to lead the MWC in rushing defense. A look at the numbers:
Rush Avg. YardsBefore UNMNatl. Rankvs. UNM2000299.53rd1452001269.24th112
•The Lobos allowed just 112 yards last year with 65 of those yards coming on the first play of the game on a Keith Boyea TD. The Falcons’ final 29 rushes netted just 47 yards.•Statistical averages during UNM’s three-game winning streak:
UNMAFARushing219.7180.0Passing274.3153.0Total Offense494.0333.0Points38.028.0Time of Poss.36:4523:15
MWC OPENERS•The Lobos have a 2-1 record in league openers. UNM was victorious at San Diego State (24-21) in 1999 and thumped Wyoming (45-10) in 2000. New Mexico fell at Utah last year, 37-16.
LOBO HISTORY•The University of New Mexico has a 403-471-31 overall record in its 104th season.•UNM was founded in 1889, although the territory of New Mexico was not granted statehood until 1912. Three years later, the school’s first football game was played on Oct. 7, 1892, when a team representing UNM played a squad from Albuquerque High School in a vacant lot north of the town’s ice factory. The preps prevailed 5-0.
INJURY UPDATE•LB Shannon Kincaid (strained knee at NC State) is probable.
WEBER STATE RECAP•Senior RB Quincy Wright turned in the best rushing performance in school history to lead the Lobos to a 38-24 victory over pesky Weber State at University Stadium. Wright amassed 265 yards on 27 carries, shattering Mike Williams’ (236 vs. UTEP in 1977) 25-year-old single-game rushing record, as New Mexico won its home-opener for the sixth time in eight years. A crowd of 35,765 – the 3rd-largest in school history – was on hand.
•Despite Wright’s spectacular performance, Weber State kept the game close throughout and was threatening to retake the lead late in the third quarter before a bizarre defensive play broke the game open for the Lobos. Trailing 16-10, the Wildcats drove to the UNM 17-yard line with under two minutes left in the quarter. WSU quarterback Tate Bennett’s second-down pass was deflected by DE D.J. Renteria and caught again by Bennett. However, NT Hebrews Josue ripped the ball out of Bennett’s hands, ran 41 yards the other way, then lateraled the ball back to LB Billy Strother, who sprinted the remaining 42 yards to give the Lobos a 23-10 lead.
•Following the defensive score, junior WR Dwight Counter fielded a punt and raced 63 yards down the left sideline for a touchdown on the final play of the third quarter and a 30-10 advantage.
•The game looked like it would be a one-sided affair early on as Renteria recovered a Weber State fumble on the Wildcats’ first play from scrimmage. Wright then raced 34 yards into the endzone on the Lobos’ first offensive play for a 7-0 lead 19 seconds into the game. However, on its next two posessions, Weber State kicker Joe Johnson connected on a 27-yard field goal and Bennett found tight end Drew Dukeshire on 3-yard touchdown pass as the Wildcats took a 10-7 lead early in the second quarter. New Mexico took the lead for good though, 14-10, at the 10:30 mark of the quarter on another big play by Wright. On 2nd-and-3, the senior took a draw handoff, burst up the middle, then cut to the sideline and sprinted by several WSU defenders for a 63-yard touchdown, the Lobos’ longest rushing TD in six years. Wright closed out the scoring with an 8-yard burst in the fourth quarter.
MORE NOTES FROM WEBER STATE•Quincy Wright’s 265 yards rank No. 2 all-time in the MWC…San Diego State’s Larry Ned had 285 yards last year against Eastern Illinois…Wright also caught 2 passes for 24 yards to give him 289 all-purpose yards, a total that ranks No. 4 at UNM for a single game…it’s the most all-purpose yards since Terance Mathis set the all-time record of 358 yards against San Diego State in 1989
•No Lobo has rushed for 200 yards in consecutive games
•Wright became the first Lobo to score 3 TDs in a game since Holmon Wiggins did so against Northern Arizona in 1999
•Never a starter in his first three seasons at UNM, Wright entered 2002 with 164 yards on 14 carries…he has 330 yards on just 38 carries through 2 games, plus 4 TDs and a 2-point conversion
•Counter’s 63-yard punt return means the Lobos have returned 3 punts for TDs in the past 7 games…one of those – last year versus New Mexico State – was the result of a blocked punt…it was the first return of Counter’s career, who was named MWC Special Teams Player of the Week for his performance
•Junior C Justin Colburn (Westminster, Colo.) registered a career-high 17 knockdown blocks, and graded at 90%
•Junior DE Daniel Kegler (Frostproof, Fla.) recorded career-highs for tackles (7) and sacks (3)…two of his sacks came on 3rd down, including one that resulted in safety, giving the Lobos a 16-10 halftime lead…he also had a tackle for a loss
•Making his first career Lobo start, junior LB Billy Strother (Evansville, Ind.) logged a team-high 11 tackles, one for a loss, and scored on a 42-yard fumble recovery
•Junior DE D.J. Renteria (Roswell, N.M.) has recovered a fumble in each of the first 2 games and has 3 recoveries for his career
•Due to the defensive score and punt return by the Lobos, the Wildcats ran 24 consecutive offensive plays, covering 9:39 of the second half
•Counter (Lancaster, Texas) caught 1 pass for 7 yards…Counter has at least 1 reception in 13 straight games…his career numbers: 58 catches for 934 yards
AIR FORCE NOTES•The Falcons return 37 lettermen from last year’s team, including 10 starters. Only three starters return on offense while seven are back on the defensive side of the ball.•The Falcons piled up 476 yards on the ground and held the ball for 38:50 to dominate Northwestern last week. Sixteen different players carried the ball for Air Force. The Wildcats were limited to just 221 yards of total offense, including 41 yards rushing on 27 carries.•Air Force allowed 32.2 points and 452.7 yards of offense in 2001. The Falcons lost their top rusher and passer in QB Keith Boyea (1,216 yards rushing, 1,253 yards passing), plus their leading receiver in Ryan Fleming (28-416).•Head coach Fisher DeBerry (Wofford ‘60) has a 142-78-1 record in his 19th year as a collegiate head coach. He is 7-4 against New Mexico, 3-1 at the Academy and 4-3 in Albuquerque.
WORDS FROM THE HEAD COACH•(on Weber State) — “I thought we were very average, just good enough to win. It was really a concern until the defense made a big play. As much as the defense struggled, I thought they were the ones that turned the momentum of the game around. I thought we played better on both sides of the ball than we did against North Carolina State, however, we are not playing good enough on offense or defense to contend with the teams that are expected to emerge in the league.”
•(on Air Force) — “Air Force looked like a pretty well-tuned team against Northwestern. (QB Chance) Harridge might have played better than (Keith) Boyea did last year, at least for a first game. Whatever they tried, it worked. Obviously, this is an important game because it is the first conference game for both teams. There’s probably added incentive for Air Force because of what’s happened against us the past couple of years. It seems like everytime we play up there it’s homecoming. A bye week would help our preparation like it did the past two years, instead of just having three days this week. It’s a much more difficult assignment this year.”
OFFENSIVE NOTES•UNM has scored in 108 consecutive games, the 15th-longest active streak in the nation…the last team to blank the Lobos was BYU (35-0) on Nov. 7, 1992•Junior QB Casey Kelly (Portland, Ore.) is now 6-3 as starter…Kelly’s 75% completion rate (12-16) against Weber State is his best single-game accuracy while at UNM•The Lobos have run just 109 offensive plays the first 2 games compared to the opponents’ 160…average time of possession for UNM is a paltry 25:10, opponents 34:48
DEFENSIVE NOTES•The Lobos have allowed 400 yards of offense in consecutive games for the first time since the last three games of the 1999 season•Only three backs have eclipsed 100 yards rushing against UNM since the start of 2000, a span of 25 games: Oregon State’s Ken Simonton (184) and UNLV’s Jeremi Rudolph (106) in 2000 and Utah’s Dameon Hunter (177) in 2001•The Lobos have held 9 straight opponents to less than 200 yards rushing…the last team to surpass 200 yards was Utah last year…the Utes had 255…actually, Utah is the only team in the past 22 games to reach 200 yards on the ground•It’s been 42 games since UNM allowed 300 rushing yards…San Diego State churned for 349 yards in 1998•NC State and Weber State had 6 scoring drives covering at least 80 yards…in 12 games in 2001, opponents only did that 7 times•Foes have converted 59% (19-32) of their 3rd-downs…UNM only allowed 34% all of last year…NC State was an unsettling 67% (10-15) on 3rd downs, the best percentage against the Lobos since Air Force made 73% (11 of 15) in a 56-14 win on Oct. 3, 1998…the Wolfpack gained 181 yards on those 10 conversions, including TDs of 21, 1 and 50 yards, respectively
SPECIAL TEAMS NOTES•True freshman P Tyler Gaus (San Diego, Calif.) has punted 10 times for a 41.5-yard average…that’s also the team’s net average as only 1 of his punts has been returned for no yards…6 of his kicks have landed inside the opponents’ 20-yard line•New Mexico led the MWC in kickoff coverage last year, allowing just 18.6 yards a return…the Lobos are off to a good start in 2002 as well as opponents have returned 6 kicks for a 16.5-yard average•UNM has punted 173 consecutive times without having a kick blocked…the last rejector was Air Force’s Buck Hodgkinson, who did so in the first quarter of the 1999 season finale, 26 games ago
ALTERNATIVE SCORING•The Lobos have definitely found ways to put points on the board other than just on offense. Here’s a list of “other” scores since the start of the 2000 season:
2000 (3 TDs)Oregon State:Stephen Persley 20-yard punt return (on a block)Wyoming:Mike Barnett 25-yard fumble recoveryAir Force:Stephen Persley 19-yard punt return (on a block)
2001 (5 TDs, 2 safeties)UTEP:Terrell Golden safetyUtah:Gary Davis safetyWyoming:Stephen Persley 6-yard interception returnAir Force:Stephen Persley 25-yard fumble recoveryHolmon Wiggins 47-yard punt returnColorado State:Terrell Golden 24-yard fumble recoveryNew Mexico State:Amos Wilson 30-yard punt return (ona block)
2002 (2 TDs, 1 safety)Weber State:Daniel Kegler safetyBilly Strother 42-yard fumble recoveryDwight Counter 63-yard punt return
CAPTAINS•New Mexico’s four captains were selected last spring by a vote of the team. The offensive captains are both juniors, QB Casey Kelly and WR Dwight Counter. NT Hebrews Josue and LB Charles Moss – both seniors – are the defensive captains.
LOBOS IN OVERTIME•The Lobos are 1-2 all-time in overtime games, including a 16-13 setback last year at Baylor. UNM played a pair of OT games in 1998, winning a 39-36 triple-OT thriller against Utah State and losing to San Diego State 36-33 in a single overtime.
GRADES KEEP CLIMBING•The University of New Mexico football team compiled a 2.63 grade-point-average for the 2002 spring semester, the highest GPA since UNM began charting grades in the fall of 1988. UNM had a 2.59 GPA in the spring of 2000 and 2001. That means five of the top-seven semester GPAs have occurred under current head coach Rocky Long. Thirteen Lobos earned academic all-conference laurels during the 2001 season, also a record.
TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT•Five of the Lobos’ last nine losses have been by four points or less. UNM lost conference games in 2000 to Colorado State (17-14), San Diego State (17-16) and UNLV (18-14). Last year, New Mexico dropped a 16-13 overtime game to Baylor and fell to BYU (24-20).
STADIUM IMPROVEMENTS/ATTENDANCE MARK•Last year, the home of New Mexico football – University Stadium – received its most significant renovation since it was erected in 1960, and it proved to be a smashing success. A record crowd of 41,771 witnessed the Lobos’ season-opening 26-6 victory over UTEP on Sept. 1, 2001, crushing the previous mark of 37,156 for the Rice game in 1997. UNM averaged a school-record 31,268 fans in 2001.•While the expanded stadium has just 37,370 fixed seats, UNM was able to shoehorn nearly 4,000 more fans into the UTEP game by selling 1,000 bleacher tickets in the south end and standing-room-only spots.•A pavilion now connects the east and west stands for the first time. Renovation on the northwest corner of the stadium was completed in October of 2000 and includes new concession stands, restrooms, novelty stands and landscaping. The next phase is to renovate the remaining three corners with new facilities.•The highlight of the renovation is a $1.8 million state-of-the-art videoboard at the north end of the stadium. Appropriately named LoboVision, the system has instant replay and live-action capabilities. Manufactured by Daktronics, Inc., the board measures 60 feet high and 61 feet wide. The videoboard is 21’ x 28’. A staff of 10, including three cameras, is needed to operate the system during games.
SUCCESSFUL WALK-ONS•Some of the better-known Lobos – past and present – began their careers as walk-ons, including four team captains over the past two years. Departed seniors Jarrod Baxter, Brian Johnson and Mohammed Konte all started their UNM careers without athletic scholarships, as did junior quarterback Casey Kelly, an offensive team captain for the 2002 season who was awarded a scholarship prior to his sophomore campaign.•Baxter, a fifth-round pick of the Houston Texans in the 2002 National Football League Draft, was a walk-on during the fall semester of 1997 under former head coach Dennis Franchione. He was placed on scholarship in the spring of 1998. Johnson, a two-time first team all-conference selection, was a 195-pound walk-on running back when he came to Albuquerque in the fall of ‘97. He had to wait a year for a scholarship after impressing Long and his staff during ‘98 spring drills. Konte, also a redshirt in ‘97, paid his own way for three years before being placed on aid in the fall of 2000 and earned honorable mention all-conference honors.•Former walk-ons placed on scholarship prior to the 2001 season include junior S Terrell Golden, a two-year starter and honorable mention all-conference selection last year, and junior WR Terrence Thomas. This year’s recipients are sophomore S Josh Bazinet, redshirt freshman C Ryan Cook, sophomore deep snapper Martin Lovato, sophomore fullback Ryan Rice and sophomore K Wes Zunker.