Lobos and Rams Take to Dreamstyle Friday Night

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THURSDAY
The Opening Drive: 7:30 am, Jeff Siembieda and J.J. Buck Player Interview Listen Live
PROMOTION
Extra Yard for Teachers:  Our educators take center stage for this Friday night battle with the Rams of Colorado State.  All educators can purchase discount tickets.  Additionally, teachers and schools have applied for a chance to win grants for their schools and be recognized on the field.  It should make for a great Friday night nationally televised game as we celebrate New Mexico’s educators!

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The Lobo numbers for the most part are good.  Now, to get the number on the scoreboard to be better than the other guys’ number.  That’s the trick that UNM is working towards as the Lobos host the Colorado State Rams on Friday night at 6:02 p.m. at Dreamstyle Stadium in a nationally televised game on CBS Sports Net.

Statistically, the Lobos have some good numbers, and some bad.  Overall, the team is scoring at a solid clip of 27.8 points per game (an average of 30 points per game would be one of the top seasons in school history, and the 27.8 is better than the average in either of the last two seasons).  The bad?  The team is allowed 39.6, but even that’s not the whole story as UNM was allowing 49.7 over the first three games and just 24.5 over the last two, cutting the total almost in half.

Where UNM has been pretty good is rushing the football.  UNM is averaging 212.2 yards per game which is good for third in the league behind Air Force and Wyoming.  The Lobos are on pace for the best rushing year for a non-option team since 19996, when the team rushed for 2,692 yards in 11 games, a 244.7 yard average.  UNM’s rushing defense has been stout as well, allowing just 127.6 yards per game.  That would extrapolate to the best defensive season since 2008, the final year under Rocky Long, when UNM allowed 1,462 yards for the year.

Where UNM is currently struggling is in passing yards allowed.  UNM has not allowed fewer than 306 yards in any game this year, and opponents have throw for 400 or more three times, and UNM has picked off just one of the 209 passes thrown against them.  Even though those numbers aren’t what the team or the defense wants, there is still positivies to be had, particularly with freshman corner Donte Martin, who has the best defensive QB rating on the team and is 12th nationally with seven passes broken up.

One area UNM has excelled is in the kicking game, where Tyson Dyer ranks fifth nationally in punting at 48.2 yards per punt, and Andrew Shelley is 7-of-8 on field goals.

Colorado State, which has lost 10 straight to FBS teams, will enter the game without Colin Hill, who threw for eight TDs in three games before his season was ended with an injury.  Patrick O’Brien is completing 59.3% of his passes and has thrown for 974 yards and three touchdowns.  CSU has struggled to run the ball, other than Marvin Kinsey, Jr., who leads the league with 618 yards rushing.  Dante Wright and Warren Jackson have combined for six touchdowns, 64 catches and 817 yards receiving and are a handful.

Ryan Stonehouse is much like Tyson Dyer, and his punting average is similar at 47.6 yards per punt.  WHere CSU has struggled is in the kicking game, using three kickers and having them combine to go just 8-for-14 this year.

The winner will get its first conference win and a chance at keeping bowl hopes alive.  At 1-5, CSU would lose all room for error, and a win for UNM would put them at 3-3 at the halfway point.  It should all make for a heck of a national football game at 6 p.m. at Dreamstyle Stadium.