HE SAT SLUMPED on the locker room staircase, his hair standing up, shirt rumpled, and his good luck bracelet dangling uselessly from his wrist. It was that kind of an afternoon for Ute coach Ron McBride. His free safety failed to fall on a fumble that may have clinched the game. His long snapper botched a field goal attempt by skidding the ball across the grass. His defense couldn't hold on a crucial fourth-and-three. And the Utes could no longer count themselves among the undefeated teams in the country.
"I hope," said McBride, "we learned something."In terms of enjoyable days, Saturday was an official disaster for the Utes. They dropped back into a tie for the WAC lead. Their perfect season was over. McBride was even thinking of throwing away his lucky bracelet. "I don't know what I'll do," he shrugged, when asked about the bracelet. "I don't know."
The Utes' 23-21 loss to New Mexico qualified as a textbook case on what it's like to be on everyone's Most Wanted list. Everyone wants you to make their day. Beating anyone is good news in New Mexico, where the Lobos have had only one winning season - last year's 6-5 mark - in the last 11 years. But beating an undefeated, league-leading, top 10 team is another matter.
"We can just consider this a wake-up call," said Ute punter Jason Jones.
If the Utes were wearing impressive credentials going into the game, it wasn't as though New Mexico was exactly hiding in the bushes. The Lobos had beaten the Utes in the previous two seasons. This couldn't be the very same Utes, could it? So what were THEY doing in the top 10?
Long known as a dreadful football town with dreadful football teams, word was out early that this week's game could be something unusual - even better than watching the balloon festival. New Mexico officials announced the game would be a sellout for only the second time in the school's history. It was an official Big Game.
Sticking with the traditional pregame spin, Lobo coach Dennis Franchione called the Utes "almost insurmountable," and added, "I don't know if they have any real weaknesses. They're giving up no yards and no points and they're getting lots of yards and points. They're the real deal."
Nevertheless, that didn't mean he couldn't daydream. When a radio caller suggested if the Lobos won the game, fans should tear down the goal posts, Franchione replied, "We win, I'll help you."
True to form, once Utah kicker Dan Pulsipher's desperation 68-yard field goal went only 40 yards, and the Lobos had handed the Utes their first loss of the season, fans stormed the field. Security personnel held off the crowd on the north end zone, but the other goal post went down like the Berlin Wall.
"New Mexico's basically out of the WAC race," said Jones. "There's nothing they'd rather do than knock off a top 20 team."
It wasn't as though the Utes weren't ready to play. They just weren't ready to play all afternoon. After bolting to a 21-3 lead in the first half, they went home. They played 30 minutes of football in a 60-minute game and spent the rest of the day celebrating someone else's homecoming.
The Utah offense, which ran up 305 yards in the first half, managed just 166 the second half. The defense, ranked in the top 10 nationally in several categories, gave up a crucial late-game flat pass than went for 56 yards. A bad snap cost the Utes a field goal that would have put them ahead 24-20 with four minutes left.
"I told them `Here's how you win and here's how you lose, and here's the reason we lost today,' " said McBride.
Shortly thereafter, the Utes filed glumly from the locker room to an awaiting bus. It was as upbeat as a mortician's convention. The Utes were taking no consolation.
"This is like the worst. It's like our bubble was burst. Now all we can do is see if we can make it 10-1," said wide receiver Curtis Marsh.
And get used to being on everyone's hit list. "I remember my first year, in 1988, when we had nothing to play for except to beat BYU," continued Jones. "Just to knock them off was what we were playing for. I guess when you're ranked, that's the way it's going to be."
Unless, of course, they have more days like Saturday.