New Mexico Football Report

The outcome of the Boise St.- UNM football match-up was a foregone conclusion long before the game was played. Boise St. throttled The Lobos 45-0, and it wasn't even as close as the score would indicate. The Lobos did beat the spread (48) but that can't be attributed to Boise St.'s inability to pile it on. The Broncos were already screwed out of a BCS bid and running up the score was pointless.  The 2011 football season is over and we are finally free of Mike Locksley and his associated malfeasance. Let's just press reset and pretend that the last three seasons didn't happen... thank you! 

The Bob Davie era has already begun. Here'a a delightful quote from Yahoo Sports: "Bob Davie spent nearly a decade away from coaching, which is ironic because his predecessor at New Mexico, Mike Lockley, set the Lobos back about 10 years as well."  Bob Davie must introduce mental and physical toughness to the team and re-focus on recruiting in the Southwest & West Coast. Locksley's preferred recruiting areas were Washington D.C. and Illinois and to be certain, some key players like, RB. Crusoe Gongbay & WR Deon Long both hail from the D.C. area. However, overall Locksley's Cap City recruits have been less than outstanding.

Bob Davie can't be happy with what he saw from potential returning players as the season ran its course. George Barlow, the Lobo's interim coach and most of the assistants will also be shown the door. The Lobos need hard chargers, like Qb. recruit, Cole Gautsche of Cleveland Hs. in Rio Rancho. Gautsche had committed to The Aggies during the early signing period which led Yahoo Sports to trumpet: "Despite living in UNM's backyard, he chose NMSU over the Lobos showing that the recruiting tide in the state has shifted" Unbeknownst to Yahoo Sports, as soon as Locksley was fired the tide turned back in UNM's favor. Gautsche changed his mind, and declared he would play for The Lobos.

 And if that's a cold shot... babe, Davie further drove the dagger deeper into the Aggies' backs by luring NMSU offensive line coach Jason Lenzmeier back to UNM. Lenzmeier, a former Lobo (1st. team MWC offensive tackle) was UNM's offensive line coach under Rocky Long but joined DeWayne Walker's staff at NMSU when Mike Locksley was hired. Lenz is known for recruiting the Albuquerque area, which may have been a factor in Gautsche's decision. Expect to see an exodus of Locksley recruits from UNM (including former starting Qb. Tarean Austin) It's also rumored that freshman running back, Crusoe Gongbay will make a hasty exit. 

"The opponent was irrelevant Saturday afternoon at Bronco Stadium. And it probably would have been that way even if someone other than the woeful New Mexico Lobos had been on the other sideline."  The Idaho Statesman

UNM 0  Boise St. 45

As I previously mentioned, the outcome of this game was never in doubt. The Lobos had no intention of shocking the world or playing like there was something at stake. The trash talking Idaho Statesman observed that "The Lobos seemed more interested in holding the ball than scoring" I guess you could say that UNM went into the football equivalent of the four corner stall. Thus the season ended for The Lobos the same way it began, sans glory and victory. 

Kellen Moore was so precise and efficient in slicing up the Lobo's secondary that Chris Petersen was beside himself with orgasmic delight. “He was dead-on, and again I think the leader of the whole senior class sets the standard and sets the tone." He primed the pump some more “That’s about as clean as you can play, you talk about standards... he set the standard for quarterback play throughout the country for four years.”

Whatever! I'm not going to sit here and glorify Boise St., fuck them!  Today (Dec. 7th) The Big East Conference announced that both Boise St. and San Diego St. would join the Big East Conference (in football only) Boise St. will dump it's other programs (men's & women's) on the WAC, while San Diego St. will do the same to The Big West Conf. The Mountain West Conf. will now carry on with nine teams (for now Air Force is staying)

The MWC and Conf. USA (which is losing 3 schools to the Big East) are in the process of putting together a football "super" conference, which at the present time will be made up of nine teams from each league. It may be the only way for both to survive as independent entities. As for the MWC replacing Boise St. & San Diego St., the pickings are getting mighty slim. San Jose St. & Utah St. from the WAC and UTEP from Conf. USA are the only options left.  

Karma can be a bitch and football programs like BYU, Boise St. and TCU are running up an Obama sized deficit in their quest to run with the big dogs. BYU screwed the MWC, the WAC and dumb 'ol Utah St.  Boise St. screwed the WAC, the MWC & apparently bad mouthed Air Force out a Big East berth. TCU screwed the old WAC, C-USA, the MWC & The Big East before landing in the Big 12. Sooner or later what goes around will come around. Hasty, shortsighted decisions made while swooning at the sight and smell of big money are bad for business. 

NMSU 21  Utah St. 24

The Utags 24-21 victory over an Aggie team that had been run through a meat grinder was unimpressive. The win meant that Utah St. finished at 7-5  guaranting them a bowl invite. Pray tell it's not the New Mexico Bowl. If you think the NMSU Aggies are lame, then you haven't seen the Utah version. You don't want them in Albuquerque for a bowl game, not if you want to make money. They don't tip, smoke or drink and they'll sleep in their trucks before they'll rent a room. 

While they're not known for being generous, Utah St. did give up the ball twice inside the NMSU 10 yd. line. This kept NMSU in the game, until Kenny Turner ran in from 3 yds. out to give The Aggies a 21-17 lead. Alas, there was almost nine minutes left in the game and although the Aggies got the ball back, they could not sustain a drive and run out the clock. 

The Aggies were forced to punt (for the 8th time) The Utags took over at their own 17 yd. line with 5:04 left in the game. 10 consecutive rushing plays later, the drive appeared to stall out at the NMSU 14 yd. line. Facing a fourth and two, Utah St. ran the ball again. A keeper by Qb. Andy Kennedy to the right side picked up the first down. Matt Austin then pulled in an eight yard td. pass from Kennedy with :35 left on the clock to secure the win for Utah St. 

Oh! so close for NMSU, but no cigar. Matt Christian returned to action finishing with 17-40 passing, good for 252 yds. and 1 td. Kenny Turner rushed 13 times for 65 yds. in what could have been his final game as an Aggie. Taveon Rogers went out with 6 receptions for 73 yds. Both Christian & Rogers are Seniors, while Turner a Junior is 24 years old and may decide to try out for an NFL team.  

NMSU finishes the season at 4-9, except for UTEP & Utah St. all their losses were blow outs to one degree or another. There was a marked improvement from last year's team, but they're a long way from competing with the upper echelon of even a diminished WAC. The defense needs a desperate upgrade, they couldn't stop anyone late in the season. 

While a 4-9 record isn't a cause for celebration, it does offer hope for the future. DeWayne Walker is currently negotiating with NMSU for a contract extension, he'll be back for at least one more season. After that, The Aggies will have to cough up a few dollars more to keep him around. If 4-9 makes them so happy, just imagine how giddy they'll be when they're 6-6.