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 1^st of 4 touchdown runs.

The Lobo defense on the other hand allowed one 1^st down! Just beating down the Sac. State offense and knocking out the Hornets starter Jason Smith out of the game in the 2^nd 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 1^st 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 2^nd 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 1^st down. For a second there was a spark as the Hornets picked up a 1^st 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 4^th 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 4^th 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!