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Saturday, Oct. 16 8:00pm ET
BYU turns Lobos' mistakes into TDs | |||||
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BOX SCORE
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) -- Although LaVell Edwards and Brigham Young (No. 20 ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll, No. 21 AP) don't usually need help to beat New Mexico, the Lobos provided plenty Saturday night in the Cougars' 31-7 win. A roughing-the-punter penalty, a bad decision on a kickoff return and a 10-yard punt led to three BYU touchdowns in the first quarter as the Cougars (5-1, 2-0 Mountain West) ran their record against the Lobos to 26-2 under Edwards.
Kevin Feterik, the nation's total offense leader, passed for a season-low 211 yards, but it didn't matter given New Mexico's punchless offense and the work of BYU's tenacious defense. "The first quarter was a series of turning points that put the game out of reach," New Mexico coach Rocky Long said. New Mexico had BYU stopped at the Cougars' 12-yard line on the opening drive of the game, but roughed punter Jesse Sowards. That kept alive the BYU drive that ended with a 2-yard touchdown run by Naufahu Tahi. Feterik, averaging 354 yards of total offense, was 14-of-25 in the first half. He completed just one more pass before leaving near the end of the third quarter. Feterik has taken numerous hits this season and said after the game he was bothered by a thigh bruise. "I could have kept playing, but we were up 31-0," he said. A lightning storm, which delayed the start of the second half for 43 minutes, was the only thing that slowed down the Cougars. When play resumed, BYU freshman Lucas Staley went 61 yards untouched on BYU's first play from scrimmage for a 31-0 lead. New Mexico (2-4, 1-1) finished with minus 10 yards rushing, had 124 total yards and quarterback Sean Stein was sacked seven times. The Lobos' rushing yards were the second lowest in school history, behind a minus 56 yards against Texas in 1988. "Our defense was so outstanding," Edwards said. "I don't think they got four or five first downs against our first team." The Lobos averted the shutout when Stein threw a 5-yard scoring pass to Germany Thompson with 3:50 left in the game. BYU scored on its first three possessions. Tahi scored again later in the first quarter from the 2 and Feterik found Bristol Olomua on a 4-yard TD pass, all in the first quarter. After Tahi's first touchdown, New Mexico's Reginal Johnson took the ball deep in the end zone and instead of downing it, ran it out. He was stopped at the Lobos 6. The BYU defense held, and the Cougars began their next drive at midfield. A 34-yard pass from Feterik to Staley set up Tahi's second score. New Mexico, which had just one first down in the first half, provided more help for BYU when Cort Moffitt's punt went just 10 yards and the Cougars started their third scoring drive from the New Mexico 37. "We knew we were going to have trouble scoring, so we tried to block the punt early on," Long said. "Then we have a bad mistake by a senior (Johnson) and then we have a lousy punt. We were mesmerized by our first quarter mistakes." A 28-yard field goal by Owen Pochman gave BYU a 24-0 halftime lead and then the lightning arrived. By the time the second half started, only about 300 of the estimated 25,000 fans on hand at the start of the game remained. Of those, most were BYU fans. | ALSO SEE College Football Scoreboard BYU Clubhouse New Mexico Clubhouse | |||||
