Oct. 10, 2008
Lobo Football
What: Lobos at Brigham Young
When: 4:06 p.m., Saturday
Where: LaVell Edwards Stadium, Provo, Utah
Television: The Mtn. (Comcast ch. 276, DirecTV ch. 616)
Radio: 770 KKOB-AM
Quick fact: BYU has outscored its opponents 134-17 in the first half
By Richard Stevens
Senior Writer/GoLobos.com
The motivational jump start for this game really takes nothing more than three little letters: B.Y.U. There is just something about the way those letters roll off a Lobos’ tongue that turns all University of New Mexico Lobos into something more like a werewolf hunting for a meal.
The root of this hunger isn’t necessarily bad feelings toward Brigham Young University. Oh, Lobos don’t always like Cougars. That’s a natural thing. Ditto feelings from the city of Provo. That’s the nature of competition. No big deal.
But there also is a core of respect and envy aimed toward the Cougars. BYU is good. BYU wins a lot of championships. In many ways, BYU is a standard to chase. And no doubt a lot of Lobos = fans, players, coaches = consider BYU to be the teacher’s pet of the Mountain West Conference.
And nobody likes a teacher’s pet.
“They are always a good team and this gives us a great opportunity to show that we are a good team, too,” said Lobo defensive end Kevin Balogun.
The motivation for UNM’s 4:06 p.m. kickoff Saturday in Provo, Utah comes on several levels. It’s a chance to knock off a team ranked No. 8 in the coaches poll and No. 9 in The Associated Press poll. It’s a chance to ignite new hope that the 3-3 (1-1) Lobos can make a charge at the MWC title. It’s one of several wins the Lobos need to become bowl eligible in 2008.
But mostly it’s just the Cougars.
All MWC teams probably have a bit of wannabe in them when they look at BYU, the “have” team of the league. Since 1974, BYU has played in 26 bowls and won the national championship in 1984. The Cougars have a Heisman Trophy winner. They have won 22 of their past 24 games. They have won 22 league crowns since 1974, including the last two MWC titles.
The Lobos have won one league title since 1974 and that was the Mountain Division of the Western Athletic Conference in 1997. The Lobos go into Provo as huge underdogs, but there probably isn’t a Lobo on this team who can’t envision an upset, if the Lobos play well and with great intensity.
“The only chance we got is to get after their (rears),” said Long. The Lobos surely need more than just fire in the heart in order to beat BYU in Provo. They need execution. They need turnovers. They need a passing game. They need a 100-yard runner. They might even need some luck. But intensity will help, too.
Coach Long brought in a special motivator after Thursday’s practice: UNM’s fiery baseball coach, Ray Birmingham. Birmingham gave a good rah-rah speech, smashed a trash can with a baseball bat, and put another layer of fire into the Lobos’ eyes.
“It was inspiring that a coach from another sport can bring that much intensity to us and give us even more encouragement and motivation to win this game,” said UNM nose tackle Wesley Beck. “We already had a fire under us, but now it is burning even more.”
If there is symbolic wood to toss onto the Lobos’ fire once this game begins in Provo, it is a Cougar wearing No. 15: Max Hall. Hall is the arm that stirs the BYU offense. He has thrown for 1,587 yards and 17 TDs. He has completed 130-of-184 passes. He leads the league in passing efficiency and total offense at 418.6 yards per game.
The Cougars aim to win this game by keeping the UNM defenders away from Hall and give their QB time to pick apart the Lobos’ secondary.
The Lobos plan to turn Hall into an early dinner to appease their werewolf appetite.
“I want to get him all night,” said Beck. “And with our defensive scheme, we have a good chance to do that. We have to get some pressure on him, get him to make some bad throws. The whole defense has to get after him however they can.”
Said Balogun: “I’d like to get to him and if I do my assignments right, I’ll have my chance. The more pressure we can get on him, the less time he has to try and pick up apart. He has great vision and he knows when to get rid of the ball. He’s a great quarterback.”
The Lobos and the Cougars will march into LaVell Edwards Stadium (64,045) on Saturday with conflicting plans of attack on offense. The Cougars look to the air. The Lobos look to the ground.
UNM quarterback Brad Gruner, a redshirt freshman, has passed for only 299 yards and two TDs. That’s a half for Hall. But UNM’s ground game can be formidable. The Lobos have run for 614 yards in their past two games and Rodney Ferguson, who missed the Wyoming game with an injured shoulder, is expected to be healthy for the Cougars.
But BYU is not Wyoming or New Mexico State. Long says the Cougars 3-4 front is as good as any front in the nation. Long also said, “if they won’t let us run, we have to throw it.”
BYU’s defense doesn’t get the attention that flows to Hall and his offense, but this unit must be doing something right. BYU has outscored its three home opponents 144-17. The Cougars have two consecutive shutouts in Provo: 59-0 against UCLA and 44-0 against Wyoming. The Cougars could have scored two points and won those games.
UNM’s Beck says he kind of likes the number zero.
“The only number I have in my mind is zero and that’s in them getting zero points,” he said.
A UNM shutout in Provo isn’t easy to imagine. A win won’t come easy either. The Cougars return 10 starters on offense. They rank in the top 13 nationally in passing offense (333.0 per game), total offense (466.8) and scoring offense (41.2).
The Cougars also have won 17 straight MWC games and 15 games in a row at home. The Cougars are on a roll. They’ve been on a roll since 1974.
“We know we have to play well,” said Beck. “It’s a great challenge.”
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.