It was a little over a year ago that D-1AA Portland St. came into town
and beat the Lobos. Enter 2007 and Sacramento St. sandwiched between two hard
fought victories over rivals NMSU and a hard fought victory over Arizona last
weekend, conference rival BYU coming in next Saturday and the chances for a
letdown or a “trap game” was the talk of the week.
The talk with fans I should say, as the Lobos were having none of it.
This is an experienced squad that most lived through last season’s Portland St.
win and coaches were making it very clear early last week in preparations for
the Hornets.
As has been the norm this year the Lobos jumped on Sacramento St. early
as the Lobos new “attack offense” did exactly that as Donovan Porterie, Rodney Ferguson, Marcus Smith, Travis Brown, and the Hitmen went to work on a 10 play
61 yard drive that ended with John Sullivan knocking in a 36 yard field
goal.
Rodney Ferguson en route to the end zone.
Sac. St. received the ball for the first time and promptly went three and
out. Get used to that, as the Lobo defense was their usual destructive selves.
Tyler Donaldson
snares the ballcarrier
After a punt the Lobos received the ball and once again Porterie was
crisp hitting Brown on a 40 yard bomb, and picking apart the Hornets underneath
with M. Smith. Mix in some runs with Paul Baker and in the end the Lobos handed
the ball of to their hammer Rodney Ferguson as he went into the end zone for the
1st of 4 touchdown runs.
The Lobo defense on the other hand allowed one 1st down! Just
beating down the Sac. State offense and knocking out the Hornets starter Jason Smith out of the game in the 2nd quarter.
Jordan Scott was punting the ball really well pinning Sac. St. deep with
high and giving his coverage time to go down and put some jarring hits on punt
returners. The 1st half ended with Sac. St. punt returner muffing a
punt on their own 10 yard line and Lobo deep snapper Jon O’Brien hustling down
for the recovery. Enter Rodney, touchdown!
Now what do you say after a half of football like the Lobos had? Well if
you’re a fan, you’re loving it, if you’re a coach like Rocky Long and Dave
Baldwin. Well you’re ticked off that the offense didn’t put more points on the
board and the term Rocky used in his post game interview,
“lackadaisical.”
Click here to listen to Rocky
Long
The 2nd half was just hoping they could walk this one home and
secure the victory. No letdowns with the 20 point lead. Sac. St. took the ball
and produced a 1st down. For a second there was a spark as the
Hornets picked up a 1st down. Hope was quickly dashed as the Lobo
defensive line extinguished their hope quickly.
#14 Bryan Clampitt
Click here to listen to
Bryan
Folks in The Red Menace started chanting for Lobo backup QB Bryan
Clampitt as everyone wanted to see the big fella come out and play! The Lobo
staff had other ideas however and fans didn’t get their wish until the start of
the 4th quarter with a 44-0 lead when Senor Clampitt made his
entrance.
On a short field thanks to a Frankie Baca interception, (UNM's 2nd
interception as OJ Swift picked up UNM's 1st INT.) Clampitt tossed a
quick hit to Daryl Jones, then let Roland Bruno set up behind center where he
took the direct snap and ran into the end zone after putting some nifty moves on
a pair of Sac. St. defenders for yet another touchdown.
Click here to listen to OJ
Swift
At this point the Lobos had used just about every player on the active
roster but they were still moving the ball, ending up in the Red Menace Zone
once again. The Lobos had a 4th and 2 when Clampitt dropped back and
hit Jonathan Brooks for a touchdown and final score 58-0.
Some
thoughts
Marcus Smith. Not only did he play through personal tragedy, but he came
up and gave love to the fans that remained as Marcus and DeAndre Wright once again led the Lobo Leap. Marcus you are the man! Much love from
your boys and gals in the North End Zone!
Click here to listen to Marcus
Smith
Click here for a Red Menace favorite
DeAndre Wright
(DeAndre you crack me up man!)
How about the carry by Matt Quillen? There are two Sacramento St.
defenders still looking for their socks as Quillen made them look
bad.
You have to love it when guys that haven’t seen much playing time get in
to have a good time in a game and score touchdowns. I know that the entire team
was pumped to see guys like Bryan Clampitt, Roland Bruno, and Jonathan Brooks
get those scores. The entire team feels their happiness.
Did every Lobo defensive lineman flat out crush last night? I realize it
was Cherry Crush T-shirt deal, but the Lobo D-line took it to heart!
Well next is BYU, and Lobo fans get your tickets early. No standing room
only tickets will be sold, and the Lobos are 3-1 and the attack offense and
defense is looking oh so strong. Time to step up and be D-I fans!