2011-2012 Football Previews – Mountain West Conference – New Mexico Lobos
The New Mexico Lobos continued their loosing ways in 2010, their third bowl-less season in a row. Now their conference is tougher and their quarterback situation is as dicey as it gets.
2011 MWC | New Mexico Lobos Football Preview
Coach: Mike Locksley
2010-11 Record: 1-11 (1-7)
MVC Championship Odds: 150-1
New Mexico Lobos Gambling Odds from Bodog.com to win BCS: 50-1
New Mexico Team Page – Players Stats – Roster – 2011 Schedule –>
New Mexico went into the 2010 season with hopes to turn it around, but it was déjà vu all over again for the Lobos when they failed to win more than one game for the second straight year.
It’s hard to think of a reason why Mike Locksley is still the head coach for a team that has a .063 winning percentage since he took the reigns, but again the team will look to surprise in 2011, something they have failed to do since 2007 when they won nine games including a 23-0 victory in the New Mexico Bowl against Nevada.
Locksley became the head coach for the program because of his well-rounded experience as a coach during his nearly 20 years coaching in Division-I football. But things have just not panned out for the 41-year old.
Let’s take a look at how the team will fair in Locksley’s second full season as the head coach, looking at both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball.
Offense:
The biggest concern for the entire team is the strange quarterback situation, which consists of three very young quarterbacks, all injury riddled, and all unsuccessful in their previous experience.
Junior B.R. Holbrook leads the group, if you could call it that, getting the most opportunities. But in 2010 Holbrook only had a passer rating of 92.1, passing for just 619 yards on 119 attempts, tossing only two touchdowns and throwing six picks.
This is perhaps the biggest head scratcher in all of Division-I football, and if Locksley doesn’t get lucky with one of his young quarterbacks; he could be out the door before the season reaches its middle mark.
The story is the same in every other area of the team’s offense, with no one player stepping up to be a consistent player.
In the running game, the team has two players with just over 100 carries in Kasey Carrier and Stump Godfrey (one of the quarterbacks seemingly in limbo), and one with 89 carries in James Wright.
The receiving corps is in the same boat as the rest of the offense, with no one player looking like they can make an impact every game.
In 2010, the offense only averaged 15.8 points per game, while the defense gave up 44.3.
Defense:
Consider all the bloated stats for the Lobos’ defense out the window, as they were on the field so often that if you put an all star at the middle linebacker position, he might just get over 200 tackles. [soliloquy id=”82219″]
In 2010, the defense let the team get past the stick nearly 50 percent of the time on third downs.
It’s one of the worst defenses in the nation statistically, but much of that can be credited to Oakland Raider-like offense backing them up.
The defense never really had a chance to succeed, with the offense giving up 46 turnovers throughout the season.
This year seems to be no different, and if the team’s coach can turn it around, it would shock the whole nation. The Lobos hasn’t gotten any big-name recruits on the defensive side of the ball, let alone the lowly offense.
The defense has talent, but that talent has no chance of succeeding with the squad on the other side of the ball.
2011 New Mexico Prediction: 7th in MWC
Not much ammunition to defend this team, and the only reason they didn’t get the prediction of dead last in the Mountain West, is because their only victory in 2010 came against rival the Wyoming Cowboys.
2011 New Mexico Lobos Schedule
9/3/11 6:00 PM ET COLST
9/10/11 12:00 PM ET @ARK
9/17/11 3:30 PM ET TXTCH
9/24/11 6:00 PM ET SAM
10/1/11 7:00 PM ET NMXST
10/15/11 12:00 PM ET @NEV
10/22/11 2:00 PM ET @TCU
10/29/11 2:00 PM ET AIRFC
11/5/11 8:00 PM ET @SDST
11/12/11 10:00 PM ET UNLV
11/19/11 2:00 PM ET @WYOM
12/3/11 6:00 PM ET @BOIST
