The University of New Mexico’s football team is getting ready to begin its season in just over three weeks. The team is currently playing its way through training camp in Ruidoso—a 12-day stint that head coach Mike Locksley uses to build team unity, not tear up the Lobos’ home field before the season begins, and also build players’ stamina by practicing in higher elevation.While the specter of the near-fruitless previous season is sure to rest on many of the Lobos’ minds, the simple truth is that it would be difficult to do as poorly as the team did last year. Opening the season against Colorado State gives the Lobos and their fans something to cheer for. That being said, the next two games (Arkansas, Texas Tech) will be shocking if they’re not blowouts, with the Lobos on the losing end. However, for the fourth game of the season, if the Lobos don’t defeat Sam Houston State, we can all expect to read many, many appeals for the firing of coach Locksley. But the Lobos appear to be getting ready in the only way a team can: by putting the past behind them and refusing to look back. The painful one-win season is but a memory and any lingering distractions that continue to pop up are being summarily dismissed by the team at large. Of course, the biggest game of the season—for native New Mexicans at least—is always the New Mexico State game, which will be played this year in Albuquerque on October 1. Given the way last year went, the restrictions on the program from former head coach Rocky Long’s tenure, and the promise that the Lobos showed in a handful of moments (if not full games), the mood seems cautiously optimistic around town. Certainly, no one is singing the praises of the team non-stop, but the Lobos have always been a proud football team, if not a winning one, and the return to better days appears near.
Lobo Football Refuses To Look Back
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