New Mexico has been an annoying irritant for Utah in recent seasons, owing mainly to former coach Rocky Long's bewildering defensive schemes and the Lobos' general feistiness.

But Long is long gone and the Lobos have pretty much gone to the dogs in his absence. The No. 17 Utes barely broke a sweat in hammering New Mexico 45-14 at Rice-Eccles Stadium Saturday night, setting up next week's showdown with TCU in Fort Worth, Texas.

For the Lobos, it was simply more of the same Saturday. New Mexico fell to 0-9 overall and 0-5 in the Mountain West in what can only be described as a catastrophic first season for Long's replacement, Mike Locksley -- who has been besieged by allegations of sexual harassment and was suspended for 10 days after punching one of his assistant coaches.

By the looks of it, things won't get better anytime soon. New Mexico has really only been competitive in two games this year -- a pair of three-point losses to New Mexico State and San Diego State. Everything else has fallen into the debacle category, and Saturday night the Utes rampaged on to the list. UNM managed 334 total yards, 82 rushing. And after tying things up at 7-7 in the first quarter on Donovan Porterie's sweet-looking 59-yard bomb to Ty Kirk, the Lobos surrendered 38 unanswered points. Locksley could almost see it coming.

"This [past] Thursday was the first practice that I felt like when we came out, we didn't get better, and I was concerned about that going into tonight," he said.

Actually, the Lobos were still in the game at halftime, trailing just 17-7. But the Utes scored 21 points during a nine-minute span in the third quarter to bust it right open.

But the rookie New Mexico coach sees brighter days ahead. "We have a lot of pride and I know we can play," he said. "Right now the big thing is to finish this the right way for our seniors."

Based upon Saturday's night's performance, that seems like a pretty tall order.