Anonymous | Posted: 16 Oct 1999 | Updated: 8 Nov 2020

Cougars Dominate Lobos to Remain in First Place

ALBUQUERQUE -- For the second straight week No. 20 BYU jumped out 21-0, but this time it ended in a 31-7 victory Saturday over New Mexico.

A 43-minute lightning delay after halftime dissipated the crowd of 25,301 and was the only thing that appeared to stop the Cougars who now improve to 5-1 overall. BYU stayed tied with Utah at 2-0 in the Mountain West Conference. New Mexico falls to 2-4 overall and 1-1 in league play following the game which lasted 3:42.

All of BYU's four touchdowns came from three freshmen in Albuquerque. Fullback Fahu Tahi scored the Cougars' first two TDs. BYU's initial scoring drive came after it lost the coin toss for the first time this season.

"We played exceptionally well and did a nice job starting off early," said BYU Coach LaVell Edwards. "After our opening play in the second half we went conservative the rest of the game. When you play defense like we did, it can cover up a lot of problems."

New Mexico stopped the Cougars prior to Tahi's first touchdown, but the Lobos roughed punter Jesse Sowards, giving BYU a key first down. As that initial drive continued, quarterback Kevin Feterik connected on a 36-yard pass to Margin Hooks. Hooks fumbled, but 340-pound offensive guard Matt Johnson recovered to set up Tahi's two-yard score.

Feterik completed a 34-yard pass to Luke Staley on the next drive to set up Fahi's second two-yard score with 5:46 remaining in the first quarter.

BYU's defense force the Lobos to back-to-back three-and-out series which set up Feterik's only TD pass of the night. That touchdown was a four yard toss to Bristol Olomua, his first catch of the season, with 2:33 remaining.

UNM's multi-purpose player Brian Urlacher caused Tahi to fumble going into the second quarter. Urlacher recorded 12 unassisted tackles, one assisted tackle, two tackles for losses, caused a fumble, returned a punt 21 yards and missed a pass thrown to him in the endzone.

A few plays later BYU got the ball back when Jared Lee intercepted a Sean Stein pass. Stein was the backup quarterback in high school to Feterik.

The Cougars and Lobos traded several possessions in the second quarter, with BYU defensive end Setema Gali logging back-to-back quarterback sacks on one series. Gali ended the game with four sacks, followed by teammate Isaac Kelley with two and Ryan Denney with one.

"We wanted to shut their option attack down and make them pass because we have confidence in our defensive backs," said Gali.

Kicker Owen Pochman got BYU's only second quarter score when he connected on a 28-yard field goal with 41 seconds remaining in the half. That field goal gave him the new BYU career record at 35, surpassing Leonard Chitty.

The Cougars tallied 12 first downs in the first half, compared to UNM's one to take a 24-0 lead.

After the lightning delay, the Lobos went three-and-out again. This set up BYU's final score as Staley went off tackle and raced 61 yards to paydirt on the Cougars' first play of the second half. Staley ended with 69 yards rushing off eight carries and had 78 yards receiving from three catches. Teammate Tevita Ofahengaue led all Cougar receivers with four catches, but netted only 46 yards.

UNM appeared ready to break a year-long third-quarter drought, but David McKinney's 30-yard attempt was wide.

The Cougars had one more close call at scoring at the start of the fourth quarter, but were stopped on a fourth and inches play at the Lobo 21-yard line. Two series later, with all of BYU's substitutes playing, UNM got on the scoreboard when Stein threw a five-yard fade pass to Germany Thompson.

"We didn't play well enough to compete with them," said UNM Coach Rocky Long. "We were knocked out early on." The Lobos were limited to minus 10 yards rushing.

Feterik completed 15 of 27 passes for 211 yards, one touchdown pass, no interceptions for a pass efficiency of 133.42 and was sacked twice. The Cougars used four quarterbacks in the game, with Brandon Doman seeing action at QB and wide receiver, Brett Engemann playing briefly in both halves and concluding with Charlie Peterson.

Date: 16 Oct 1999
Site: Albuquerque, NM
Stadium: University Stadium
Attendance: 25,301
Score by Quarters     1  2  3  4   Score
-----------------    -- -- -- --   -----
Brigham Young....... 21  3  7  0  - 31
New Mexico..........  0  0  0  7  -  7
    Scoring Summary
1st 10:07 BYU - TAHI, Fahu 2 yd run (POCHMAN, Owen kick)
    05:46 BYU - TAHI, Fahu 2 yd run (POCHMAN, Owen kick)
    02:33 BYU - OLOMUA, Bristol 4 yd pass from FETERIK, Kevin (POCHMAN, Owen kick)
2nd 00:41 BYU - POCHMAN, Owen 28 yd field goal
3rd 13:13 BYU - STALEY, Luke 61 yd run (POCHMAN, Owen kick)
4th 03:50 UNM - THOMPSON, Ger 5 yd pass from STEIN, Sean (McKINNEY, David kick)
             Team Statistics
                                    BYU      UNM
FIRST DOWNS...................       17       10
  Rushing.....................        7        3
  Passing.....................        8        6
  Penalty.....................        2        1
Rushing Attempts..............       40       28
Yards Gained Rushing..........      193       45
Yards Lost Rushing............       28       55
NET YARDS RUSHING.............      165      -10
NET YARDS PASSING.............      225      134
  Passes Attempted............       30       35
  Passes Completed............       16       13
  Had Intercepted.............        0        1
TOTAL OFFENSIVE PLAYS.........       70       63
TOTAL NET YARDS...............      390      124
  Average Gain Per Play.......      5.6      2.0
Fumbles: Number-Lost..........      4-1      0-0
Penalties: Number-Yards.......     5-55     4-36
Number of Punts-Yards.........    6-240   10-376
  Average Per Punt............     40.0     37.6
Punt Returns: Number-Yards....     3-22     3-27
Kickoff Returns: Number-Yards.      0-0     2-31
Interceptions: Number-Yards...      1-0      0-0
Fumble Returns: Number-Yards..      0-0      0-0
Miscellaneous Yards...........        0        0
Possession Time...............    34:32    25:28
Third-Down Conversions........  6 of 17  3 of 16
Fourth-Down Conversions.......   0 of 1   0 of 0
Sacks By: Number-Yards........     7-40     2-16
                               Individual Statistics
Brigham Young                                    New Mexico
Rushing         No Gain Loss  Net TD Lg  Avg     Rushing         No Gain Loss  Net TD Lg  Avg
--------------------------------------------     --------------------------------------------
STALEY, Luke     8   75    6   69  1 61  8.6     WIGGINS, Holmon 12   35    1   34  0  9  2.8
TAHI, Fahu      14   53    0   53  2 12  3.8     IACENDA, Ted     1    3    0    3  0  3  3.0
SNOWDEN, Will    7   32    2   30  0 11  4.3     JOHNSON, Reg     2    0    3   -3  0  0 -1.5
SITAKE, Kalani   4   23    3   20  0 15  5.0     STAFFORD, Risha  4    4    8   -4  0  4 -1.0
DABNEY, Jaron    3    5    1    4  0  5  1.3     STEIN, Sean      9    3   43  -40  0  3 -4.4
ENGEMANN, Bret   1    0    0    0  0  0  0.0     Totals...       28   45   55  -10  0  9 -0.4
FETERIK, Kevin   3    5   16  -11  0  5 -3.7
Totals...       40  193   28  165  3 61  4.1
Passing         Att-Cmp-Int Yds TD Long Sck      Passing         Att-Cmp-Int Yds TD Long Sck
-------------------------------------------      -------------------------------------------
FETERIK, Kevin    27-15-0   211  1   36   2      STEIN, Sean       35-13-1   134  1   29   7
ENGEMANN, Bret     2-1-0     14  0   14   0      Totals...         35-13-1   134  1   29   7
DOMAN, Brandon     1-0-0      0  0    0   0
Totals...         30-16-0   225  1   36   2
Receiving        No.  Yds   TD Long              Receiving        No.  Yds   TD Long
-----------------------------------              -----------------------------------
OFAHENGAUE, Tev    4   46    0   23              THOMPSON, Ger      6   77    1   29
STALEY, Luke       3   78    0   34              WILLIAMS, Marti    2   23    0   19
HOOKS, Margin      3   57    0   36              ROBBINS, Kirk      2   10    0    6
DOMAN, Brandon     3   18    0   16              IACENDA, Ted       1   16    0   16
HORTON, Ben        1   21    0   21              STAFFORD, Risha    1    7    0    7
OLOMUA, Bristol    1    4    1    4              FENWICK, Tyler     1    1    0    1
HALE, Chris        1    1    0    1              Totals...         13  134    1   29
Totals...         16  225    1   36
Punting          No.  Yds   Avg Long In20        Punting          No.  Yds   Avg Long In20
-----------------------------------------        -----------------------------------------
SOWARDS, Jesse     5  221  44.2   60    1        MOFFITT, Cort     10  376  37.6   48    1
JOLLEY, Doug       1   19  19.0   19    0        Totals...         10  376  37.6   48    1
Totals...          6  240  40.0   60    1
                  Punts   Kickoffs  Intercept                      Punts   Kickoffs  Intercept
All Returns     No.Yds.Lg No.Yds.Lg No.Yds.Lg    All Returns     No.Yds.Lg No.Yds.Lg No.Yds.Lg
---------------------------------------------    ---------------------------------------------
DOMAN, Cliff     1  14 14  0   0  0  0   0  0    URLACHER, Brian  1  21 21  0   0  0  0   0  0
LEE, Jared       0   0  0  0   0  0  1   0  0    MANNING, Joe     2   6  7  0   0  0  0   0  0
DABNEY, Jaron    2   8  5  0   0  0  0   0  0    JOHNSON, Reg     0   0  0  2  31 25  0   0  0
Totals...        3  22 14  0   0  0  1   0  0    Totals...        3  27 21  2  31 25  0   0  0
Field goal attempts                              Field goal attempts
----------------------------------------         ----------------------------------------
POCHMAN, Owen   2nd 00:41  28 yds - Good         McKINNEY, David 3rd 05:09  30 yds - Missed