The University of New Mexico football team will be seeking revenge Saturday when it takes on Baylor University.
The Lobos (1-2, 0-1 MWC) return to non-league action this weekend in a rematch of last year's 16-13 overtime loss that took place in Waco, Texas.
The Lobos lost last Saturday in a tough, down-to-the-wire game to the Air Force Academy 38-31 in overtime. The game was the Mountain West Conference opener for both UNM and AFA. The Lobos will have to move on from last week's hard-fought loss if they want to beat Baylor this week.
"You've got to forget about it," linebacker Billy Strothers said. "We've got to get prepared for Baylor and we just have to win."
The Bears (1-1) were more fortunate than UNM last week, defeating Division I-AA independent Samford University handily by a score of 50-12.
Baylor was led by running back Jonathan Golden who scored a school-record six touchdowns while rushing for 108 yards. Golden was named Big 12 offensive player of the week, the first time such an honor has been given to a Baylor player.
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Several players for UNM had good games against Air Force last weekend. Quarterback Casey Kelly had a season high 213 yards and also ran for two touchdowns.
Quincy Wright kept his brilliant season going with 145 yards rushing and two catches for 68 yards including a dazzling run after the catch that resulted in a touchdown.
The passing game did a much better job last week in opening up the field than it did in the previous games but there is still room for improvement, according to junior wide receiver Dwight Counter.
"The passing game needs to improve for us to move the chains on third down," he said. "We're going to have to make more plays as a group."
Most people will remember that when UNM and Baylor met last year, a few critical plays ended up deciding the ball game.
The Lobos had several chances at scoring and could not put the ball in the endzone after getting inside the Bailor 5-yard line three times. The most crucial play in last year's game came when Jarrod Baxter fumbled the ball heading into the endzone on 4th and 2 in overtime. Counter agrees that the game came down to a couple of big plays.
"At the end we had a chance to win it," Counter said. "A key play kind of changed that for us."
This year Counter and the rest of the team look to return the favor - except without overtime.
This is only the third time the two teams have met. So far, the Bears have had the Lobos' number. Baylor beat UNM 38-2 in 1984 and last year in overtime.
The Lobos have not defeated a member of the current Big 12 since 1984 - a stretch of 13 games. In that season, UNM beat Texas Tech University 29-24. The Red Raiders were members of the Southwest Conference at the time.
Game time is set for 6:05 p.m. Saturday. The game will not be televised but can be heard on 770 KKOB AM. A crowd of more than 30,000 is expected.