Rudy Davalos, former New Mexico athletic director and now chairman of the board for the New Mexico Bowl, stated the obvious Saturday when he said the first-year bowl’s Mountain West Conference representative likely would be among the four teams along the Interstate 25 corridor.
Colorado State, with similar second-half collapses in losses to MWC neighbors Air Force (24-21) and Wyoming (24-0), trails both in the standings.
After those two losses, the Rams (4-3, 1-2) might be afraid to come out of the locker room at halftime this week.
That won’t be New Mexico’s problem. The Lobos (4-4, 2-2), with a modest two-game win streak, proved they can put up a fight to the end, winning in overtime at Nevada-Las Vegas two weeks ago and coming back from a 21-point, second-quarter deficit against Utah.
The Rams hardly are assured of sitting home over the holidays, but they have defeated three Division I-A teams with a combined 3-19 record and a I-AA team that is 2-5. The Rams haven’t gone into a game against an opponent over .500, and that won’t change until MWC leader Brigham Young (5-2, 3-0) plays in Fort Collins on Nov. 4.
Thoroughly frustrated Saturday in Laramie by the combination of getting shut out by archrival Wyoming and breakdowns in coverage twice against the Cowboys, the Rams talked about finding answers.
“We’ve got to get it corrected or we’re not going to win any games this season,” linebacker Luke Adkins said.
“We moved the ball. We just couldn’t finish off. We’ve gone six quarters without a score,” said quarterback Caleb Hanie, adding that it’s frustrating “because we’ve worked so hard. We have to find out why. We have to figure it out this week or it’s going to be a long season.”
He won’t blame the offensive line, which lost center Nick Allotta midway through Saturday’s game to a knee injury.
“We put our defense in a tough position,” Hanie said. “We can’t make excuses. I could have made some better plays. I didn’t play as well as I can. We have a lot of games left. We have to fix things.”
The Rams gave credit to Wyoming’s effort, but saw room for improvement on CSU’s end.
“They were tougher than we were, that’s all I’m going to say,” free safety Klint Kubiak said.
He blamed miscommunication for Wyoming’s first touchdown when Derrick Levy found himself wide open for a 44-yard score. “It seemed that (miscommunication) happened a lot. Our communication was awful,” Kubiak said.
The Rams had two new starters in the secondary Saturday: safety Jake Galusha, subbing for injured Mike Pagnotta; and cornerback Chase Weber, in place of injured Joey Rucks.
Natalie Meisler can be reached at 303-954-1295 or nmeisler@denverpost.com.
EYE ON … The Lobos
NEW MEXICO AT COLORADO ST.
3:30 p.m., Saturday
For the record: New Mexico is 4-4 overall and 2-2 in the Mountain West Conference.
Last game: Beat Utah 34-31.
Streaking: New Mexico has bounced back from a 2-4 start.
Who’s hot: Redshirt freshman QB Donovan Porterie is a candidate for MWC offensive player of the week, throwing for 350 yards and three TDs. He’s 2-0 as a starter.
Who’s not: New Mexico has given up the most sacks in the MWC (31).
Key stat: New Mexico has converted 13 of its 17 field-goal attempts. Colorado State is 2-for-7.
FYI: New Mexico’s 21-point comeback against Utah (from 24-3) tied a 32-year-old mark for the biggest comeback in school history.
Coachspeak: “I wish he’d be around more often.” – Lobos coach Rocky Long, on former New Mexico star Brian Urlacher being on the sideline Thursday for the Utah game
NATALIE MEISLER
