Defense will again be a force in New Mexico

Steve Guiremand

Thursday, Aug. 23, 2001 | 10:51 a.m.

Facts and figures on the New Mexico Lobos:

Head coach: Rocky Long (12-23, 4th season)

2000 record: 5-7 (3-4, tie for 5th in Mountain West Conference)

Returning starters: 13

Player to watch: DE Brian Johnson

Guy they'll miss: NT Henry Stephens

Key game: Nov. 17 vs. Colorado State

Sun projection: 4th place

Here's a scary thought for Mountain West Conference football caoches.

What if New Mexico had an offense that was as good as its defense?

Rocky Long's unorthodox, blitz-from-all-angles defense has been known to cause havoc for opposing offenses over the years. The Lobos, in fact, finished 17th overall in the nation in total defense last year, allowing only 309.4 yards and 20.8 points per game. And, New Mexico had a conference high 46 sacks.

But what kept New Mexico from going to a bowl game was an offense that was just plain offensive to watch.

The Lobos finished dead last in the MWC in total offense behind even woeful Wyoming with an average of 266.6 yards per game. And if that wasn't bad enough, New Mexico did the unthinkable, finishing behind even option-oriented Air Force for last place in the MWC in pass offense, averaging a dismal 118.6 yards per game.

Despite the lack of firepower, the Lobos still came within a very questionable pass interference call of upsetting conference champ Colorado State in Fort Collins and took UNLV down to the wire before losing a 18-14 heartbreaker at Sam Boyd Stadium.

The good news for Lobo fans is that Long's defense, led by MWC sack leader Brian Johnson at defensive end and hard-nosed Stephen Persley at cornerback, is expected to be as tough as ever.

The even better news is the offense should be much improved, too.

Junior Rudy Caamano returns at quarterback following a solid first year. So does the team's two top rushers, senior bulldozer Jarrod Baxter (6-1, 250) and senior tailback Holmon Wiggins, who finished fifth in the MWC in all-purpose yards a year ago. Another senior, Javier Hanson, has been one of team's top performers in fall camp.

Perhaps more importantly, the Lobos have now had a whole year to digest offensive coordinator Dan Dodd's offense.

"We've made tremendous strides from last year," Dodd said. "I think the difference in going into camp last year versus this year is, last year we were trying to figure out how our kids fit the system. And right now they understand how they fit the system, and we've come up with a program tailor-made to this group of kids."

The Lobos lost four of their seven games last year by a combined 16 points, including a 28-20 loss to Oregon State. So even a little improvement in the team's offense could go a long way this fall.

"A big difference is the attitude," Caamano said. "Last year, we were confident, we thought we could be good. But the fact that we hadn't had success, and that there weren't many reasons for us to be excited, made us hesitant. Now, we don't want just to be competitive, we want to win and compete for a conference championship."

If the offense improves as much as Dodd believes, look for the Lobos, who get to play Colorado State, UNLV and BYU in Albuquerque, to be battling for that conference title in November.

This is the fourth in a series of stories previewing the 2001 MWC football teams. Friday: San Diego State.