Utah Utes football notebook: Utes not looking past lowly Lobos

SALT LAKE CITY — Coach Kyle Whittingham is saying all the right things about playing at lowly New Mexico this week, how the Lobos "have good athletes" and how they should have only been down 31-24 at halftime against Texas Tech, except for a touchdown taken away, etc., etc.

But even if Whittingham knows the 14th-ranked Utes are heavy favorites this week, he also knows that it's never easy for the Utes playing in Albuquerque, where they have lost three of five games since 2000.

Utah's two road wins came in their two undefeated seasons, and they weren't exactly easy. The Utes' defense dominated in both victories as they broke away from a 7-7 tie for a 28-7 win in 2004 and held the Lobos off at the end for a 13-10 victory in 2008.

Utah has lost to the Lobos twice at home in the past decade, making it 5-5 between the two teams since 2000.

Even though the Lobos are 1-13 in two years under coach Mike Locksley and have been outscored 124-17 this year, the Utes are trying not to look past them.

"We need to have the right mentality, a good work ethic and good focus and I think our guys are focused right now," said Whittingham.

PUNTING WOES: One of the main things the Utes have to correct this week is their punting game.

After having their second punt blocked in two games — the same number they've had blocked in the past five years — punting has been a priority in practice.

Rather than blame punter Sean Sellwood for being too slow to get his kicks off or blaming poor blocking, Whittingham has put it on the coaches' shoulders.

"The scheme is sound, we've just to coach it better and execute better," he said. "It's the same scheme we've used for a lot of years and a lot of teams use it. It's not schematic issues, it's making sure we have proper technique."

Whittingham did acknowledge Sellwood has been a little slow and that the biggest problem has been with the three blockers directly in front of the punter.

"We've got to get the ball out quicker," he said. "The front blocking is not the problem. We've had a little problem with the back end. We've just got to coach it better and that's the bottom line."

UTE NOTES: Saturday's kickoff is at 6 p.m. and the game will be televised on The mtn. ... This will be the first road trip for many young players and Whittingham told the new guys in a meeting this week "to watch the veterans and act how they act." ... This could be the last Utah-New Mexico game for a while in a series that dates back to 1939 and stands 32-17-2 in Utah's favor.

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