Sept. 5, 2008
Lobos Football
What: Lobos vs. Texas A&M
When: Saturday, 3:06 p.m.
Where: University Stadium
Tickets: www.unmtickets.com; 925-5858; 1-877-664-8661; The Pit’s ticket office; UNM bookstore
By Richard Stevens
Senior Writer/GoLobos.com
The word from Byron Bell’s biggest critic/No. 1 fan after the Lobos’ 26-3 loss to TCU wasn’t exactly a speech full of sugar and spice and lots of things nice.
Basically, Bell got a butt chewing, which he took to heart because if there was one thing Bell learned growing up in Greenville, Texas, it’s that mother knows best.
“She told me I was getting beat and beat and beat,” said Bell, the University of New Mexico’s talented and super-promising 6-foot-5, 325-pound redshirt freshman offensive tackle. “She (Sandra Bell) got on me good. She said, “By (Byron), it looked like you were intimidated.’ She told me my play was unacceptable. It was just like being at home except back home when I played bad, trust me, she wouldn’t talk to me for two or three days.
“She has always let me know when I play good and when I play bad and she said told me my play against TCU wasn’t physical enough. She didn’t even want to talk to me at first (after the game) because she was so mad. She told me I wasn’t physical and she told me if we aren’t physical up front, we won’t win.”
Bell and the University of New Mexico linemen got that lecture from another source, too – head coach Rocky Long.
The Lobos lost the war of the trenches against TCU, which helped UNM lose the war of field position, which helped TCU score too many points on short drives. TCU’s offense had to move only 75 yards to score 26 points.
Long says if the same thing happens this Saturday at 3 p.m. against Texas A&M, the Lobos probably won’t win that game either.
“You have to at least stalemate the line of scrimmage, but it wasn’t equal last week. TCU won it,” said Long. “The discrepancy of where TCU started with the ball and where we started with the ball was huge. That made it difficult for us to win. We also need to be a balanced offense to be successful and that (balance) usually starts by running the ball.”
The Texas A&M game isn’t a Mountain West Conference game, but it is important to the Lobos for at least two reasons:
1. The Lobos really don’t want to open the season 0-2.
2. A TV win over a tradition-rich team like Texas A&M would be a big boost for UNM’s image and also for UNM’s recruiting edge in Texas.
“This is a big game for us to establish ourselves for the whole season,” said Sylvester Hatten, a senior offensive tackle. “The dread (regrets) from losing to TCU is over now. We didn’t have fun last week and I think we’re going to have fun this week by playing good. That’s not something we did last week. I feel we (offensive line) let the team down last week.”
The Aggies also are coming off a disappointing season opener, losing 18-14 to Arkansas State. Arkansas State rolled out 255 yards rushing and 415 total yards.
Those numbers have to be encouraging for the Lobos.
“We are going to change what happened (against TCU),” said Bell. “I have a lot of anger inside me right now and it’s building up. I’m not intimidated by A&M. I don’t care if they are the Big 12. Football is football.”
Long said he was happy with his Lobos’ practices this week, but he was happy going into the TCU game, too.
“My experience tells me if they practice better, most of the time that means they play better,” said Long. “But I thought they practiced well last week and we didn’t play that well.”
There were lots of reasons for UNM’s loss to the Horned Frogs, but a poor performance by the special teams and a poor performance by quarterback Donovan Porterie were major contributors.
“We need Donovan to play well because you usually can’t win unless your quarterback plays well,” said Long.
Porterie left the TCU game late in the second quarter with a neck injury and didn’t return to the field. He will get the starting nod against A&M.
Long said the Aggies are “big and physical and maybe just as fast as TCU, but we should be used to the speed now, so that shouldn’t be a factor.”
Said Bell: “What coach Long told us after the game, we took to heart. He told us to be more physical.”
If recent history has any effect on this game, the Lobos should expect to score some points and maybe win. The Lobos are 5-1 over the past six seasons in game two and have averaged 36 points per game.
Editor’s note: Richard Stevens is a former Associate Sports Editor and sports columnist for The Albuquerque Tribune. You can reach him at rstevens50@comcast.net. Previous articles are available at The Richard Stevens Corner