LOBOS-TULSA
UNM hopes visit to face Golden Hurricane results in happy memories
TULSA, Okla. — One would be hardpressed to call this a rivalry. They’ve met in football just seven times over the years, and the two athletic programs have precious little common history.
And yet, amid heartbreaking squeakers, abject routs, one-hit wonders, coaching implications, conference titles and tilting goal posts, the Tulsa-New Mexico series has furnished some memorable moments — for the Lobos, at least.
The Lobos and the Golden Hurricane, both 1-2, meet again today. Tulsa leads the series, 5-2, and oddsmakers have made Tulsa a 10½-point favorite.
The non-conference game could be considered crucial for each team, since coming back from a 1-3 start to achieve a winning season is a daunting chore. The Lobos last did so in 2003.
But as for being 1-2 and staring 1-3 in the
face, the Lobos were there the past two seasons and wound up with winning seasons and bowl bids.
“We’re pretty optimistic,” junior offensive guard Aaron Jenkins said. “... We’ve got some veterans out here that are stepping up in practice that keep their heads up high and know that we’ve been in this spot before and know that we can dig out of it.”
Now, about that TulsaNew Mexico “rivalry.”
Nov. 8, 1986: On a fourth-and-5, with UNM driving for a possible game-tying score, the host Lobos complete a pass — for 4 yards. Game over. Tulsa 34, New Mexico 27.
A few weeks later, UNM coach Joe Lee Dunn was fired after a 4-8 season.
Sept. 23, 1989: In Tulsa, 44-yard David Margolis field-goal attempt with 5 seconds left in the game strikes a sagging left upright and bounces away. Game over. Tulsa 35, New Mexico 33, despite Terance Mathis touchdowns of 95 yards on a kickoff return and 68 yards on a pass from Jeremy Leach.
Dave Rader, the Tulsa coach at the time, said there was no cheating involved with the tilting goal post.
“That one has a tendency to lean, but it was straight before the game,” Rader said. “I don’t what it was; maybe the wind did it.”
Nov. 2, 1996: In the first of two games between the two schools as short-lived Western Athletic Conference rivals, UNM redshirt freshman running back Reginal Johnson rushes for 232 yards and a school record-tying five touchdowns in Tulsa. Lobos 34, Golden Hurricane 23.
Johnson, who was subbing that day for an injured Lennox Gordon, had a decent UNM career, finishing with 1,313 yards rushing. But he never had another game like that one.
Nov. 22, 1997: The Lobos’ 51-13 rout of Tulsa in Albuquerque clinches a WAC Mountain Division title and sends them to the WAC title game two weeks later against Colorado State.
It was said, though, that the relatively disappointing attendance for that game — 29,217 — played a role in coach Dennis Franchione’s decision to leave UNM for TCU after the season.
Sept. 21, 2008: In Tulsa, the Golden Hurricane routs the Lobos 56-14. Though this was just the fourth game of the season, soon thereafter, 11th-year coach Rocky Long said he wasn’t the “miracle worker” UNM needed to get to the next level.
Long resigned after the 2008 season. He is now the highly successful coach at No. 22 San Diego State.
Sept. 12, 2009: In Albuquerque, Tulsa hammers the Lobos 44-10. When UNM linebacker Tray Hardaway scores on a 92-yard fumble return in the fourth quarter, it’s the Lobos’ first touchdown in 13 quarters, dating to the previous season.
“We’re going to try to continue to find a way to get this thing corrected,” first-year Lobos coach Mike Locksley said. “We will. I have no doubt in my mind that we will.”
Sept. 12, 2015: In Albuquerque, Tulsa’s up-tempo spread offense overwhelms the Lobos in a 40-21 Golden Hurricane victory. But after a 34-10 loss to Arizona State the following week, coach Bob Davie’s Lobos dig themselves out of that 1-2 hole and finish 7-6.
Can they dig themselves out of this one?
“We do compete,” Davie said this week. “We do compete, and we’re not afraid to try to make things happen.”