New coach puts opening loss in past, turns focus to TU.
Mike Locksley isn't dwelling on a Saturday's 41-6 loss at Texas A&M in his debut as New Mexico's head football coach. He had the rest of the weekend to do that.
"We have the 48-hour rule," Locksley explained during Tuesday's Mountain West teleconference.
"Whether you win or lose, you have Saturday and Sunday to enjoy (a win) or to get it out of your system. And then you come back Monday and get ready to get things corrected and move forward," he said.
Forward takes the Lobos into Saturday's home opener against the University of Tulsa in Albuquerque.
The Golden Hurricane celebrated the rededication of new Chapman Stadium last year by plundering the Lobos 56-14. TU opened the 2009 season with a 37-13 win at Tulane last Friday.
"I told our kids that (Tulsa) is a team that has 'big play' written all over them," said Locksley, who spent the past four years as Illinois' offensive coordinator.
"They can put 70 on the board pretty quickly if you're not sound fundamentally in all three phases. They've got a tremendous returner in the kicking game (Damaris Johnson), and defensively they are really athletic and run well. They present a heckuva challenge."
Tulsa may be playing the Lobos at a good time. Locksley has been an outstanding recruiter everywhere he's been, and he's already winning that phase of the game with the Lobos.
In his first offseason in Albuquerque, he persuaded in-state, blue-chip running back Demond Dennis to join the Lobos. Dennis made
his first collegiate start against Texas A&M.
By August, Locksley had three commitments for his 2010 recruiting class. While that doesn't compare with TU's 15 commitments, former UNM coach Rocky Long never had more at a comparable stage in his 11 years.
"I thought that the first (recruiting) class gave us a solid foundation, and we felt coming in that we had a pretty strong foundation of players who were left here for us," he said.
The Lobos may be better than they showed in the opening loss. They did allow the Aggies to run up 606 yards, but most of it came in the second half, after the game got out of hand.
TU coach Todd Graham said the Lobos "ran in to a buzzsaw at A&M. They played very close for most of the game, but turnovers hurt them. They played 96 plays on defense. They played extremely hard and well for the first half or three quarters. They just got worn down."
Offensively, the Lobos return starting quarterback Donovan Porterie, who has 4,555 passing yards over four seasons, and three of the five linemen who helped them rank 16th nationally in rushing last year. But they lost Rodney Ferguson, a 1,000-yard rusher last season, and used only Dennis and redshirt freshman A.J. Butler in his place at A&M.
Mike Locksley isn't dwelling on a Saturday's 41-6 loss at Texas A&M in his debut as New Mexico's head football coach. He had the rest of the weekend to do that.
"We have the 48-hour rule," Locksley explained during Tuesday's Mountain West teleconference.
"Whether you win or lose, you have Saturday and Sunday to enjoy (a win) or to get it out of your system. And then you come back Monday and get ready to get things corrected and move forward," he said.
Forward takes the Lobos into Saturday's home opener against the University of Tulsa in Albuquerque.
The Golden Hurricane celebrated the rededication of new Chapman Stadium last year by plundering the Lobos 56-14. TU opened the 2009 season with a 37-13 win at Tulane last Friday.
"I told our kids that (Tulsa) is a team that has 'big play' written all over them," said Locksley, who spent the past four years as Illinois' offensive coordinator.
"They can put 70 on the board pretty quickly if you're not sound fundamentally in all three phases. They've got a tremendous returner in the kicking game (Damaris Johnson), and defensively they are really athletic and run well. They present a heckuva challenge."
Tulsa may be playing the Lobos at a good time. Locksley has been an outstanding recruiter everywhere he's been, and he's already winning that phase of the game with the Lobos.
In his first offseason in Albuquerque, he persuaded in-state, blue-chip running back Demond Dennis to join the Lobos. Dennis made
his first collegiate start against Texas A&M.
By August, Locksley had three commitments for his 2010 recruiting class. While that doesn't compare with TU's 15 commitments, former UNM coach Rocky Long never had more at a comparable stage in his 11 years.
"I thought that the first (recruiting) class gave us a solid foundation, and we felt coming in that we had a pretty strong foundation of players who were left here for us," he said.
The Lobos may be better than they showed in the opening loss. They did allow the Aggies to run up 606 yards, but most of it came in the second half, after the game got out of hand.
TU coach Todd Graham said the Lobos "ran in to a buzzsaw at A&M. They played very close for most of the game, but turnovers hurt them. They played 96 plays on defense. They played extremely hard and well for the first half or three quarters. They just got worn down."
Offensively, the Lobos return starting quarterback Donovan Porterie, who has 4,555 passing yards over four seasons, and three of the five linemen who helped them rank 16th nationally in rushing last year. But they lost Rodney Ferguson, a 1,000-yard rusher last season, and used only Dennis and redshirt freshman A.J. Butler in his place at A&M.
