ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO -- Whether it is the Western Athletic Conference or Mountain West Conference, Brigham Young owns New Mexico.

Fahu Tahi rushed for two touchdowns and Kevin Feterik passed for 211 yards and one score as the 20th-ranked Cougars spoiled New Mexico's first Mountain West home game with a wet 31-7 victory.

"They play that well all the time," New Mexico coach Rocky Long said. "They're big, strong, fast and they have a real good quarterback."

The game was delayed 43 minutes at the start of the second half due to lightning. When it resumed, less than 1,000 fans from the orginal crowd of 25,301 remained in the stands to brave the cold and rainy conditions.

BYU (5-1, 2-0 Mountain West) held New Mexico to minus-10 yards rushing, the second-lowest total in Lobos' history. The school futility record is minus-56 yards against Texas in 1988.

Feterik tossed his 45th career TD pass, tying Gary Sheide (1972-74) for 10th on BYU's all-time list.

The Cougars scored touchdowns on their first three possessions, marching 80, 55 and 37 yards. A roughing the kicker penalty set up BYU 's first score and a 10-yard punt by New Mexico freshman Cort Moffitt led to the Cougars' third TD.

"After the first quarter, I thought our defense played pretty well," Long said. "We got put on our heels after they took the ball down and scored following the roughing penalty. We're just not good enough to overcome too many mistakes."

On July 1, New Mexico and BYU left the WAC and joined six other schools in the newly formed Mountain West Conference. The teams may be in a different league but this year's result was not new as the Cougars improved to 9-1 against New Mexico in the 1990s and 26-2 under coach LaVell Edwards.

The longtime BYU mentor won his 244th career game, moving within 11 wins of former Nebraska coach Tom Osborne for sixth on the all-time list.

BYU put away New Mexico (2-4, 1-1) early, jumping to a 21-0 first-quarter lead on Tahi's TD runs of two and three yards and Feterik's four-yard TD pass to Bristol Olomua. Tahi rushed for 53 yards on 14 carries while Feterik completed 15-of-26 throws.

Owen Pochman converted a 28-yard field goal with 41 seconds left in the first half to give the Cougars a 24-0 lead before freshman Luke Staley's 61-yard TD run 1:47 into the third period made it 31-0.

The Lobos avoided a shutout on Sean Stein's five-yard TD pass Germany Thompson in the fourth quarter. Stein was 13-of-35 for 134 yards.

"The conditions were poor for throwing and running the ball," Stein said. "The offense has a little bit of an advantage because they know where they are going. But tonight, they just outmatched us in everything we did."