There
are a
few things that you should never do. Never feed a baby chile; never
ascend
Mount Everest without proper equipment and never, NEVER start your head
coaching tenure at UNM by playing ANY team in the State of Texas!
All
three
seem difficult but the last one seems, at least for now,
impossible. UNM
walked into a viper's nest 73,000 strong in College Station Saturday
night and
the outcome was never in doubt.
Coach Mike Locksley The
A&M
Aggies had been waiting for fresh meat ever since finishing 4-8 last
year. A
bummer for A&M but it apparently had the intended effect of
motivating the
Aggies to come out and play with much more intensity. That intensity
produced
14 penalties for A&M but they were able to easily overcome those
mistakes
while UNM was flagged for only three miscues but never produced a game
changing
play on either side of the ball. The only real bright spot was the
special
teams with James Aho nailing a 48 yard field goal into a muggy night
head wind.
UNM didn't
do as bad as the final score indicates, but at the same time no one in
the
Cherry and Silver can feel good about the result. The strength of
the
team in the past, the running game, was noticeably absent and produced
less
than 2 yards per carry. Meanwhile, A&M ran roughshod over a porous
D line
and UNM gave up a staggering 245 yards on the ground. Donovan Porterie
was accurate
with the ball to a point. A couple of times it seemed that if he could
have hit
the receivers in stride, the goal line would not have been as elusive
as it
turned out to be. Nevertheless 29 for40 is something that the O can
build upon.
Roland Bruno /photo by The Chronicle
The
Texas
Fightin' Aggies, as the announcer repeatedly screamed, were ready
willing and
able to put the clamps on the young wolf pups under the control of
first
year, first time head coach Mike Locksley. UNM has now dropped 10
straight
football contests in the Lone Star State the last win coming in 1997
against a
TCU Horned Frog team that lacked the same ingredients UNM did last
night.
Bummer.
It was a
failure to stop A&M and it's top guns that lead to A&M marching
out to
a 7-0 lead and never looking back. The times UNM could move the
football only
resulted in two field goals and two red zone mistakes, a fumble,
and, a
failure to keep the ball by Donovan Porterie, who instead, inexplicably
handed
the rock to freshman Demond Dennis who was double teamed and stopped
short of
the goal line. I looked like DP could have eaten a sandwich and
strolled into
the end zone had he kept the ball. The fumble was the result of DP
pressing to make a play and not having two hands on the prize. UNM
should have
scored 4 TD's and the failure to get 6 and settle for 3 was the biggest
factor
in UNM getting handed a humbling loss.
Demond Dennis stuffed at the goal line /photo Chronicle
The
normally stout UNM defense spent entirely too much time on the field in
the
first half, failed to pursue the ball and failed to force a turnover.
Most of
the time the D was just trying to line up and figure out how to give
the
corners help. A&M did what all teams will do this year until the
corners
get some experience and savvy; look to pass the Lobos silly by working
on the
corners. The defense also failed to wrap up the QB, Jerrod Johnson, who
found
plenty of green whenever he wanted.
Jarod Johnson scores photo Chronicle
UNM also
appeared to suffer more bad news when the only guy playing with
emotion, or at
least so it seemed, Ian Clark, left the field with what appeared to be
another
dislocated left shoulder. Bummer. Ivan Hernandez and Pete Gardner also
had to
leave the field with help and their status was unknown to this writer.
Bummer.
If
the
result wasn't sobering enough, UNM goes from the frying pan to the fire
for
Coach Locksley's first home game this Saturday when the Tulsa Golden
Hurricane
invade The Den. The Lobos have a little time to lick their wounds and
no time
to feel sorry for themselves. If they want to make this first go round
a
success, the tentative, shaky Lobos must transform into a confident,
offensive
juggernaught, and, a head hunting, turnover producing D. Stay
tuned for
more!