Oct. 11, 2005
Head Coach Rocky Long
(on whether or not the recent losing streak will start to have an effect on the team’s mental approach):
“You worry about it. I don’t necessarily have the answers on what to do about it because I think there is a lot to all sports that is mental. When things go wrong and the more you hear about what went wrong and how bad you are, especially young people, they start believing that stuff. It is a concern”
(on talking to the players about their mental approach):
“Sure we’ll talk about it just like when everybody was patting them on the back. When they do good things we talk about that too. That’s not the real world either. Right now everybody is telling them they aren’t worth a darn and that’s not the real world either. They like to believe what people say and what people write about or talk about because when everybody tells them they are good they believe that and when everybody tells them they’re bad they tend to believe that too.”
(on his opinion of how the team played vs. BYU after looking at the game tape):
“Every time you’re looking at a tape and you expect things to look really good, they aren’t as good as you expect and when you expect things to look really bad, they aren’t near as bad as you expect them to be. The other night, the last drive that BYU had when they scored and went ahead, that was pretty bad. The one before, that was not bad. We were in decent shape and he made a couple of unbelievable throws. We had a couple of chances to stop them and we didn’t. The last drive we weren’t in the right places, we weren’t doing the right things and I think we panicked. Last two drives on offense we didn’t block as well, we didn’t read things as well and we didn’t execute as well. Now I don’t know if that was the stress of the moment, we were tired or maybe the offense was disappointed we had lost the lead.”
(on Joe Glenn’s recent success at Wyoming):
“I think his system is in place, but the thing that is being beat into my head every week is that you can never over emphasize experience. He has nine starters back on both sides of the ball and they haven’t changed a thing. The players that are playing for him are very confident in what they’re doing and don’t have to think about it a whole lot. When you’re confident and you don’t have to think about your assignment a whole lot, you can concentrate on reading the other team’s offense and you can concentrate on making plays. Where as if you’re concentrating on where you’re supposed to lineup and what your job is, you’re not seeing the other team’s offense. You’re trying to survive instead of playing the other team’s offense.”
(on what type of game he expects out of Wyoming QB Corey Bramlet after a 7-turnover outing vs. TCU):
“I think our league has experienced quarterbacks this year. When you have an experienced quarterback and he has a bad day, he usually has a great day the next week, just like BYU (quarterback John Beck). They are good players, they are very competitive, they know they messed things up and they will prepare and concentrate much better the next week. All good competitors are that way. When things don’t go right they usually do better the next time because of effort and concentration. If you’re an experienced player like [Bramlet] is, he knows how to fix it because it’s an individual thing. He knows what he did wrong and he knows how to fix it. I think (UNM QB) Kole (McKamey) has done that most of the time this year where last year he didn’t. Last year a bad game and he would lose confidence and have another bad game. Inexperienced players, when they play poorly, that usually tends to make them play poorly again. Experience players it is just the opposite.”
(on the Wyoming defense):
“Right now I think they’re the best defense in the league. They aren’t complicated, they are a bend don’t break scheme. They keep everything in front of them on passing plays where it is almost impossible for you to get one over the top on them. They give up some yards running the ball, but it’s never a big run. You might get seven or eight yards and then they converge on you. Scheme-wise they are a little bit like Air Force this year. Air Force has the same philosophy in `we know you are going to get a bunch of yards, but we don’t give up big plays and sooner or later you’ll mess it up and not score,’ and that’s kind of Wyoming’s philosophy too.”
Sophomore Wide Receiver Travis Brown
(on the team’s midset after the BYU loss):
“I think the team is really starting to come together right now. There’s a sense of urgency that we have at the moment. We need a big win, especially on the road at Wyoming. We’re coming together and the mindset of the team right now is to just go out and execute because we haven’t done that to the fullest. We have to put together a complete game and that’s what we’re working to do this week.”
(on the team losing its swagger):
“In my opinion no, we haven’t lost that swagger. We still have it, it’s just been put under a little bit. We’re going to come out this week and do everything in our abilities to work hard and execute. It’s a team effort right now and everyone has to do their assignments.”
(on the match-up with Wyoming’s defense):
“I think we match up pretty well. In my opinion, I think we have a great receiving corps. We have speed, size, strength and we’re aggressive. We’re ready for whatever they throw at us and through practice this week, we’re going to become even more ready and be ready to play at a high level come game time.”
Senior Center Ryan Cook
(on the mindset of the team right now):
“Right now we’re just trying to regroup and come out and show the kind of heart and soul we have in this team. Our dream of taking conference is still alive.”
(on how to turn things around):
“We come to practice and go to work and do the best we can to prepare for Wyoming. Come out on Saturday and hopefully get a win.”
(on the team’s mistakes in games):
“Mistakes and execution errors seem to add up and they seem to catch up to us. I think that’s something we have to iron out and get the problem fixed. But fumbles are going to sometimes happen in a game and there’s nothing you can do about it, but keep pressing on and hopefully it turns out for you in the end.”
(on how New Mexico matches up against Wyoming):
“I think we match up pretty good, just like we match up with anybody in the Mountain West Conference. I think we can be successful if we do the right things.”
(on being bowl eligible):
“Our backs are kind of up against the wall, but the dream is definitely still alive and well. We just have to come out and show what kind of football team we can be and perform at that level.”
(on UNM’s offense during the BYU game):
“As an offense we just try to go out there and score points and that’s what we tried to do. With the fumble and some other mistakes that happened, it just didn’t go our way.”
(on using his status as a senior to help keep his teammate’s thinking positive):
“You just have to keep everybody’s spirits up by going around and telling them everything’s fine, there’s no reason to panic. We just have to keep doing the things that we’re suppose to do and eliminate the mistakes.”
Senior Defensive End Evroy Thompson
(on the mood of the team):
“We’re just desperate for a win. We just want a victory. We’ve lost three tough games in a row that we had a great chance at winning. We’ve got to do whatever it takes to get a win.”
(on getting back to the basics):
“We’ve done a lot of that. We’re going to pay a lot more attention to assignments and make sure we are where we’re supposed to be on defense. We’re going to back the basics, but we’re still working hard to try to play the Lobo defense the best we can.”
(on the Lobos’ defensive swagger being lost):
“I think it’s a combination of a lot of things. I think that the most important thing we need to do is have confidence in what we are doing and understand that the reason why people are scoring on us is mainly because of assignment errors. We need to be where we’re supposed to be, when we’re supposed to be there. We can’t think about it (too much), we’ve got to out there play hard.”
(on the match-up with Wyoming):
“What comes to mind to me is their offense. They’ve got a really good offense and they can put up some points. They’ve got a good quarterback and (WR Jovon) Bouknight is fast. They’ve got some guys who can really fly on their team.”