Sept. 30, 2008
Lobo Football
What: Lobos vs. Wyoming
When: Saturday, 7:30 p.m.
Where: University Stadium
Tickets: www.unmtickets.com; 925-5858; 1-877-664-8661; The Pit’s ticket office; UNM bookstore
Television: Live on The Mtn. (Ch. 276 Comcast; Ch. 616 DirecTV)
By Richard Stevens
Senior Writer/GoLobos.com
If coach Rocky Long had his druthers, his New Mexico Lobos would be opening Mountain West Conference play Saturday when the Wyoming Cowboys visit University Stadium for UNM’s homecoming.
Instead, Long’s Lobos are 0-1 in the MWC and back in a conference game for the first time since their Aug. 30 season-opening 26-3 loss to TCU. The Lobos took a month-long break from league games using September to play four non-conference foes.
“We still want to do good in our conference,” said Long. “It wasn’t our choice to play a conference team right out of the box. I think that’s ridiculous and I’m still shocked they (MWC) did something like that. But we still have a lot of games to play.”
The bullies on the MWC block obviously come from the state of Utah where Brigham Young is 5-0, ranked No. 8 in The Associated Press poll, and Utah is 4-0, and ranked No. 15 in The AP poll. The popular view of this MWC race is that the king of the block will be crowned Nov. 22 in Salt Lake City when BYU visits the Utes.
But Long is not one of those observers, who think it is a given that BYU and Utah will be undefeated come Nov. 22. Long thinks Air Force is pretty good. He likes TCU. He also isn’t counting out his 2-3 Lobos.
“We could be a surprise team,” said Long. “We need to play well, but I think there are several teams in the league who could beat BYU or Utah, if they play well and (BYU and Utah) don’t. I think there is a chance for a surprise team.”
Now, while Long isn’t ready to ship the MWC crown to Salt Lake City where it will be handy for Cougars or Utes, he is willing to admit that an undefeated run by either BYU or Utah would be beneficial to the Mountain West – a conference always fighting for fair treatment from the BCS bowls and the BCS conferences.
“In our league, a team has to go 12-0 to go to a BCS bowl,” said Long. “In the other leagues, a team can have a bad day, go 11-1, and still go to the BCS.
“It would be great for the conference, if one of them went undefeated. But I also think this league is too close from top to bottom to just expect a team is going to go undefeated. I don’t think they (BYU or Utah) are so far above the rest of us that they don’t have to play well in order to go undefeated. They have a lot of talent, but if you play well and they don’t, well, they could lose to a lot of people.”
The Lobos play at BYU on Oct. 11. The Utah Utes visit University Stadium on Nov. 1.
But first Long has his Lobos centered on Saturday’s visitor: the struggling Wyoming Cowboys, who, like UNM, are 2-3 overall and winless in MWC play. Wyoming is 0-2 in league play with a 44-0 loss to BYU and a 23-3 loss to Air Force. The Cowboys are coming off a 45-16 spanking in Laramie by Bowling Green. UNM won 35-24 at New Mexico State.
The Lobos went to Las Cruces throwing redshirt freshman quarterback Brad Gruner at the Aggies. UNM fell behind 14-0, but eventually pounded out its sixth straight win over NMSU.
Utah tops the MWC standings at 2-0 followed by 1-0 BYU and 1-0 TCU. BYU, Utah and Air Force are in non-conference action this weekend while UNLV plays at Colorado State, San Diego State visits TCU and Wyoming is at UNM.
BYU and Utah are two of 18 undefeated teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). This is the first time the MWC has had two undefeated teams at this point in the season. BYU is in the top-10 for the first time since 2001.
Other MWC notes:
— BYU will be looking for its 16th consecutive home win when it plays host to UNM on Oct. 11.
— BYU has shut out back-to-back opponents (Wyoming 44-0, UCLA 59-0) for the first time since 1985.
— The MWC has six teams that have not allowed a 100-yard rusher in 2008: TCU, UNM, CSU, Utah, Wyoming and BYU.
— TCU leads the nation in run defense at 29.4 yards per game. Utah is fifth at 60.2 yards per game.
— UNM’s Rodney Ferguson is No. 2 in the MWC in career rushing attempts (659) and No. 3 in career yards (2,982).
— UNM kicker James Aho has the MWC record for kicking points in a single game (18).
— BYU has the MWC team mark for TD passes in a game at seven, set in its 59-0 win over UCLA.
— TCU hasn’t given up a fourth-quarter point in its first five games.
— BYU and Air Force have yet to give up a sack this season.
— Colorado State is one of three teams that has not lost a fumble this season.
— Wyoming has lost at least five turnovers in three of its five games this season. The 2-3 ‘Pokes lost all three of those games.
— Wyoming’s 29-point loss to Bowling Green was the ‘Pokes biggest home loss since a 34-0 loss to Utah in 2000.
— Wyoming’s Jake Scott hit a career-best 49-yard field goal against Bowling Green.
— Wyoming’s 316 total yards against Bowling Green was the Cowboys highest output this season.
— UNM has won seven of its last eight games against Wyoming. The ‘Pokes lead the series in Albuquerque, 17-14.
— Wyoming coach Joe Glenn is 28-36 in his sixth year with the ‘Pokes.
— Wyoming is last in the MWC in scoring offense with an 11.2-point average.
— UNM is last in scoring defense allowing 32.4 points per game.
— Wyoming is last in total offense with a 269.0 average. UNM is next-to-last (No. 8) at 311.8.
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