Oct. 15, 2008
Lobo Football
What: Lobos vs. San Diego State
When: 4:06 p.m., Saturday
Where: University Stadium
Tickets: www.unmtickets.com; 925-5858; 1-877-664-8661; The Pit’s ticket office; UNM bookstore
Television: The Mtn. (Comcast 276, DirecTV 616)
By Richard Stevens
Senior Writer/GoLobos.com
The two-headed system of quarterbacking is not the first choice of many football coaches, including New Mexico’s Rocky Long.
But sometimes you have to go with what is working, you have to scramble a bit, and that is why come Saturday when San Diego State visits University Stadium, Long will give his blessing to a UNM offense led by Brad Gruner and Tate Smith.
“I much prefer a one quarterback system, but that’s not the situation we’re in,” said Long. “They (Gruner/Smith) seemed to handle it well on Saturday (at BYU). It didn’t seem to bother their rhythm. I think they threw the ball well. I think playing both of them will help both of them.
“I thought it was effective. We plan on doing it again and as long as it seems to be effective, we’ll keep doing it.”
The Lobos threw Gruner and Smith at the Cougars trying to give the BYU defense a different look and obviously hoping to improve the UNM passing game. Gruner is a redshirt freshman and Smith is a walk-on transfer in his sophomore year of eligibility.
Gruner went 8-of-12 for 86 yards and Smith, the cousin of former record-setting Lobo QB Stoney Case, went 5-of-10 for 69 yards and one interception. Neither QB got UNM into the end zone, however, Smith did toss a TD pass that was nullified on a controversial penalty.
Long said since neither quarterback has a lot of game experience, it should help both QBs to watch segments of the game from the sidelines.
“Both benefit from watching on the sidelines and seeing what’s going on before they go in,” said Long, “It would be better if both of them sat on the sidelines for a little while and then went in, but one of them has to start.”
The two-headed QB system probably wouldn’t be an issue if the Lobos hadn’t lost junior starter Donovan Porterie for the season with a knee injury suffered just before the close of the first half at Tulsa. Gruner started the next three games: at New Mexico State, Wyoming and at BYU. UNM has outscored its opponents 62-to-45 in those three games.
Long said another plus to playing both Gruner and Smith is it allows UNM to develop two young quarterbacks.
“I think it’s a positive for both of them because it adds depth to the quarterback position,” said Long. “If something happens to either one of them, you’re not putting a quarterback out there who hasn’t played at all. We don’t want to start all over, if something happens to one of them.”
The game against SDSU might be a chance for both Gruner and Smith to relax more than they were able to at BYU. The Lobos are at home. Statistically, the SDSU defense doesn’t appear to be as tough as BYU’s defense. And the Lobos may be able to run the ball with more success against the Aztecs’ front.
“They’ve had a lot of injuries in the defensive line, so they are playing some young guys on the defensive line,” said Long.
That Aztec youth up front on defense should play to the Lobos’ strength – running the football – and should present Gruner and Smith the chance to work on some play-action passing.
The Lobos average 196 yards per game rushing with Rodney Ferguson averaging 101.5 yards per game followed by Paul Baker at 57.3 and James Wright at 67.7.
Long said the Aztecs and the Lobos have a lot of similarities, but an unfortunate one is the amount of injuries the two teams have faced this season. Long said the injuries of the 2008 campaign is one of the worse seasons he has experienced as a coach. He said SDSU has been hit by the same bug.
“They are a team that is beat up and banged up and sore and hurt just like us,” said Long. “If you are injured and beat up and sore and playing inexperienced players, it makes it very difficult to win.”
Long on BYU: Coach Long hasn’t exactly become a BYU Cougar fan, but he does see how the Cougars running the table and going undefeated in the Mountain West Conference could benefit the league and the Lobos.
Long is not hoping the Utah Utes go undefeated, for an obvious reason: The Utes visit University Stadium on Nov. 1. Long’s Lobos lost to BYU 21-3 this past Saturday.
“There is not a coach in this league who cares about any team in this league going undefeated and going to a BCS game because we all want to beat each other,” said Long.
However, since UNM has lost to BYU, Long can see some advantages in an undefeated Cougar team. A MWC team in a BCS bowl brings a lot of money and prestige to the league. And if BYU (or Utah) go to a BCS bowl, that gives the MWC another opening in a non-BCS bowl.
Long said he thinks UNM (3-4) will have to go 7-5 in order to go bowling, unless the MWC gets a BCS bid.
“If one of our teams goes to a BCS bowl that opens up another bowl game and then maybe you only have to be 6-6,” said Long.
The Lobos have five games left to play: SDSU, at Air Force, Utah, at UNLV and at Colorado State.
Long also said any talk that BYU can’t play with the top-tier BCS teams is “a joke.”
“That’s those BCS league teams trying to downplay non-BSC league teams that can play with them,” Long said. “That’s a joke. I’ve been coaching a long time and BYU can play (with) and has a good opportunity to beat any of those teams they (BCS) put out there. They will keep throwing all that baloney out there. But that’s all hype. That’s them (BCS teams) protecting their dollar bills, is what that is.”
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