It is an ancient Mariner,
And he stoppeth one of three.
By thy long beard and glittering eye,
He stoppeth Mike Locksley.
…Day after day, day after day,
The Lobos stuck, nor
breath nor motion;
Ten games in without a win,
Mike Locksley’s finally free.
Curse ye, Colorado State. Curse ye, for ruining the UNM football team’s quest for imperfection.
The Rams, entering Saturday’s contest riding a seven-game losing streak — outdone only by the Lobos, who had lost 14 consecutive games dating back to last year — looked like they had swapped uniforms with UNM at University Stadium.
(Note to Athletics Director Paul Krebs: This slim 29-27 win for the Lobos doesn’t merit a contract extension for Locksley. Just making sure you know.)
And now, the Albatross has finally been removed from Locksley’s neck. The Lobos were such easy picking — as dice-able as tomatoes — until Saturday.
Well, it was a good run. Ten weeks without having to eat my words? I, like Locksley, have lost about 30 pounds this season as a result.
Nope, I’m not going to rain on Locksley’s parade.
Credit is due — long overdue, for that matter. See, I’ve been waiting to hand it out all season, Locksley. I’m not that hard to please.
No matter how high the tides swelled, or how many of his cohorts fled, the embattled coach continued to fend off what probably seemed like the Spanish Armada.
Forced to walk the plank by the media, Locksley was drowning amid a sea of dysfunction and salty criticism lobbed at him from every angle imaginable — until the Rams threw him a life jacket on Saturday.
Regardless, he, and more importantly the players, came through against the Rams.
The offense looked the best it had all year, amassing 467 yards, 270 on the ground. Running backs Kasey Carrier and Demond Dennis looked better than advertised.
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Dennis rushed for 133 yards on just seven carries, a whopping average of 19 yards per carry. Carrier, who scrapped his redshirt this year to fill in when Dennis got injured earlier in the season, dashed for 88 yards and made several CSU defenders whiff.
“This is a glimpse of what it’s like when we are executing and hitting on all cylinders,” Locksley said. “To me, the only stat that matters is the ‘W’ or the ‘L’ at the end of the day.”
The defense, too, came up with key, game-changing stops. James Aho was money, instead of Monopoly money, like he was a week ago.
Still, the Lobos finally got their missing ingredient: a sprinkle of luck.
Down 27-26, the Lobos forced CSU into a three-and-out. Disaster almost struck again — in which case President Obama would have needed to declare a state of emergency.
CSU punter Pete Kontodiakos shanked a 27-yard punt which glanced off an unabated Lobo blocker. This time, the Lobos recovered — the rest is history.
Locksley was doused with Gatorade, and despite frigid temperatures, looked warm, his heart no doubt heated by inspiration and pride.
Surprisingly, Locksley didn’t well up at the podium.
Though it wasn’t a bid at an Earth-stopping, axis-changing upset of then-No. 22 BYU, UNM desperately needed this win over CSU — for the players and for the coaches.
You could hear it in the voice of quarterback Donovan Porterie, who overcame a late-game interception that capsized the Lobos’ fourth-quarter lead from 23-21 to 27-23.
All of the miscues — for once, they didn’t matter.
This victory, Porterie said, is “somewhere around like the bowl victory for the first time in like 50 years. It was just a very emotional night for us.”
The self-same moment Locksley begged;
And from his neck so free
The Albatross fell off, and sank
Like lead into the sea.
“I’m hoping this is the first victory in a long career as a head coach,” Locksley said.
Excerpts were taken from Taylor Coleridge’s poem, “Rime of the Ancient Mariner.”
