Changing Lobos make conference call at UNLV
With third-string QB, triple option scrapped in favor of a spread in MWC opener
ALBUQUERQUE — Change is never easy, and the University of New Mexico football team is learning that the hard way as it tries to reinvent itself as Mountain West Conference play begins.
The Lobos (2-2) are coming off a stinging loss at home to unheralded Liberty, a game they trailed by 32 points at halftime before rallying to make it a cosmetic nine-point contest by time the clock ran out.
Head coach Bob Davie spent part of this week trying to convince anyone who’d listen that his team’s second-half performance against Liberty was a good thing, but the ugly truth is the slow starts, porous defense
and growing pains on offense are simply too much for his team to handle.
Down to their third-string quarterback for at least the rest of this month, the Lobos are trying to pull off a little magic act by scrapping their triple option offense in favor of a pure spread — all with virtually little or no warning. They’ll be in Sin City on Saturday to open MWC play at UNLV.
Davie said a big part of the program’s transition from the option to the spread has been the inclusion of the running game complimenting an expanding passing game. But here’s the rub: With zero depth at quarterback due to injuries, there is no room for the one remaining quarterback to put himself in harm’s way running the ball.
“As we became more refined, a certain percentage of this offense was going to be triple option and quarterback runs,” Davie said. “The reality of that piece of it, because we’re two quarterbacks down, is gone. I mean, you’re not going to go out there with the guy who started the season as third on your depth chart and a true freshman — the only two scholarship quarterbacks you have — and do a lot of quar-
terback runs or run the triple option. You may do it a little bit but you’re not going to do it near as much as you thought as you transition into this world.”
Junior Sheriron Jones is officially the main man on offense for as long as he remains healthy. The junior college transfer has risen to the top of the depth chart at QB and has shown signs of promise. But, as Davie pointed out this week, he’s got a long way to go to become a true spread guy. Jones rallied the Lobos with 33 second half points against Liberty and had them deep inside Flames territory in the final minute when he failed to spot a wide open receiver, Delane Hart-Johnson, in the corner of the end zone and instead threw a game-clinching interception when he opted for a receiver over the middle.
“A lot of issues but the positive is I know this issues can be solved,” Davie said.
Only time will tell.
LOBO NOTES
Jones passed for four touchdowns and 312 yards last week, but he threw three costly interceptions. … Backup quarterback Coltin Gerhart is not expected to return for at least three or four more weeks. He’s been out since injuring his foot on a running play in the season opener against Incarnate Word. … QB Tevaka Tuioti had surgery on his broken collarbone on Monday and is out for the season. … The stat of the weekend against UNLV is this: The Lobos have completed just two passes in the last two games against the Rebels. That’s it. They were 2-for-7 through the air in a 2014 meeting in Las Vegas and 0-for-4 last year in Albuquerque. They’ve amassed just five yards passing in those two games.