Lobos Say They Have A Chance

FORT WORTH - They put on their pants one leg at a time, just like anyone else. Only, they usually proceed to pound the stuffing out of the guys in the different-colored leg wear. The fledgling University of New Mexico football team closes out the 2009 season with one of the more formidable tasks in college football when it faces the No. 4-ranked TCU Horned Frogs today at Amon G. Carter Stadium. TCU (11-0, 7-0 Mountain West Conference) is the highest-ranked foe UNM will have faced since 1984, when then-No. 4 Brigham Young beat the Lobos 48-0 at University Stadium. The Cougars went on to win the national championship that season. The Horned Frogs have an outside shot to play in Bowl Championship Series national championship game as well. They've outscored their opponents by an average of 27.1 points per game and rank in the top 10 in the country in 15 statistical categories. Are the Lobos (1-10, 1-6) impressed? Definitely. Are they intimidated? Definitely not. "Just like they have athletes, we have athletes, too," said quarterback Donovan Porterie, one of 17 seniors playing his last game in a Lobo uniform. "They put on their pants the same way I put on my pants. It's just a number in front of a team name. Them being the No. 4 team in the nation, we know they know how to execute for 60 minutes. That's something for us to shoot for." While the Frogs are riding a 13-game winning streak dating to 2008, the Lobos have a winning streak of one - after losing 14 in a row dating to last season. UNM pulled out a 29-27 thriller over Colorado State last weekend to give embattled first-year coach Mike Locksley his first career win. He's not making any bold predictions for this game - the Lobos being 44?-point underdogs and all - but he does know the formula for them to be able to compete. "Winning is a byproduct of how we prepare, winning is a byproduct of playing with great effort, and it's a byproduct of executing," he said. "We've said all along, if we can somehow prepare the way we need to, go out with great effort that we've shown in every game, then execution is the part that we've got to stay efficient at. "It doesn't matter who you're playing, if you can do those three things, you give yourselves a chance." TCU, however, has few chinks in its armor. It rushes for 261.5 yards per game - 153 yards more than UNM - and has four players with 477 rushing yards or more, including junior quarterback Andy Dalton. Dalton has thrown for a respectable 205.1 yards per game despite the fact TCU has attempted fewer passes than any team in the league except Air Force. He has an 18-5 touchdown-to-interception ratio, yet has been overlooked for virtually every postseason national award. "He started late," TCU coach Gary Patterson said. "That's the name of the game. What we have to do is make sure we keep his name in front of people and he keeps winning and he gets an opportunity his senior year to do something special." The team's leading wide receiver, Jeremy Kerley, also is the conference's leading kickoff and punt returner, having returned two punts for touchdowns. Defensively, left end Jerry Hughes leads the Frogs' No. 4 defense (238.8 yards allowed per game). The senior leads the MWC with 10 sacks and poses quite a matchup problem for UNM senior right tackle Ivan Hernandez. "I took film home of him on Monday and studied his moves, studied him," Hernandez said. "He has special ability, but you have to look at him as another player. You have to believe in yourself and trust your teammates." And believe your pants are just as good as theirs. $10,000 REWARD: Locksley's contract stipulates that he gets a $10,000 bonus every time UNM defeats a Top-25 team. The Lobos are 0-for-2 against ranked teams Utah and Brigham Young. The clause also was in former coach Rocky Long's final contract. PLAYER NOTE: UNM backup defensive tackle Ahraya Crespin has been suspended for today's game for a violation of team rules, Locksley said. Today UNM at TCU, 11:06 a.m. TV: The mtn. Radio: KKOBAM (770)/ Lobo Network