Albuquerque Journal

Lobo Football: 'D' Drops Hammer on Offense
By Greg Archuleta, Journal Staff Writer

The University of New Mexico football team's intrasquad scrimmage Saturday was so lopsided that the defense didn't even need a modified scoring system to beat the offense.
   
Lobo back Clint McPeek and walk-on linebackers Seth Johanneman and Chris Biren all returned interceptions for touchdowns to outscore the mistake-prone offense 18-17 in an hour-plus practice at University Stadium.
   
"We got outhustled, we got outexecuted and we got out-everything second-year offensive coordinator Dave Baldwin said.
   
The night's statistics certainly didn't lie. The offense had six turnovers in 62 plays— not including a blocked field-goal attempt.
   
The unit ran the ball 26 times for 45 yards, and six quarterbacks combined to go 16-of-36 for 122 yards with five interceptions.
   
Quarterback Donovan Porterie (9-of-15, 65 yards, one interception) and running back Rodney Ferguson (six carries, 24 yards, one touchdown) finished with respectable numbers but didn't earn their coordinator's respect with their performances Saturday.
   
"The leadership has to come from the quarterback and the running back, and it didn't come from them today," Baldwin said. "Donovan wasn't focused today. He called the wrong protection one time and the wrong play one time. When he's not good, we're not going to be good."
   
The great thing about spring practice is that a poor showing on one side of the ball means a lights-out effort on the other side.
   
Coaches usually are loath to compliments, especially so early in a new season, but defensive coordinator Troy Reffett admitted he was encouraged by what he saw— not only Saturday but during the course of the first two weeks of spring drills.
   
"I think that the effort with the first group is pretty good," he said. "The second and third group have to pick up their effort. It seems like tonight there wasn't as much yelling by the coaches at the younger guys to get lined up right. If we can get them to line up right and play hard, we have a shot."
   
The defense set the tone on the second offensive series, blocking James Aho's 32-yard field-goal attempt.
  
  McPeek's 28-yard interception return for a score signaled the beginning of the defensive dominance that lasted throughout the scrimmage.
   
Head coach Rocky Long said he liked his players' tenacity but saw enough mistakes on both sides of the ball to show UNM has a lot of work ahead in its last week of spring practice.
   
"I thought that the collisions tonight were pretty crisp, and I thought that people were aggressive," he said. "I thought we didn't execute very well. The most obvious was the offense, because we were dropping the ball, but a lot of defensive guys weren't executing as well as they should have, either.
   
"We're not progressing as fast as I'd like. We have to get better faster."
   
But as is the norm this time of year, the defense showed it's further along than the offense.
   
"We've had some guys that we wanted to show up and make a move, and they've done that," Reffett said. "Terel Anyaibe has been a bright spot; he's helped solidify that third linebacker spot. It seems like the defensive line has been pretty solid. I thought Kendall Briscoe showed up quite a bit tonight."
   
The offensive scores came against the third-team defense. Ferguson scored from 5 yards, and backup tailback James Wright had a 1-yard run.
   
"I don't care if it's the third defense against the first offense; we better stop 'em," Reffett said. "But I thought that third group didn't back down and fought pretty good. Biren made a couple of good plays for us."
   
Baldwin said the offense had made daily progress until its last two gatherings.
   
A chance for redemption, however, is only the next practice away.
   
"That's the great thing about spring," he said. "And the light will go on. We're in a tunnel right now, and it's not a locomotive coming at us. There's an opening with a light at the end. But we've just entered the tunnel so we've got to go harder and harder, and we'll come out of it."
   
Well? UNM Keeping Quiet

  
  University of New Mexico representatives were tight-lipped about their meeting Friday with the NCAA Infractions Committee in Indianapolis.
   
The school met with the committee to answer three allegations of major rules violations involving two former football assistant coaches helping student-athletes commit academic fraud.
   
"The only thing I can say is we had our hearing; we had a chance to present our side of the story," UNM athletics director Paul Krebs said of the eight-hour meeting. "I thought we did a good job of presenting our case. It was a very fair, very thorough process."
   
Krebs said UNM could not comment on the actual proceedings. Coach Rocky Long had no comment on the matter.
   
Krebs said the infractions committee would render a decision on any further action in eight to 10 weeks.