UNM vs. LaVell Edwards: the highlights, lowlights

1972

UNM had won two straight against BYU coming into the Nov. 25 game in Albuquerque, the final game of the season for both teams. Edwards’ first game against UNM is successful as the Cougars win 21-7 against coach Rudy Feldman’s squad to finish 7-4. Edwards’ bunch would go 5-6 in 1973, his only losing season, but ripped Feldman’s team 56-21 in Provo.

1980

On Sept. 6, in Joe Morrison’s first game as Lobo coach, UNM defeats BYU 25-21. A year earlier, BYU beat the Lobos 59-7 — the Cougars’ eighth straight win in the series. The 1980 loss to the Lobos was BYU’s only setback that year. The 12-1 Cougars capped the season with a remarkable 46-45 win against SMU in the Holiday Bowl, in which they trailed 45-25 with 4 minutes remaining. The Lobos went 4-7.

1982

The Lobos lost just once all season — a 40-12 setback at home to BYU and quarterback Steve Young on Oct. 9. UNM finished 10-1 and 6-1 in the Western Athletic Conference. But getting a bowl bid in those days wasn’t the cakewalk it is now, and the Lobos were left out of the postseason picture despite their glossy record. BYU went 8-4 and was blown out of the Holiday Bowl 47-17 by Ohio State.

1986

Coach Joe Lee Dunn’s

1988

Lobos lost five straight games to open the season against a rugged schedule. One of the losses came to BYU 31-30 in Provo on Sept. 13. Dunn’s UNM teams had lost by a combined 159-44 margin in three previous meetings with the Cougars — including 48-0 in BYU’s 1984 national championship season with quarterback Robbie Bosco.

Dunn resigned after the 1986 season with the Lobos going 4-8. BYU finished 8-5 with a loss to UCLA in the Freedom Bowl.

Coach Mike Sheppard’s UNM team lost to BYU 65-0 in Provo on Oct. 29. Freshman quarterback Ty Detmer (who won the Heisman Trophy as a junior in 1990) made the first start of his career and tossed five touchdown passes. Sheppard’s Lobos were never competitive with Edwards’ Cougars in five games. Of course, Sheppard’s Lobos weren’t competitive with many teams; he finished his Lobo days with a 9-50 record. The Cougars finished 9-4 in 1988 and beat Colorado in the Freedom Bowl.

1997

In his last of six seasons as Lobos coach, Dennis Franchione finally gave Edwards his second loss against New Mexico. Franchione had been competitive in three of five previous meeting with Edwards, losing 34-31 (1993), 49-47 (1994) and 17-14 (1996). Fran’s Lobos finally broke through with a 38-28 win on Nov. 15, 1997, on the way to UNM’s first bowl appearance since 1961. In 1997, the Lobos lost the Western Athletic Conference title game to Colorado State and the Insight.com Bowl to Arizona to finish 9-4. BYU finished 6-6 and didn’t get a bowl bid.

2000

Coach Rocky Long’s Lobos lost their final game of the season 37-13 to BYU in Provo. The Cougars beat Utah the following week to finish 6-6, but didn’t go to a bowl game. Edwards retired after 29 seasons as BYU head coach, going 257-101-3. It was Long’s third of 11 seasons as the Lobos’ head coach. UNM was 5-7 that year.