Sept. 19, 2008
Lobo Football
What: Lobos (1-2) at Tulsa (2-0)
When: Saturday, 5 p.m.
Where: H.A. Chapman Stadium
By Richard Stevens
Senior Writer/GoLobos.com
It’s an offense whose origin seems to come more from a witch’s brew, a magician’s hat or maybe another dimension rather than off a coach’s chalkboard. It’s weird, unusual, confusing.
Heck, what the Tulsa Golden Hurricane do with the football has to be out-of-this-world if Rocky Long, the Lobos’ defensive guru, claims to have never seen it.
“They are unique on offense and do a lot of things we haven’t seen before,” Long said of the Hurricanes’ offense that is averaging 50.5 points and 578 total yards a game. “It’s the first time we will try to play a scheme like this on defense.”
The Hurricanes’ philosophy on offense is simple enough: throw out a lot of formations, throw out a lot of movement, do it all super quick and then exploit the defense’s mistakes.
The Lobos’ goal on defense is simple enough, too: Don’t make mistakes.
“They want us to cover the wrong person, do the wrong thing,” said UNM junior safety Frankie Baca. “The big emphasis is the way they like to speed up the game, snap the ball every five seconds, and try to get you out of your game that way.
“The misdirection they throw at us while speeding up the game is an attempt to confuse us and get us out of our game of being aggressive.”
Said junior lobo Clint McPeek: “It’s just a different offense. It’s like going against an Air Force team where all of a sudden you are going against something you haven’t seen. You have to really concentrate, know your assignments, and not get caught up in the speed of it.”
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“I love playing on the road, actually. Just to go into another person’s house and have everybody against you. There’s nothing left to do but fight our way out.” UNM RB Rodney Ferguson |
Tulsa’s out-of-this-world philosophy has worked pretty well so far. The Golden Hurricane went on the road to produce a 45-22 win at UAB and a 56-26 win at North Texas. Tulsa is averaging 390.5 yards passing per game and senior David Johnson is the nation’s top-rated quarterback.
Johnson’s numbers as a thrower are out-of-this-world, too. He has completed 79 percent of his passes for 750 yards, 9 TDs and no interceptions. His rating is 241.58. BYU’s Max Hall tops the Mountain West Conference stats with a 186.8 rating.
That gives UNM another defensive key besides not getting confused – get to Johnson.
A key note here is that Tulsa and Johnson have done exactly what the 2-0 Arizona Wildcats’ did prior to losing 36-28 to UNM. Tulsa and Arizona padded their records – and their offensive stats – with wins over cupcakes.
The Lobos are not cupcakes and hope to prove that the defenses Tulsa saw at UAB and at North Texas are not the same caliber of attack the Golden Hurricane will see Saturday in Tulsa.
The game is UNM’s first on the road in 2008 and Tulsa’s first home game. The place should be packed.
“I kind of like going on the road, getting booed, and having everyone not like you,” said McPeek. “It’s kind of cool to play that role and go to different stadiums.”
Said UNM tailback Rodney Ferguson: “I love playing on the road, actually. Just to go into another person’s house and have everybody against you. There’s nothing left to do but fight our way out.”
Ferguson should be a huge key for UNM in pulling the upset at Tulsa and raising its season’s record to 2-2. He ran for 158 yards and two TDs against Arizona. The Lobo senior averages 117.3 yards rushing per game. Tulsa’s Achilles Heel appears to be its defense. The Golden Hurricane are giving up 432 yards per game with 224 of those yards coming off the rush.
If the Lobos can run Ferguson and control the clock, it will keep Tulsa’s Johnson off the field. It’s also important that the Lobos’ offense – and kicking game – win the battle of field position and force the Golden Hurricane offense into long drives. Of course, creating turnovers will help the Lobos, too.
“We got five against Arizona,” said McPeek. “We have to keep doing that.”
The Lobos are more likely to create turnovers if they can pressure Johnson and be in the right position to make hard hits on defense. That means making a quick adjustment to Tulsa’s hurry-up offense of motion and odd-look formations.
“They try to trick you,” said McPeek.
Said coach Long: “Our job is to make sure our guys aren’t confused.”
The game with Arizona should help the Lobos at Tulsa. That win not only was a confidence booster for the Lobos on offense and defense, but the Wildcats threw a lot of looks at UNM. The ‘Cats also came in riding the hot hand of a quarterback.
“We were prepared (for Arizona) and I think we’re prepared again,” said Baca.
One big difference Saturday is the site of the game. Tulsa can be tough at home. The Golden Hurricane were the last team to beat two-time defending MWC champion BYU – 55-47 Sept. 15, 2007 in Tulsa. UNM is 25-32 on the road under coach Long, but 4-2 in the last six non-conference road games. UNM is 17-13 on the road since 2003.
“I’ve never played a game in Oklahoma,” said Baca. “Going into a hostile environment with all those people against you, that should be a lot of fun.”
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