EL PASO, Texas (Ticker) -- The Western Athletic Conference drew first blood against one of its former members in the Mountain West Conference.

Quarterback Rocky Perez had a one-yard plunge in the closing seconds of the third quarter and Paul Smith rushed for 138 yards as Texas-El Paso, one of the holdovers in the WAC, edged defector New Mexico 13-10 in the first-ever clash between the conferences.

The Lobos (0-1) were one of eight teams to bolt the Western Athletic Conference last year and join the newly formed Mountain West Conference. They took a 3-0 lead on a 32-yard field goal by David McKinney 7:07 into the game.

But Ricky Bishop drew the Miners (1-0) even with a 24-yard boot with 16 seconds left in the quarter. He added a 41-yarder with 30 seconds left in the half to give Texas-El Paso a 6-3 lead.

The defenses continued to dominate into the second half, but Perez engineered a 14-play, 85-yard drive that consumed eight minutes before he scored from one yard out.

The Miners snapped a seven-game losing streak in season openers dating to 1992. Texas-El Paso also has won consecutive games in the series for the first time since a three-game run from 1987-89. The Lobos still lead the 80-year-old rivalry, 40-28-3.

Perez completed 15-of-20 passes for 152 yards as the Miners rolled up 270 yards of offense.

Eric Jaworsky had a 20-yard TD pass to Brian Urlacher in the closing seconds for New Mexico. Jaworsky completed 13-of-23 passes for 102 yards without an interception but had only 179 yards of total offense.