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The only two Colorado residents on New Mexico's 2007 roster haven't been assigned jersey numbers, which tells you a lot about how much and how often the Lobos recruit in this border state.

"It sounds funny, doesn't it?" says University of New Mexico football coach Rocky Long.

As with so many things in big-time college sports, what seems like common sense collides headlong with dollars and cents. Thus, New Mexico is MIA in Colorado.

"We can fly to L.A. and we can fly to Dallas, Texas, three times for what it costs us to fly to Denver," Long explains. "That means we can bring three recruits in for the same price it costs us to bring in one recruit from Denver. We can bring Õem in from Tampa cheaper than it costs us to fly to Denver."

The topic comes to mind as New Mexico prepares to host Colorado State on Saturday at University Stadium - a game New Mexico desperately needs to help its bowl chances and Colorado State desperately needs, period.

The Lobos haven't always been averse to recruiting next door. At one time, many years ago, New Mexico spent plenty of time in Colorado, and had the players to show for it. Example: Its second-leading career tackler, Blake Irwin, hails from Boulder, and Lobos lineups often were sprinkled with athletes from the state.

Now? Meet walk-ons Thomas Littleton of Aurora, Colo., and Drew Zamora of Colorado Springs. That's it.

By comparison, five Floridians are on New Mexico's roster, and even three Mississippians.

Long says he knows and likes the area - he recruited south Denver to the New Mexico state line while an assistant coach at Wyoming.

"It's pretty good high school football," he says.

But as Long outlined, and many an Albuquerque traveler can attest, the cost of flying north is high - and we're not talking altitude.

"They keep saying Southwest is going to fly direct there," Long says. "As soon as Southwest flies direct there, we'll recruit more there.

"I keep hearing `What do you need?' There's one of them right there," Long continued. "We need a bigger recruiting budget, where we don't have to worry about stuff like that. I mean, I have to worry about that. I have to worry about where I send our coaches. Three trips for the cost of one? Sounds pretty frugal to me to recruit Dallas, Texas, more than Denver. Doesn't it to you?"

Weather report: It's perhaps a sign of the times and UNM officials' worries about attendance that the Lobos' weekly media release includes the forecast for Saturday's game against Colorado State: a balmy-for-November 65 degrees.

As of Tuesday, UNM had sold 22,400 tickets - nothing to swoon over given the Lobos' 6-3 record and opportunity to play in a bowl game.

Tickets are in such plentiful supply that there's a special promotion for the two final home games, allowing fans to buy one ticket for the CSU and UNLV contests for $15.

Final word on TCU: Long doesn't pretend to defend UNM's play in a 37-0 loss to the Horned Frogs. His assessment, in a nutshell - TCU was great and New Mexico was horrible.

But Long did gain a new measure of respect for his team after the defense refused to give up a touchdown late in the game.

"Our team's got great heart," he said. "They played lousy. But they've got great heart. Ninety percent of the teams in the country would have rolled over and let Õem walk into the end zone in that situation."

First scores: It's important, particularly for these two teams. Colorado State is 71-19 since 1993 when the Rams score first in a game. New Mexico hasn't been beaten this season when it scores first.

Hatten out: Sylvester Hatten, the 308-pound offensive tackle, who left the Lobos last week, is not back and won't be for awhile, Long said.

"He's done for the next three weeks," Long said.

Asked if Hatten could return if the Lobos play in a December bowl game, the coach replied: "It all depends on what kind of understanding the young man and I can come to."