ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Lobo head football coach Bob Davie held his weekly press conference on Tuesday in the Zia Level of the football press facility as a part of UNM’s weekly fall sports media luncheon. Here is what the head coach had to say about this week’s game with New Mexico State on Saturday night at 6:07 p.m. at Aggie Memorial Stadium in Las Cruces, New Mexico.
Bob Davie: You know in a state where there is just around 2 million people, to have this kind of rivalry, at this level of football is a pretty good deal. I think there are fifteen states that have less population than we have that don’t have this level of football rivalry. I think it’s pretty neat. It’s the 105th time it’s been played. The Rio Grande Rivalry. The Rio Grande river starts up there in Colorado, you know a bunch of streams coming together, and it’s kind of unique. It trickles down through New Mexico and the border of Texas … the border of the United States and Mexico I guess before it kind of dumps down in there into the gulf down there in Brownsville. It’s pretty neat, a rivalry like this. And I think it’s a game where the level of play will continue to grow. I think we are an improving team. I think we are an improving program. I’m not an expert on New Mexico State but I am impressed with their staff. They are a lot like we are to be quite honest. They got a lot of experience. Doug Martin’s had a really good career. Their defensive coordinator Larry Coyer has done this for a long, long time, a lot like Kevin Cosgrove, and Greg Brandon their offensive coordinator has had a lot of success, a lot like Bob Debesse. You know both of them have been hitting coaches before. So you know there are really a lot of similarities. They really are. Two teams that I think are firmly entrenched in what their culture is and what their identity is. They have their quarterback now. Their offense is firmly in place. Their defense is in place. And we have our offense. And we’re both playing with younger players on defense. We’re both building. Certainly they got a new artificial surface. They have a new weight room so I think all in all it bodes well for this state and it bodes well for this rivalry moving forward, it really does. It’s neat. It’s a big game, obviously for us. You know I don’t know how it compares for them. You know they had a big game last week against UTEP which is right down the road. But it’s a big game make no mistake about that. We got to continue, continue, continue, to improve so with that said I’m sure you guys have some questions, Rick, do you want to start it off?
In the past, two years ago you felt it was necessary to educate the players on how big this rivalry is. Have you done that this time? Do you feel it was necessary?
Bob Davie: You know I think with most things like that you keep within your own family and your own football team. You know but certainly our football team understands what this rivalry is. They understand a lot of the things that I just talked about. They understand how important it is to win this game. And you know I was asked earlier this week: What is a rivalry? They come in a lot of different forms. It could be Notre Dame – USC. It could be New Mexico – New Mexico State. Where you have people in these buildings, in these offices that share a cubicle or teachers in the faculty room or in the cafeteria that have either went to New Mexico or New Mexico State. To me that’s what makes a rivalry. It’s not the sheer numbers of it. It’s not if it’s on ESPN3 or if it’s on NBC or ABC. It’s that people share a common interest and that’s what makes this special so our players are keenly aware of that. We have a lot of New Mexico players that play significant, significant roles for us. So, they have a firm understanding. But we’re not going to try and do anything too clever. We need to spend our time on tackling and getting in the proper position to make plays.
During the bye week you talked about maybe making some changes on defensive personnel. Have you done anything like that?
Bob Davie: It really is our lack of maturity. It’s us finding out more about where our players really are right now and it’s about players finding out what it really takes to play 60 or 70 games at the kind of level we play at. So we’ve kind of tweaked things. We’ve looked at some guys in different positions. Nothing dramatic we’ve moved some guys ahead of other guys. You know it’s not getting done. We’re not getting results and you just don’t sit there stagnant. So certainly we’ve addressed a lot of different things but we are still in the process quite honestly of who are the guys? Who are the guys? You know in the off season who is athletic enough, you know who put in a lot of work in the off season…(Note: A reporters cell phone goes off at this point)…but until you ah … that’s pretty good. You’re not gonna miss that call. That’ll bring them out of the casket with a ring like that. It got my attention, I know that.
Coach, what is the latest on Cole?
Bob Davie: I don’t think we are going to know. We are preparing quite honestly like he won’t play. It won’t make any difference to us. And it won’t make any difference to New Mexico State. Cole’s played three quarters. And Cole started five games last year so we’ve kind of come to the realization that that’s what it’s going to be and we are preparing like he’s not going to play.
Are the other two guys getting a lot of reps?
Bob Davie: Both of them. Both of them, Clayton Mitchem it was unfortunate that the ball slipped out of his hands against Arizona state. We pulled the plug pretty quick on him. But he’s back in the flow of things. You know who will start the game? Let’s kind of let the week go on and we will see.
Coach you painted the scores of the games on the wall in the meeting room? What’s the significance of that?
Bob Davie: Well, I think you can probably figure that out right? It’s a pretty important game. Make sense?
So that’s it. It’s just this game? This game is more important than the others?
Bob Davie: I mean you’ve got New Mexico in that name right. Its New Mexico and New Mexico State. So that’s why those names are up on that wall.
What did you say to Cole a couple of years ago to get him to come to your program and have him commit to you?
Bob Davie: We need somebody. We had one scholarship quarterback B.R. Holbrook right? That’s all we had on the roster. But I watched his tape and I just loved how he played. And I saw him as a perfect fit for what we wanted to do. I remember making a phone call. I got Cole, his mom and dad to come by. I remember the first time they sat on my couch. His dad had a Michigan fight song on his phone, so I remember that…kind of made me think of that right there (referring to the cell phone going off). The Michigan, Hail to the Victors, popped up on my couch in there. But I just loved the kid right off the bat. That was an important guy for us to get. He came in the first spring and I know this is a big game for Cole. But Cole’s not going to play unless Cole is 100% ready to play.
Coach what has you learned about the rivalry yourself in researching the history of it. What have you learned about it?
Bob Davie: You know like I said each rivalry is unique. You know anytime you can get on a bus and head down the interstate and play somebody in three or four hours it’s a rivalry. You there are some things on campus that happen here that are unique that don’t happen other weeks. So it’s two teams that have the same name just one of them with the “State” on the end and one of them is “The University of”. So it’s a big game.
Is this game anymore important than any of the other ones?
Bob Davie: I’ll tell you when your 0-2 and your starving for a win it’s the most important one this week. We need to go get a win.
Will winning this game get the bad taste of the 0-2 start out of your mouths?
Bob Davie: For a week (smiling). For a week, yeah.
With the bye week were you able to get some guys back?
Bob Davie: We are pretty close. We’ve got some guys that are probably questionable for the game. You know Daniel Henry, he’s out the safety. We’ve been striving and continue looking for a safety. Daniel did some good things there against Arizona State but he got hurt. But we’re pretty close. We’ve played two games and certainly the open date helps us. Cranston Jones is back full speed. Carlos Wiggins will be back full speed so we are in pretty good shape. You know they played their last game without their freshman running back, there was an offensive tackle they didn’t play, number 51, I’m not sure if he didn’t play by choice or if he was injured so we’re all kind of fighting the same thing.
How much does it help you prepare for their offense having seen something similar?
Bob Davie: We play a lot of those schemes. We play back to back schemes. New Mexico State is almost like Fresno. You know it’s the same straight thing for two straight weeks, and that probably somehow helps us. Becayse there is an ingredient you know just like with any defense depending on what your offense runs you don’t get to practice much against a different scheme. So that fact that we do what we do, we get less time to prepare for these types of teams. You know but it’s the same type of thing for them. I think what probably helped them was that they had Cal Poly in the first game, which is true triple option, double slot team. And they played it pretty good so they were able to take significant time in training camp because they knew their first game and our game would be that style. And plus UTEP’s a team that lines up and runs the ball. But it’s always defense is trying to catch up. I think I saw something like 25 teams in this country right now are averaging 50 points a game. It’s gone completely crazy so I think everybody’s trying to catch up on defense and it becomes even more difficult when you have in experience to a certain degree on defense. So we are all kind of fighting the same thing.
What’s the difference talent-wise between Arizona State, New Mexico State and with that how physical was Arizona State?
Bob Davie: Arizona State, you take their defense, there wasn’t an issue of our offense lining up with their defense to be quite honest. Now they have speed. They have speed, real speed. But if we would have executed better and wouldn’t have turned the ball over against Arizona state we didn’t get overwhelmed by them. On offense Arizona state. You know the tail back is a great player. D.J. Foster. The one wide receiver number 21 is a great player. Their offensive line is strong across the board. The quarterback is really a good player. But it really wasn’t…I think the gap has closed…if that’s what you’re asking. I think after the game the Texas, Texas Tech the first year, Pittsburgh last year. It’s not that we don’t have enough size. It’s not we don’t have enough athletic ability. It’s that we have to excelerate the leading curve of our guys. But honestly we didn’t get overwhelmed by Arizona State athletically, to be quite honest.
Coach, the Aggies really seemed like they got tired in the second half of the game against UTEP. I guess I heard on the radio that UTEP had New Mexico State 60 pounds per man. Where do we stand?
Bob Davie: We’re not real big. We are not the biggest offensive line. A year ago we were bigger with Dillon Farrell in there and Darryl Johnson. You know we are not that big. You know they are playing some younger guys on defense. Most offenses are going to be bigger than the defenses. But we are not as big as UTEP. UTEP was really big. Really big. I mean the quarterback’s big, the receiver is big, the offensive linemen across the board are all 300-pound guys. So we are no near as big as UTEP.
Does anyone from New Mexico State stand out?
Bob Davie: For them? Their freshmen running back number 12, Larry Rose, a young guy from Texas that was injured in the Georgia State game who looked like he hurt his knee early in the third quarter. He didn’t play against UTEP. He’s a quick sudden change kind of running back. That’s really what you are looking for in these spread run games. The quarterback is a solid guy, a good operator and he’s only going to get better. He’s a junior college transfer, and they got a good group of receivers. They put four, five, six receivers out there that I think are really talented. They got good size. Their free safety is a guy that’s fun to watch. He’s not the biggest guy but he plays like heck, and they put him right in the middle of the field against these options teams and run him through the alley. So, they’re a lot like we are. They have got some weapons on offense and they are trying to accelerate their growth on defense.
Lamar Jordan, how much time do you see him playing?
Bob Davie: That depends a lot quite honestly on Cole. But, like I said I am not anticipating Cole to play. Depending on how the game goes you can see 75-80 percent, or if Clayton Mitchem comes in and does some good things 50%. So we got two guys that I think can both handle it in Clayton and Lamar. And we are anxious to see how this goes. I think we are anxious to see him bounce back from making a mistake early against Arizona State. The stage wasn’t too big for him. It didn’t overwhelm him. Too bad he got that 80-yard touchdown called back at the end of the game. But we are excited about seeing both of those guys, particularly Lamar who hasn’t played quite as much as Clayton.
Has anything changed at all between the Arizona State game and now regarding the quarterbacks from the end of the last game. Right now it sounds like if Cole isn’t healthy then Lamar is our guy…or it is Clayton?
Bob Davie: I think that’s fair. That’s a fair question. Immediately after that game I was probably a little bit frustrated with Clayton that the ball slipped out of his hands early. And that’s something he has to overcome and that’s something with the coaching staff we are always worried about Clayton putting the ball on the ground. The fact that that happened, immediately after that game I was like OK, I have seen enough. But as time went on and you look at the total body of work, Clayton Mitchem has done some really good things. So if we started the game Saturday and Cole didn’t start, there’s a good chance that Clayton Mitchem will be the starting quarterback. I mean I don’t want to commit to it yet. But I mean that’s a fair point. After the game I’m ready to move on and let Lamar Jordan be the guy and the more you look at it Clayton Mitchem has done some really good things and deserves the opportunity to play.
Coach you beat them 66-17 last year. Is there a marked difference in them?
I don’t know. You know we beat UTEP last year at UTEP. Scored, stopped them from with one inch. So you guys know what happened last year is of no significance. You know they’re going to talk about that score all week. They’re going to put that up on signs. You know I thought our team, against Arizona State for instance before the game in the locker room was ready to jump through that building. First play of the game the quarter back takes it and tucks it and goes 50 yards and then it’s like OK it’s the second play and all that’s over with. Last year, that’s way over rated. That score got inflated quickly. We got a kickoff return for a touchdown. And they quit kicking the ball to our kickoff returner. You know things happen in college football where one team explodes. I think that’s irrelevant now going into Saturday.
(Transcribed by Jessica Montoya)