Jordan, Lobos look to get even at Wyoming
Slumping UNM still hoping for bowl bid
LARAMIE, Wyo. — Just win. Since Lamar Jordan began his playing career at the University of New Mexico in 2014, the Lobos have gone 3-0 against the Wyoming Cowboys.
Would it not be an accomplishment to savor, the UNM senior quarterback was asked this week, to finish his career having gone 4-0 against Wyoming?
Of course, Jor- dan said. But in his next breath, he pivoted to what, in his mind, is the real story. Well, the only story.
The Lobos (3-4 overall, 1-3 in Mountain West Conference play) urgently need a victory tonight. It matters that the opponent is Wyoming only because the Cowboys happen to appear on the schedule for Oct. 28.
Yes, Jordan has watched Wyoming game film. Yes, he practiced this week against a UNM scout team that has tried its best to simulate the Cowboys’ defense.
Jordan, though, cares little about going 4-0 lifetime against Wyoming. He probably doesn’t know — and if he does, he probably doesn’t care — that a UNM victory would even the venerable New Mexico-Wyoming series at 35 wins apiece.
The only numbers he and his teammates care about are four and four — numbers that would represent UNM’s record if it wins today and a major boost in the quest for a 6-6 season and qualification for a third consecutive bowl bid.
After consecutive losses to Fresno State and Colorado State, dragging UNM below the .500 mark after seven games for the first time since 2014, the Lobos —1½-point favorites Friday — simply need a win.
“Right now we’re at that point
where we see what we can do, see what our potential is,” Jordan said. “We can definitely see the plays we can make. We just haven’t gotten over that hump.
“So, each and every week, we’re working to get over that hump.”
The Lobos were so close to doing just that last week against Colorado State. Though that 27-24 defeat dropped into the loss column with the same finality as a 38-0 drubbing at the hands of Fresno State the previous week, UNM coach Bob Davie was encouraged.
“I think there’s a very good attitude and a hungry kind of thing to get to another bowl game,” he said. “Let’s call it what it is. It’s trying to win six games now.”
In the attempt to get win No. 4, Davie will bring his team to War Memorial Stadium with the intention of once again playing two quarterbacks: Jordan and redshirt freshman Tevaka Tuioti. A third quarterback, junior Coltin Gerhart, also could see action.
Jordan, who’s expected to start, is no stranger to the Lobo quarterback shuffle. First it was he and Cole Gautsche in 2014, then he and Austin Apodaca the past two seasons.
Being used to it doesn’t mean he likes it. But he’s aware that, at any given time, only 11 players on one team can be on the field.
Everyone else, not just Jordan, wants to play.
“I’m not frustrated,” he said, “off the simple fact that anybody wants to be in the game. That’s (true of ) anybody in the country who plays football.”
In terms of UNM’s three-game win streak against Wyoming, Jordan said, it’s probably the reverse angle — the Cowboys’ three-game losing streak against New Mexico — that matters most.
In particular, he said, the Cowboys (4-3, 2-1) likely remember well the 56-35 thrashing they absorbed last November in Albuquerque.
“They don’t want what happened to them last year to happen again,” he said. “But we’re working, too, so we’ve got interest for them as well.”
The Lobos, in fact, are interested in one thing:
Just win.