August 18, 2008
Albuquerque Journal
UNM's 'O' Encouraged
By Greg Archuleta, Journal Staff WriterThe University of New Mexico football team's scrimmage for Fan Photo Day on Saturday took place in Superman's Bizarro World.
Outside was inside. Bad was good. The defense outscored the offense through the first 12 series — yet it was the offense that was encouraged.
A rain shower an hour before the scrimmage forced the Lobos from the open-air confines of University Stadium inside the indoor practice facility.
Cornerback Glover Quin returned a Donovan Porterie interception 70 yards for the first score of the 90-minute scrimmage. Porterie finally found Chris Hernandez, blanketed by cornerback DeAndre Wright for a 10-yard touchdown on the 13th offensive series.
The drive started on the Lobo defense's 25-yard line.
"I was excited," offensive coordinator Dave Baldwin said of his unit's play. "We started off (the scrimmage), and we drove. We had a nine-play drive and a 14-play drive. We stayed on the field. We've said we've got to learn to run the football, and I think we can."
Both drives bogged down outside the Lobo defense's 30, but Baldwin noted that a makeshift offensive line that featured Matt Streid at left tackle for injured Sylvester Hatten and Mike Cannon at left guard for Streid gave him reason for optimism.
"Compared to last year's fall scrimmage, we're so far ahead," Baldwin said. "The mistakes we made, we can fix. We got some holding penalties, and we wanted those so we can show them what they did wrong."
Tailback Rodney Ferguson started the scrimmage with 27 yards on his first three carries and finished with 37 yards on eight carries.
Other than the interception, Porterie was an efficient 15-of-22 for 109 yards with the one TD. The quarterbacks collectively were 24-of-34 for 189 yards.
"We were on our game early, but the defense kept us out of the end zone," Ferguson said. "So I feel it was a win for them."
Middle linebacker Zach Arnett, who was all over the field with eight tackles, wasn't celebrating — especially with the season opener against Mountain West Conference rival TCU less than two weeks away.
"We started off pretty slowly; offense moved the ball pretty easy the first 10 to 15 plays just running right at us," he said. "We're going to have to work at that. That's something we've had trouble with against TCU. We've fallen behind the last three years early. You've got to come out ready to play."
Lobo back Ian Clark led the defense with nine tackles, and eight different players collected a sack.
Hernandez was the team's leading receiver with five catches for 63 yards and the TD.
The black eye came in the kicking game. First-team kicker James Aho hit the upright on a 44-yard attempt, and he couldn't get off a 26-yard attempt because of a snap that bounced back to him.
Coach Rocky Long liked the physical play by both units.
"We're far from a finished product," he said, "but I think both sides of the ball will get better now that we don't have to play against each other and we actually start game-planning for TCU."