SLIDESHOW: BYU vs. New Mexico football
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- A landmark victory for BYU quarterback Max Hall was important to his coach for another reason -- it was another hard-fought win for the Cougars.
Hall passed for two touchdowns and got his 29th victory at BYU to match Heisman Trophy-winner Ty Detmer's school record, and the No. 22 Cougars survived a sloppy fourth quarter to beat winless New Mexico 24-19 on Saturday.
"We won the football game and that, to me, is something that I'll dwell on most," BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall said. "In addition, our team played very hard to win the football game. That's a positive thing in my eyes."
The Cougars (8-2, 5-1 Mountain West) held off a focused effort by the Lobos (0-10, 0-6), who were desperate to give fans something good to cheer after a tough season that has been worsened by first-year coach Mike Locksley's problems off the field.
New Mexico made a game of it with 4:07 remaining when Donovan Porterie's 20-yard TD pass to Victor James finished a drive that started in BYU territory after an ugly 30-yard punt by Cougars punter Riley Stephenson.
Bryan Kariya fumbled on BYU's next possession with 3:13 to go, but Porterie was sacked twice by Cougars lineman Jan Jorgensen. After earlier converting three times on fourth down, the Lobos turned it over at midfield when Porterie scrambled 20 yards on fourth-and-27.
Asked why BYU couldn't maintain its crisp effort from last week's 52-0 victory at Wyoming, Mendenhall said: "Maybe New Mexico had something to do with it. I think they drew a line in the sand and were really motivated to play a good football game today."
The Lobos dropped their 14th in a row, the second longest losing streak in school history, and will remember this one for 10 points that never reached the scoreboard.
Kicker James Aho whacked the uprights three times -- on field goal attempts of 35 and 42 yards and on a PAT try, all in the second half. Aho also had a 46-yard field goal attempt blocked by BYU's Andrew Rich just before halftime.
Hall, meanwhile, completed 21-of-33 attempts for 314 yards with one interception. He found Andrew George on a 27-yard TD pass late in the first half and Luke Ashworth for a 13-yard scoring strike on the final play of the third quarter -- just enough cushion, as it turned out.
The Cougars improved to 6-0 on the road this season. Mendenhall is 5-0 against New Mexico.
"It was a game that went all four quarters," said Porterie, who finished 28 of 44 for 272 yards and two TDs. "We had plenty of opportunities to win."
No. 22 BYU 24
New Mexico 19
At Albuquerque, N.M.
BYU 7 10 7 0 -- 24
New Mexico 7 0 6 6 -- 19
First quarter
New Mexico--Porterie 3 run (J.Aho kick), 8:43.
BYU--Tonga 1 run (Payne kick), :51.
Second quarter
BYU--Payne 42 field goal, 5:49.
BYU--George 27 pass from Hall (Payne kick), 1:56.
Third quarter
New Mexico--Dary.Jones 26 pass from Porterie (kick failed), 6:28.
BYU--Ashworth 13 pass from Hall (Payne kick), :00.
Fourth quarter
New Mexico--James 20 pass from Porterie (pass failed), 4:07.
A--24,344.
BYU NM
First downs 17 22
Rushes-yards 23-41 36-88
Passing 314 272
Comp-att-int 21-33-1 28-45-0
Return yards (-1) 16
Punts-avg. 4-37.0 4-39.3
Fumbles-lost 1-1 1-0
Penalties-yards 6-66 4-29
Time of possession 24:11 35:49
Individual Statistics
Rushing--BYU, Unga 11-50, Di Luigi 3-13, Tonga 1-1, Kariya 2-(minus 4), Hall 3-(minus 9), Team 3-(minus 10). New Mexico, Wright 7-37, Carrier 10-25, Dennis 5-24, Dary.Jones 1-8, Holbrook 2-8, Porterie 11-(minus 14).
Passing--BYU, Hall 21-33-1-314. New Mexico, Porterie 28-44-0-272, Holbrook 0-1-0-0.
Receiving--BYU, Ashworth 4-64, Pitta 4-56, Chambers 3-52, Unga 3-34, Jacobson 2-56, George 2-30, Tonga 1-9, Hafoka 1-7, Kariya 1-6. New Mexico, Dary.Jones 8-94, Carrier 8-47, Kirk 5-48, Reed 2-28, James 2-24, Fussell 1-13, Dennis 1-12, B.Williams 1-6.
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