By SCOTT BELL
Everything changes eventually.
To quote a good source: 'To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven ... A time to get, and a time to lose ... '
Saturday evening in New Mexico, BYU fell to the Lobos 38-28, confirming that a lot has changed.
It used to be that BYU could just fall out of bed and pick up another WAC championship. The Cougars won the conference outright 11 times during a span of 14 years from 1978 to 1991.
Since then, the Cougars have tied for the WAC crown three times, but have only won it outright once. That was last season.
Saturday's loss to the Lobos guaranteed the Cougars would not win the WAC again. The Cougars no longer own the conference like they did in years past.
About halfway through Saturday's game, it was announced that Utah had beaten Rice, clearing the way for BYU to return to the WAC Championship Game with a win. But as was the case in the UTEP game, even with that motivation the Cougars couldn't pull out a win.
It used to be that El Paso and Albuquerque were only fearful places to visit in the winter months of December through March in contests involving people like 'The Bear' and places like The Pit.
Even with BYU's weakening grip on the WAC in recent years, the Cougars still had won 24 of the last 25 football games against both UTEP and New Mexico heading into the season.
But with Saturday's loss, both streaks ended this season. What's more, the Lobos most likely will now represent the Mountain Division in the WAC Championship Game.
After the game, the Lobos were feeling pretty good about themselves.
'To tell you the truth, it hasn't hit met yet,' said New Mexico quarterback Graham Leigh. 'It'll probably hit me tomorrow or Monday, that we actually beat BYU and that we have a chance for the championship. BYU is a good team, but we expected to win.'
Imagine that, the Lobos expected to beat BYU. But they did.
In the end, fumbles were the downfall of the Cougars. Freshman sparkplug Jaron Dabney had a tough time holding on to the ball and it cost the team.
Dabney fumbled the opening kickoff, leading to a 4-yard touchdown pass from Leigh to Chris Shelton. While BYU would fight back, it would never take the lead.
After the Cougars tied the game at 28 on Feterik's 14-yard pass to Margin Hooks as the third quarter ended, BYU was back in the game. New Mexico was forced to punt, and BYU looked poised to take control of yet another WAC game.
But it wasn't meant to be. Dabney fumbled a pitch and New Mexico recovered on BYU's 25-yard line. Two plays later, Milton Thomas snared a 17-yard touchdown pass from Leigh, and the Lobos owned control. The Cougars never mustered much of a challenge after that.
And so, BYU fell to 6-4 and will have to beat Utah next weekend to hope for a sniff from the bowl folks.
It used to be a bowl game was ... oh, never mind.