New Mexico coach Mike Locksley had a good feeling about his team after training camp. He thought his players had confidence and would be able to avoid making some of the silly errors that plagued them at times through the course of a 1-11 season in 2009.

Then came Oregon.

The Lobos suffered the worst defeat of Week 1, an embarrassing performance filled with one error after another in a 72-0 loss to the Ducks. It was their largest margin of defeat since losing to Fresno State 94-17 in 1991.

"I know after last week’s loss there’s a lot of apathy toward the program, but I really do believe in this team," Locksley said Tuesday. "We’ve worked hard, and we’re going to do everything we can to bounce back this week. No one’s more disappointed than we are. We know we're a better team than we showed last Saturday."

Locksley had more than just drama on the field last season. He got into a highly publicized fight with an assistant coach, and served a one-game suspension for his role in the altercation. Locksley also was named in a sexual harassment suit. Athletic director Paul Krebs warned Locksley that any more off-the-field incidents could lead to his dismissal.

But this season clearly did not start the way Locksley had envisioned. Oregon is never an easy place to play, and the Lobos certainly were facing a Top 25 opponent on the road. But a 14-0 deficit quickly mushroomed into a 59-0 hole at the half thanks to three turnovers and two punt returns for a touchdown.

Watching from the sideline, all Locksley could see was one mistake snowballing into another.

"That’s the part of the game we talk about called the onslaught," he said. "When you play in a hostile environment, we’ve got to do our best job of fighting through that onslaught. It's surreal when you sit there on the sideline and you witness interceptions, fumbles, two punt returns go back and this is in the span with a minute left in first quarter to the second quarter."

What did he say at halftime?

"There’s nothing we could do about the first half," he said. "What we challenged our guys to do -- let’s treat the second half as a second game. We just need to focus on executing. The bright spot for us was seeing the effort of our players. They didn’t quit."

There were still turnovers that led to points, though. In all, New Mexico had five turnovers that led to 24 points. Oregon rolled up 720 total yards, while New Mexico had eight total first downs behind first-year starting quarterback B.R. Holbrook and 107 yards of total offense.

Locksley maintains the errors can be corrected. But the task does not get any easier this week with Texas Tech coming to town. Add to that the possibility that the team could be without Carmen Messina, who led the nation with 162 tackles last season. Messina has a high ankle sprain and Locksley does not know his availability for the game.

"As I told the team yesterday, when you have five turnovers and two punts run back ... you won’t beat a high school team doing that," he said. "The best thing is fumbles and interceptions can be corrected. If I felt we were outmanned or physically beat, I’d be concerned."