New Mexico coach Rocky Long admitted there’s something missing from the lead up to this year’s game between the Lobos and Air Force.
The Mountain West Conference teams resume their rivalry Thursday night, but so far Long hasn’t heard the southern drawl of Fisher DeBerry.
“It’s definitely different without Fisher,” Long said of the former Falcons coach. “We’re pretty much alike. We’re both very competitive and that probably rubbed off on our games.”
But Long said he’s been impressed with the Falcons under new coach Troy Calhoun.
“On defense, they’re totally different than before,” Long said. “And they’ve added some wrinkles on offense.”
Even with DeBerry gone, Long still looks at Air Force as a difficult team to prepare for because the Falcons still employ the triple-option offense at times.
“It will look completely different, but it’s not as different as it appears,” Long said. “Their quarterback Shaun Carney throws the ball well, but about 25 percent of their plays are option plays. They run it from the I-formation, with a player in motion or with three players lined up in I-formation.”
Calhoun says New Mexico’s defense is among the conference’s best.
“They give you a ton of different looks and still play sound assignment football,” Calhoun said. “They just have an excellent approach.”
Long’s defense this year features depth.
“I think that especially on defense there are a lot of our players that in the last four weeks have really played well,” Long said. “But no one knows that because we alternate players so much.”
During the DeBerry-Long matchups, the teams split eight games, and in many of those games, the loser dropped out of the conference race.
“It’s just about like before, the winner stays in the hunt and loser drops out,” Long said.
Irv Moss: 303 954-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com
