Lobos, Ags limp into showdown
Teams have been hit with injuries, lopsided defeats
LAS CRUCES — One coach, New Mexico’s Bob Davie, says he likes the team chemistry and atmosphere surrounding his Lobos.
The other coach, New Mexico State’s Doug Martin, uses words such as, “complacency” and “underachieving” to describe his Aggies.
Both coaches believe today is the perfect opportunity for their respective teams to show their true colors. The Lobos (1-1) will face the Aggies (0-3) at Aggie Memorial Stadium with Sheriron Jones at quarterback. He entered the season as UNM’s third quarterback.
He threw two interceptions and lost a fumble in the second half of the Lobos’ 45-14 loss at No. 6 Wisconsin last week. Now, he’ll try to help break UNM’s two-game losing streak to New Mexico State. The Lobos are 4½-point favorites today. The line earlier in the week was 7.
“They’re hungry,” Davie said of his Lobos. “But they know we’re not good enough yet. They know we’ve got some difficulties. We’ve got some injuries. But it’s just a good environment. I’ve been in this long enough to know what it is.”
Davie and Martin can’t deny the impor-
tance of today’s Rio Grande Rivalry game. It’s always a big game when the rivals meet, they say.
Martin has not liked the confidence of his team and has not seen his Aggies improve each game as he wants them to. Instead, they have been outscored 137-30 by Wyoming, Minnesota and Utah State and have not been able to overcome injuries or build off last year’s bowl season.
“We need to get our season started,” Martin said during his press conference Tuesday. “We’ve really struggled in the first three games ... Trying to wash last year away. Get on to another year. This is an opportunity for us to do that. We’re excited about it. You always want to win this game. We’ve won it the last two years and we’re very proud of that.”
Martin is concerned about his defense that yields 5.9 yards a rush: “If New Mexico can run the ball for 5.9 yards per rush, game over.”
The Aggies have had to deal with several injuries at linebacker but are expected to have Leon McQuaker and Javahn Fergurson back.
UNM has also has had injuries, mainly at QB, as starter Tevaka Tuioti suffered a concussion against the Badgers and backup Coltin Gerhart left the opener with a sprained foot.
The Lobos believe their defense has improved each week, even though the unit has had uneven performances in its two games.
On offense, the Lobos know they will have to take better care of the ball. Last year, they committed four turnovers in a 30-28 loss to the Aggies at Dreamstyle Stadium.
TV NOTE: The AggieVision TV production of the game is available on Comcast and on Eleven Sports, which is another conduit for the AggieVision broadcasts.
Per NMSU, “ELEVEN SPORTS is carried on DIRECTV (Ch. 623), Verizon Fios (Ch. 597), Spectrum (Ch. 414), AT&T U-verse and NCTC, and OTT services Twitch, FuboTV, Sony Vue, and iGol.”