Davie: ‘Right now we’re just not good enough’
Lobos try to recover from loss to Nevada
The past six games — all losses — have been rough on University of New Mexico’s football team.
Such a struggle of searching for a team identity, growing pains on defense, controversy off the field and a coach, Bob Davie, coming to grips with a third straight losing season.
Davie was aiming for a turnaround this year after back-to-back 3-9 seasons that saw both end with seven-game losing streaks.
This year, the Lobos (2-7, 0-5 in
Mountain West Conference) will face a big challenge trying to end their current skid with games against Air Force, at Boise State, and Utah State at Dreamstyle Stadium to end the season.
“The effort is there,” Davie said after the Lobos lost 21-10 to Nevada on Saturday. “I’m proud of the team for the way they fight, but right now we’re just not good enough to win, to be quite honest.”
Davie knows the Lobos will continue to work toward a win and continue to develop. But with three challenging games remaining, time is running out for a program that will have to answer even more questions at season’s end. WHAT WENT RIGHT?: The Lobos’ offense opened with a spectacular 9-play, 90-yard drive that ended with Ahmari Davis’ 4-yard touchdown run. Quarterback Tevaka Tuioti threw for 67 yards completing 4 of his 5 passes on the drive, and he ran for 20 yards.
Outside linebacker Alexander “Mo” Vainikolo led the UNM defense with 10 tackles, 7 unassisted. He also had 4½ tackles for losses and 1 sack, and accounted for 49 yards lost for Nevada.
Tight end Marcus Williams provided a big game, leading the Lobos with 74 yards on 6 catches.
The Lobos had zero turnovers, but also did not create any takeaways.
WHAT WENT WRONG?: The Lobos struggled to make enough big plays to win, while giving up too many big plays.
Davie lamented about “five or six drops” from UNM receivers in the game.
UNM’s defense played well, mainly in the second half, allowing just one third-down conversion, but that went for a score as quarterback Carson Strong found receiver Elijah Cooks for a 20-yard touchdown.
Strong finished with 305 passing yards and two touchdowns on 28-of-40 passing and wide receiver Romeo Doubs went for 167 receiving yards and one touchdown on 11 catches.
NOTABLE: Air Force, which plays at UNM on Saturday at noon, improved to 7-2 with a 17-13 win over Navy.
The Falcons, who are 4-1 in the MWC, beat the Lobos 42-24 last year.