Lobos nearly shock Cougars

BYU quarterback Max Hall avoids the defense of New Mexico in the first half of an NCAA college football game on Saturday, Nov. 14, 2009 in Albuquerque, N.M. BYU defeated New Mexico 24-19. (AP Photo/Albuquerque Journal, Jim Thompson) (The Associated Press)

Albuquerque, N.M. » Quarterback Max Hall and defensive end Jan Jorgensen both said the team will have to put the game behind them and move on. Coach Bronco Mendenhall talked about his team being uninspired and methodical.

Hard to believe as somber player after somber player trudged in and out of their locker room behind University Stadium, but the BYU Cougars actually beat the New Mexico Lobos 24-19 on a grey afternoon in the Duke City.

The No. 22-ranked Cougars, 27-point favorites against the winless Lobos, held on to improve to 8-2 -- and escaped major embarrassment -- when Lobos quarterback Donovan Porterie was able to only pick up 20 yards on a fourth-and-27 with about

That the game came to that was the problem.

"This might be good for us," Hall said after earning his 29th career win to tie Ty Detmer, but he said it as if he needed convincing. "It certainly was not pretty."

There have probably been luckier wins in BYU football history, but try telling that to any of the announced crowd of 24,344 who watched the Lobos push their stumbling and bumbling guests to the bitter end.

New Mexico kicker James Aho, who was 39-for-39 on PAT attempts and 27-for-38 on field-goal attempts in his stellar career, hit the uprights three times, costing the Lobos (0-10) seven points. He also had a field-goal attempt blocked by Andrew Rich just before halftime.

The Lobos outgained the Cougars 360 yards to 355, although some kneel-downs by Hall at the end kept that from being a push. The Cougars had two turnovers, the Lobos none.

For his part, Mendenhall found himself reminding reporters who won the game several times when asked about the Cougars' lackluster play, and credited the Lobos for keeping the Cougars from duplicating last week's 52-0 blasting of Wyoming.

"Maybe New Mexico had something to do with it," Mendenhall said, defending one of the worst performances in a win by a team in his five-year tenure. "I think they drew a line in the sand, and were really motivated to play a good football game today, and to their credit they did.

"When it comes to momentum, we did win the football game. And that is something I will dwell on most, and how hard [BYU] played to win the football game."

The Cougars looked like they had overcome their sloppiness when they drove 80 yards in seven plays to take a 24-13 lead as the third quarter ended. But they were awful in the fourth on both sides of the ball, and it almost resulted in their first loss in Albuquerque since 1997.

After Aho hit the right upright from 42 yards out with 7:41 left, the Cougars could seemingly rest easy again. But they went backward on their next possession -- thanks to an offensive pass interference call on O'Neill Chambers that wiped away Dennis Pitta's catch for a first down, and a subsequent unsportsmanlike conduct on Chambers for apparently saying something when an official approached him.

Set up at the BYU 37 after Riley Stephenson's shank, the Lobos converted a fourth-and-8 and then scored when Donovan Porterie threw a 20-yard TD pass to Victor James on third-and-8.

The two-point try failed, but it was game on.

Having pulled Harvey Unga because the junior running back "didn't look quite right," Mendenhall then watched backup Bryan Kariya fumble the ball back to the Lobos at the UNM 37.

But after a late hit by Scott Johnson gave the Lobos 15 yards after an incompletion, Jorgensen sacked Porterie and then combined with Coleby Clawson to get him again. After an incompletion and Porterie's last-gasp scramble, it was over because the Lobos were out of timeouts.

"Seemed like they had all the momentum in the world, and when that play happened, it came back to us," Jorgensen said. "It was just a crazy game."

And a fortunate one, too, for those dressed in BYU blue.

drew@sltrib.com