The smell of grilled hotdogs and burgers in the air, boozed-up football fans and a sea of red stretching from CNM to University Stadium can only mean one thing: it’s the Lobo football home-opener.
As expected, the first Lobo football game of the season saw a good turnout, as it had for the last two seasons.
There is always a good turnout for the first game, but as the losses pile up, fans just simply look for something less depressing to do. Luckily for the fans who showed up, we were treated to a pretty good, albeit low-scoring, game.
The Lobos could easily have come out with a win against CSU. They looked sharp on defense, but in the end it was the poor play of the offense that cost them the game.
The big boys up front have a lot of work to do with the offensive line, having allowed 10 sacks on Saturday. On nearly every passing play the pocket collapsed and quarterback Tarean Austin was forced to tuck the ball and run.
Fortunately for the Lobos, he was pretty good at it: The offense relied mostly on Austin’s legs. Part of the poor passing game can also be attributed to receivers running the wrong routes.
Offense had ball security issues, fumbling a total of six times and losing three of them to CSU.
It also didn’t help that the Lobos converted only 5 of 17 third downs.
Despite the Lobos having more total yards of offense and a longer time of possession, they just could not pull off the win.
Offense’s one redeeming factor was James Wright’s power running.
If there’s one kind of running back we like, it’s one who steam-rolls defenders, which James did on several occasions. He averaged 5.4 yards a carry on Saturday.
The defense, on the other hand, came up huge against CSU. They held the Rams to only 92 rushing yards and 270 yards of total offense.
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Linebackers Carmen Messina and Dallas Bollema held the defense together with a combined 21 tackles. The strong duo made up for an undersized defensive line.
The biggest moment for defense came with 1:57 left in the game, when the Lobos stopped a fourth-down conversion attempt by CSU that would have surely ended the game. With that stop, the offense had one more crack at the end zone for the go-ahead score that would win the game, except the offense didn’t come through.
If there is one thing to criticize about the defense, it would be its pass rush. It seems like CSU quarterback Pete Thomas had as long as he wanted to throw. Despite this, Thomas only had 178 yards and one touchdown.
When you think of an offense allowing 10 sacks and losing three fumbles, you think of a 30-point blowout, but the Lobos stayed in the game thanks to the tough play of the defense. If the offense can fix its pass protection, its route running and its ball security, there is no reason why the Lobos can’t give opponents a lot of problems this season.
