The
Grateful Dead, the iconic jam band sang a traditional blues song that
went like
this: "Goin' down the road, feeling bad, bad, bad... Don't wanna be
treated this a way."
I
wasn't
supposed to be this way for UNM this time. The '09 season needed
to get
going in a positive direction. The road is never a place to feel
great...except if you win against all odds. Enough bad feelings
had taken
place this last week. UNM had another chance to get the 10 game "losing
in
the state of Texas monkey" off it's back. The losing streak seemed
on
the way out. With less than 2 minutes remaining in the first half UNM
had the
ball first and goal at the Red Raider 6 yard line. Suddenly, the 14-7,
or at
worst, expected 10-7 "lead" evaporated as fast as UNM could say
Steven Sheffield, as in the second string QB from Tech who
replaced,
the hounded starter, Taylor Potts. UNM's Defense had harassed
Potts, had
picked him twice and knocked Potts out of the game after
withstanding
a haymaker from the quick strike Tech offense. The Red
Raiders scored
two plays into the game on a simple crossing pass over the middle that
went for
79 yards followed by a one yard jaunt into the end zone to race to a
7-0 lead.
UNM's D would pitch a shut out the rest of the half or so it seemed.
Until...UNM
put the ball on the carpet and the road got bad. Real bad. 94 yards and
56
measly seconds later... UNM went into the locker room down 14-7.
Nathan Enriquez first career interception
The
second
half saw an onslaught of 28 consecutive points the home standing
Red
Raiders delighted a sold out crowd with. UNM made many costly errors to
begin
the second half; getting the opening kickoff and fumbling it away AFTER
picking
up a first down. As the game seemed to
spin out of control, and, the 35 plus
point margin of victory predicted by the sports books looked solid, a
funny
thing happened. UNM kept it's head down and kept playing. A
UNM T and
then recovery of a brilliantly executed onside kick by the
Lobos
special teams made the Tech crowd nervous. Could it be?
Unfortunately UNM
could not produce on offense and the opportunity to close the game to
35-21
went away. UNM did close out the 4th quarter getting a 61 yard strike
to Bryant Williams to close the gap to 42-28 Tech. The final 20-point margin was
produced
by a crazed Coach Leach going for a TD on the last two plays
of the
game. The first was a QB sneak by Sheffiled. That kind of sportsmanship
usually
gets your QB a cheap shot. UNM played with class refused the
invitation. Hmmm,
maybe Leach could only get 19 points from his bookie. Final tally? UNM
loses 48
to 28 to Tech in Lubbock. Hopefully the recruiting that Coach
Locks
and staff are doing will result in future wins both in Texas and all
over the
map. It is clear that Tech had a speed advantage over the Lobos.
Experience
will close the gap too. 38 freshmen and sophomore’s made the 60 man
traveling
squad this weekend. This is a young Lobo team, it will make
mistakes, even
if fans don't want to hear it. Youth and inexperience has more to do
with the
current woes than just about anything else. At some point, hopefully
soon, the
mistakes will cease.
AJ
Butler has a career day
In
the
final analysis the things that Coach Lock's said could not happen,
happened.
UNM was, again, their own worst enemy handing Tech some real
gifts. UNM
needs to compete for 4 quarters and not let the opponent get out to a
comfortable margin. This team will win when it does what it did
Saturday
WITHOUT the turnovers. UNM has shown in spurts that the
offense can
move the ball against anyone. The defense is starting to show the
ability to make
some good things happen. Nathan Enriquez had a breakout game
stealing two
passes to stop Red Raider drives. The road continues all the way to
Laramie,
Wyoming next weekend. UNM has one conference loss and can ill
afford
another. As the team continues to learn lessons the hard way one thing
was
evident Saturday in Jones AT&T Stadium; this young Lobo team will
get it
right. The hope is sooner, like next Saturday, than later. If the
team
"Don't wanna be treated this a way" anymore it will have to find a
way to overcome the obstacles they themselves place in the road.
Happy
motoring, Lobos!
Don't
forget Wolf Pack React with Lee Roy Lucero and James Morris only on
101.7 The Team
