The story lines are similar for the UNM football team and the University of Wyoming entering their match-up Saturday: both teams are struggling to find an identity on different sides of the football.
As the Lobos (1-3 overall, 0-1 in the Mountain West Conference) search for some offense, the Cowboys (2-2, 0-1) are struggling on defense and with turnovers, head coach Vic Koenning said, has been the difference for his team this year.
"It's pretty easy to see why the two games we've lost is that we committed turnovers - we had five last week and I think a couple against (Texas) A&M that were costly," Koenning said. "The times we've not done that, we've won. We played badly last week, and we can't expect to play that poorly and win too many games."
He is speaking of last week's 42-14 trouncing at the hands of Colorado State University. But where the Wyoming defense is struggling, the Cowboy air attack has flourished. Quarterback Casey Bramlett is averaging more than 270 passing yards per game, yet Koenning sees a potential problem for the sophomore as he lines up across the attacking Lobo defense, which has racked up 14 sacks this season.
"The obvious difference is that you can't sit back and throw the ball, and it's hard to protect." Koenning said "(UNM head coach Rocky Long's) scheme is sound and the most important thing is he's got a lot of talented players executing it. That's what makes it a dominating defense."
UNM quarterback Casey Kelly's insertion into last week's 37-16 loss against the University of Utah seemed to ignite the UNM offense as he led the Lobos to 241 yards of total offense.
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Long said that since the Lobos are giving up the second-most passing yards in the conference, they'll likely need to put points on the board to offset some of that deficiency.
And against the down-and-out Wyoming defense, Kelly may get a chance to accomplish that.
"We're just going to have to play our game like we know how to play it," Kelly said. "We're going to have to adjust to what Wyoming does and attack them where they're weakest."
That would be both the passing and rushing defense, where Wyoming is ranked next-to-last and last, respectively, in the Mountain West.
After running for 95 yards last week against Utah, Jarrod Baxter is now ranked second in the conference, behind Utah's Dameon Hunter.
But Long said that, although the Lobos have had success running the ball this year, the team is still seeking a way to leave its reserved offensive scheme behind.
"We're not going for ball control," Long said. "Last year the emphasis was keep the ball away from them so the defense could rest and keep the score close so we have a chance to win at the end."
The UNM defense is smarting this week after giving up 23 unanswered second-half points last week and with the Lobos clinging to a slim 16-14 lead.
The team was physically manhandled by Utah as the Utes held the ball for nearly 10 minutes more than the UNM offense and Hunter racked up 177 rushing yards.
Still, members of the defensive unit remain confident.
"That is something that just can't happen," safety Scott Gerhardt said. "There's a lot of things that we need to fix and get done, but I don't think anybody's really panicking. If you look at us at this time last year, we were 1-3 and we were able to turn it around. So what people need to do is stay confident and we need to be able to shut teams down."
The Lobos won last year's meeting versus Wyoming in Albuquerque by a score of 45-10, with running back Holmon Wiggins rushing for a career-high 168 yards.
However, UNM has not won on Wyoming's home field since 1982.
Game time is slated for 1 p.m. with KRQE-TV providing television coverage and KOB-AM broadcasting it on radio.
