The Far West : Brigham Young Puts Away New Mexico

Cornerback Brian Mitchell’s 97-yard interception return on the final play of the third quarter broke open a close game, and No. 19 Brigham Young beat New Mexico, 24-3, Saturday night in a Western Athletic Conference college football opener at Albuquerque, N.M.

BYU led, 7-3, when Mitchell intercepted the pass thrown by split end Terance Mathis on the final play of the quarter and raced for the touchdown. The Cougar defense held New Mexico to seven yards offense in the second half.

BYU’s first drive of the fourth quarter stalled when sophomore quarterback Ty Detmer fumbled on New Mexico’s 17. But BYU scored on its next two possessions, Fred Whittingham on a 15-yard run and Jason Chaffetz on a 22-yard field goal.

Detmer scored BYU’s first touchdown on a four-yard bootleg to open the second half and give the Cougars the 7-3 lead.

BYU struggled throughout the first half but took command in the third quarter as the defense sacked New Mexico’s Jeremy Leach three times and held the Lobos to minus three yards in total offense.

Detmer completed 18 of 29 passes for 317 yards for BYU. Tight end Chris Smith caught five passes for 114 yards. New Mexico’s Leach was 16 for 39 for 195 yards with one interception before leaving the game midway through the fourth quarter with a bruised elbow.

Louisville 28, Wyoming 21--David Moyler, running down the right sideline, caught a pass from Browning Nagle and scored on a 34-yard play with just over four minutes remaining to give the Cardinals a victory over the Cowboys at Laramie, Wyo.

Consecutive holding penalties against Louisville left the Cardinals facing a second-and-33 situation when they scored the game-winning touchdown.

Wyoming, which beat Louisville, 44-9, a year ago, hadn’t lost a home game since early in the 1987 season, when it lost to Oklahoma State.

Southern Utah St. 24, St. Mary’s 23--Jason Thornburg sacked St. Mary’s quarterback Tim Rosenkranz an attempted two-point conversion with two minutes left to preserve Southern Utah State’s victory at Moraga, Calif.

St. Mary’s rallied from a 24-10 fourth-quarter deficit and pulled to within one point when James Javier scored from the one-yard line. But Rosenkranz couldn’t get a pass off before being sacked on the conversion attempt.

Kelvin Minefee rushed for 117 yards and two touchdowns for Southern Utah, which had 210 yards on the ground and 371 yards of total offense. Rick Carter, playing the second half, passed for 140 yards.

Rosenkranz passed for 232 yards and one touchdown. His 14-yard pass to Jason Sol triggered the team’s fourth-quarter comeback attempt.

Nevada Reno 41, Southern Illinois 3--Eric Smith rushed for 109 yards in eight carries to lead Nevada Reno to a victory at Reno.

Reno, trailing 3-0 late in the second quarter, capitalized on a muffed punt return and scored on a 28-yard touchdown pass from Fred Gatlin to Treamelle Taylor to take the lead.

Nevada then scored touchdowns on six consecutive possessions.

To open the second half, UNR scored on a 13-play drive capped by a four-yard touchdown pass from starting quarterback Steve Backster to tight end Tom Williamson.

UNR took no more than five plays to score on each successful drive.

Southern Illinois’ score came on a 37-yard field goal by John Bookout in the second quarter.

Backster hit eight of 13 passes for 73 yards and a touchdown. Gatlin hit five of 10 for 55 yards and two touchdowns.

The game, played before 15,280, was UNR’s largest opening day crowd.