RedPitSea
09-02-2007, 12:59 AM
Sunday, September 2, 2007
http://www.abqjournal.com/sports/591332sports09-02-07.htm
For Rocky Long's 2007 Team, Two Out of Three Is Bad
<!--BSHTAG--> <!--PARSER:--> <!--CTPROVIDER:Albuquerque Journal--> <!--TITLE: For Rocky Long's 2007 Team, Two Out of Three Is Bad--><!--COPYRIGHT:Copyright 2007 Albuquerque Journal (http://www.albuquerquejournal.com)--> <!--AUTHOR: Rick Wright--> <!-- ORIGINAL PHOTO PATH = #PHOTOPATH1# --> <!--BSHSTARTBODY--> By Rick Wright (http://www.abqjournal.com/cgi-bin/email_reporter.pl)
<!--ss-->Of the Journal
<!--es--> EL PASO— Two out of three, grammatically challenged pundits and heavyset singers keep telling us, ain't bad.
In the case of the New Mexico Lobos, it just ain't true.
Saturday night at the Sun Bowl, the Lobos lost for the second time in three games against the UTEP Miners since the two renewed their long rivalry in 2005.
And they lost, 10-6, because they failed in two of three areas that were cause for major concern entering the game.
Offensive line? No problem.
Kicking game? Problem.
Quarterback? Big problem.
At kickoff, UNM's main concern was the readiness of quarterback Donovan Porterie.
The talented but unproven sophomore had raised more red flags than the old Soviet Army by throwing four interceptions during the Lobos' final intrasquad scrimmage. It was pointed out afterward that all of Porterie's passes that day went downfield, as a practice exercise— with none of the dink-and-dunk stuff that's a staple of offensive coordinator Dave Baldwin's scheme.
It's supposed to be a possession offense, with 230-pound tailback Rodney Ferguson carrying the mail and Porterie sending telegrams: looking short first, only then downfield. Going in, however, head coach Rocky Long was worried about his offensive line.
But UNM was concerned about special teams, too, in particular the kicking game. Just as Long had feared, the new rule that places the ball at the 30-yard line for kickoffs immediately worked to the Lobos' disadvantage. The Miners' Quintin Demps caught John Sullivan's opening kickoff on his own 7 and returned it 40 yards, setting up a 51-yard Jose Martinez field goal.
The UNM offense, meanwhile, delivered neither mail, telegrams nor anything resumbling a scoring threat in the first quarter.
Ferguson wasn't effective enough to take pressure for converting third downs off Porterie's shoulders. The sophomore quarterback became less effective with each series, and even the dink-and-dunk stuff wasn't working.
In the second quarter, however, UNM's offensive line asserted itself. Ferguson had 47 yards on 13 carries in the period— finishing with 128 on 32 carries in a wasted effort by him and his O-line— as the Lobo offense held the ball for almost 13 minutes.
Back-to-back second-quarter drives of 47 and 79 yards produced only 3 points, however, and Baldwin continued to show little confidence in Porterie. Or was it Porterie showing little confidence in himself?
In either case, the downfield talents of Travis Brown and Marcus Smith were squandered. The two wideouts, who combined for 1,726 yards, 13 touchdowns and almost 15 yards per catch last season, had six receptions for 33 yards in the first two quarters. They finished with 16 for 102.
Little changed for Porterie and his two frustrated wide receivers in the third quarter. When UNM inched ahead 6-3 on a 40-yard Sullivan field goal on the second play on the fourth period, it was on a 12-play drive that featured 11 running plays.
Sullivan's 2-for-4 performance on field goals, meanwhile, left the door open for the Miners— who finally walked through on a 36-yard touchdown run by Terrell Jackson.
The game ended, fittingly, with Porterie scrambling and getting tackled with no timeouts as the clock expired.
After the aforementioned scrimmage, in which Porterie struggled against his own defensive backs, Long hesitated to praise the secondary or too harshly criticize his QB. Until you play someone else, he said, you can't really tell what's good and what isn't.
Now, the Lobos have played somebody else. They know what's good and what isn't. New Mexico State, next up, knows it, too.
And how excited is a much-improved Aggie defense to be playing the Lobos next Saturday?
I'll give you three guesses, and the first two don't count.
http://www.abqjournal.com/sports/591332sports09-02-07.htm
For Rocky Long's 2007 Team, Two Out of Three Is Bad
<!--BSHTAG--> <!--PARSER:--> <!--CTPROVIDER:Albuquerque Journal--> <!--TITLE: For Rocky Long's 2007 Team, Two Out of Three Is Bad--><!--COPYRIGHT:Copyright 2007 Albuquerque Journal (http://www.albuquerquejournal.com)--> <!--AUTHOR: Rick Wright--> <!-- ORIGINAL PHOTO PATH = #PHOTOPATH1# --> <!--BSHSTARTBODY--> By Rick Wright (http://www.abqjournal.com/cgi-bin/email_reporter.pl)
<!--ss-->Of the Journal
<!--es--> EL PASO— Two out of three, grammatically challenged pundits and heavyset singers keep telling us, ain't bad.
In the case of the New Mexico Lobos, it just ain't true.
Saturday night at the Sun Bowl, the Lobos lost for the second time in three games against the UTEP Miners since the two renewed their long rivalry in 2005.
And they lost, 10-6, because they failed in two of three areas that were cause for major concern entering the game.
Offensive line? No problem.
Kicking game? Problem.
Quarterback? Big problem.
At kickoff, UNM's main concern was the readiness of quarterback Donovan Porterie.
The talented but unproven sophomore had raised more red flags than the old Soviet Army by throwing four interceptions during the Lobos' final intrasquad scrimmage. It was pointed out afterward that all of Porterie's passes that day went downfield, as a practice exercise— with none of the dink-and-dunk stuff that's a staple of offensive coordinator Dave Baldwin's scheme.
It's supposed to be a possession offense, with 230-pound tailback Rodney Ferguson carrying the mail and Porterie sending telegrams: looking short first, only then downfield. Going in, however, head coach Rocky Long was worried about his offensive line.
But UNM was concerned about special teams, too, in particular the kicking game. Just as Long had feared, the new rule that places the ball at the 30-yard line for kickoffs immediately worked to the Lobos' disadvantage. The Miners' Quintin Demps caught John Sullivan's opening kickoff on his own 7 and returned it 40 yards, setting up a 51-yard Jose Martinez field goal.
The UNM offense, meanwhile, delivered neither mail, telegrams nor anything resumbling a scoring threat in the first quarter.
Ferguson wasn't effective enough to take pressure for converting third downs off Porterie's shoulders. The sophomore quarterback became less effective with each series, and even the dink-and-dunk stuff wasn't working.
In the second quarter, however, UNM's offensive line asserted itself. Ferguson had 47 yards on 13 carries in the period— finishing with 128 on 32 carries in a wasted effort by him and his O-line— as the Lobo offense held the ball for almost 13 minutes.
Back-to-back second-quarter drives of 47 and 79 yards produced only 3 points, however, and Baldwin continued to show little confidence in Porterie. Or was it Porterie showing little confidence in himself?
In either case, the downfield talents of Travis Brown and Marcus Smith were squandered. The two wideouts, who combined for 1,726 yards, 13 touchdowns and almost 15 yards per catch last season, had six receptions for 33 yards in the first two quarters. They finished with 16 for 102.
Little changed for Porterie and his two frustrated wide receivers in the third quarter. When UNM inched ahead 6-3 on a 40-yard Sullivan field goal on the second play on the fourth period, it was on a 12-play drive that featured 11 running plays.
Sullivan's 2-for-4 performance on field goals, meanwhile, left the door open for the Miners— who finally walked through on a 36-yard touchdown run by Terrell Jackson.
The game ended, fittingly, with Porterie scrambling and getting tackled with no timeouts as the clock expired.
After the aforementioned scrimmage, in which Porterie struggled against his own defensive backs, Long hesitated to praise the secondary or too harshly criticize his QB. Until you play someone else, he said, you can't really tell what's good and what isn't.
Now, the Lobos have played somebody else. They know what's good and what isn't. New Mexico State, next up, knows it, too.
And how excited is a much-improved Aggie defense to be playing the Lobos next Saturday?
I'll give you three guesses, and the first two don't count.