Nov. 8, 2008
Lobo Football
What: Lobos at UNLV
When: 8:06 p.m., Saturday
Where: Sam Boyd Stadium, Las Vegas, Nev.
Television: The Mtn. (Comcast ch. 276, DirecTV ch. 616)
Radio: 770 KKOB-AM
By Richard Stevens
Senior Writer/GoLobos.com
When you venture to Las Vegas, Nev., you don’t help out the house. You don’t sit down for a friendly game of poker and tell `em what you’re holding. You don’t show your hole card until you have to.
Lobos coach Rocky Long has twisted things all around. He takes his University of New Mexico Lobos into Sam Boyd Stadium and he tells the UNLV Rebels what they need to do in order to beat the Lobos.
“If I was them, I’d put 9, 10, 11 guys at the line of scrimmage and say, `OK, boys, throw it. See if you can throw it.’ That’s what I’d do,” said Long.”
It’s possible that that’s exactly what the Rebels will do Saturday night when Rebels and Lobos battle with both teams striving to become bowl eligible in 2008. UNM needs to win two straight. UNLV needs to win three straight.
The Lobos are really a running team. They average 212.2 yards per game on the ground and 122.4 through the air. The Lobos’ favorite weapon is senior tailback Rodney Ferguson, who averages 99.7 yards per game rushing and averages 4.9 yards per carry.
You run a committed Ferguson behind an emotional UNM offensive line and the Lobos likely will move the football. But not so much if the line is stacked. Not so much if the Rebels heed Long’s advice and put a lot of bodies up tight on the line of scrimmage.
If the Rebs do that, then the Lobos will have to throw. This isn’t exactly something the Lobos do well. UNM quarterback Brad Gruner is a tough kid and he is improving in the passing game, but he’s no Tom Brady of the Patriots.
Gruner averages 88.1 yards per game and has thrown two more interceptions (5) than he has TDs (3). He has completed 65-of-120 passes for a 54.2 percentage.
“We’ve been very careful on what we ask him to do and slowly have been adding more and more to his package which gives us more flexibility on offense,” said Long of his red shirt freshman quarterback.
The Lobos enter the game 4-6 overall and 2-4 in the Mountain West Conference. The Lobos need to beat UNLV and follow that up with a win at Colorado State in order to become bowl eligible in 2008. UNLV (3-6) needs to beat the Lobos, Wyoming and San Diego State in order to be eligible for a bowl invite in 2008.
“They (Rebels) still have a chance to go to a bowl game and they probably still believe they can,” said Long.
“They are much better than they were last year. They are a lot more efficient on offense. They are very aggressive on defense. This is a lot better UNLV team.”
The Rebs’ big win of 2008 probably is their 23-20 win at Arizona State. They are 0-5 in the MWC race. Like the Lobos, the Rebs can salvage a season by winning out.The Lobos are eyeing the same ending.
“We’ve been talking about becoming bowl eligible for five or six weeks,” said Long. “It’s frustrating when you are losing close games and you know if you had healthy bodies, you’d have a lot better chance of winning those games. That makes it tough and disappointing.”
A 6-6 record not only would make UNM bowl eligible, but if Utah stays on track and makes it to a BCS Bowl, that 6-6 record probably would place the Lobos in a bowl.
“It’s good for the players in your program,” Long said of going to a bowl. “It’s good for the development of your program and your younger players. And it’s fun to go to a bowl game.”
The Lobos have been bowl eligible every season since 2001.
“We don’t think of a streak,” said Long. “This is this year. It has nothing to do with the years that have come before.”
Long might be hoping he’s wrong in that statement when it comes to another favorable UNM streak.
The Lobos have won three straight games against UNLV in Sam Boyd Stadium. The Lobos also should be hoping the Rebs expand the 5-game losing streak they bring with them to Sam Boyd Stadium. UNLV `s last win came on Sept. 20 at Iowa State.