BYU Beats Aztecs for WAC Title : College football: Ty Detmer leads Cougars to 48-27 victory, Holiday Bowl berth.

The Brigham Young football team performed an unfamiliar task Saturday night--unfamiliar, at least, in recent years--to accomplish a very familiar goal.

BYU defeated San Diego State, 48-27, in San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium to claim the automatic Holiday Bowl berth earned by the champion of the Western Athletic Conference. BYU (10-2, 7-1) will play Penn State Dec. 29.

It was BYU’s first victory against SDSU in San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium since 1983. The Aztecs defeated BYU in San Diego in 1986, 10-3, to earn their only Holiday Bowl trip, and again last year, 27-15.

A trip to the Holiday Bowl is nothing new for BYU. The Cougars have played in seven of 11, winning four. And the Cougars have fond memories of their last appearance: a 24-17 victory over Michigan in 1984 to give them the national championship.

The 26,868 in attendance--SDSU’s second-largest home crowd this year--saw the Aztecs (6-5-1, 5-3) finish their first winning season since 1986. They also saw BYU win its first outright WAC title since 1984; the Cougars shared the WAC title with Air Force in 1985.

The Aztecs were hurt early when quarterback Dan McGwire suffered a bruised back during SDSU’s first drive. McGwire missed most of the rest of the first half but returned for the second. He completed 14 of 21 passes for 215 yards and one touchdown, and one pass was intercepted.

They were hurt most, though, by record-setting BYU quarterback Ty Detmer. Just a sophomore, Detmer completed 23 of 33 passes for 327 yards and three touchdowns. He also ran for two more touchdowns.

Ten minutes into the game, Detmer broke the NCAA record for passing yardage by a sophomore, held by Utah’s Scott Mitchell (4,322). Detmer finished the regular season with 4,560.

BYU came into the game averaging 39.6 points a game and 400 yards passing. They were the No. 2 passing team in the country, and it showed. SDSU had intercepted 13 passes in its last four games but picked off just one of Detmer’s.

The Aztecs led after the first quarter, 14-13, but were buried by BYU’s 22 second-quarter points.

To their credit, the Aztecs overcame a 35-14 halftime deficit to make things interesting. For a few minutes in the third quarter, anyway.

McGwire started the second half and threw a 32-yard touchdown pass to Tony Nettles on SDSU’s first drive to bring the Aztecs to within 14, 35-21.

Five minutes later, SDSU’s Larry Maxey intercepted a Detmer pass at the BYU 36. Curtis Butts ran for 12 yards on the first play, and visions of SDSU cutting the margin to one touchdown began to appear. But the BYU defense pushed SDSU back three yards, and the Aztecs had to settle for a 46-yard Andy Trakas field goal.

It was 35-24, but that was as close as SDSU would come. The Aztecs forced BYU to punt twice on the Cougars’ next drive, but two major Aztec mistakes cost them dearly. The first came when BYU punted from its own 36--SDSU was called for roughing the kicker, and BYU was awarded a first down.

So the Aztec defense once again forced a BYU punt--only to have Monty Gilbreath call for a fair catch, then drop the ball. BYU recovered at the SDSU 19. Five plays later, Detmer scored on a one-yard end run, and it was 41-24.

“We just went into the tank on special teams,” Coach Al Luginbill said.

By the fourth quarter, it was all over except for the final score. Trakas kicked another field goal, this time from 38 yards, but soon afterward, BYU fullback Fred Whittingham chugged 34 yards for a touchdown to increase the score to 48-27.

It didn’t take McGwire long to establish that Detmer wasn’t the only quarterback who could split opposing secondaries and rack up some impressive passing yardage.

Only problem was, McGwire didn’t get the chance to hang around long enough to finish what he started. While leading the Aztecs smartly into the end zone on their first possession, McGwire suffered the bruised back.

By the Aztecs’ second possession, he was receiving treatment in the locker room. In stepped eager freshman David Lowery, a 6-foot 190-pound freshman from Mission Viejo who came into the BYU game with a grand total of two passes attempted and none completed.

The SDSU offense downshifted from take-some-chances overdrive to a conservative middle gear.

On their first touchdown drive, McGwire completed three of four passes for 50 yards--a 29-yarder to Dennis Arey and 10- and 11-yarders to Gilbreath. Those were the keys as the Aztecs moved 65 yards in 10 plays to take a 7-0 lead.

By the time SDSU got the ball back, it was 7-7, and Lowery was their quarterback. Breaking him in slowly, Luginbill chose to not call any passing plays--and SDSU was still able to punch through BYU for a touchdown.

Oddly enough, a BYU timeout helped move the SDSU scoring drive along.

It was fourth and one at the 50, and Luginbill had sent his punting unit into the game. BYU, apparently unsure of its formation, called for time. Luginbill changed his mind. When the timeout ended, the Aztec offense trotted out to the field, and Lowery pumped some energy into its huddle with a couple of animated high fives.

Short-yardage offense? Ron Slack took Lowery’s handoff and went off tackle for 26 yards. Three plays later, Slack crossed the goal-line from four yards out.

A second-team quarterback, a nine-play, 72-yard drive, and a 14-7 Aztec lead. Hey, just maybe . . .

Nope. No mushy fairy tale here. BYU, with Detmer at the helm, took command with four consecutive touchdowns.

It wasn’t that Lowery played poorly. He completed four of six first-half passes for 46 yards, nearly matching McGwire’s first-half total of four of seven for 61 yards.

And it wasn’t that BYU didn’t make any mistakes. No, the Cougars didn’t have any turnovers, but they contributed to a sloppy first half by donating 50 yards to the Aztecs on eight penalties. But SDSU wasn’t that receptive--the Aztecs were caught for six penalties of their own for 70 yards.

No, the difference in the first half was Detmer, who completed 15 of 21 passes for 254 yards.

Detmer, who had thrown a 67-yard touchdown pass to Jeff Frandsen on BYU’s second possession to make it 7-7, capped a 67-yard drive with a 12-yard touchdown run to bring BYU to within one, 14-13. Jason Chaffetz’s conversion kick sailed wide to the left. There was still 6:46 left in the first quarter.

That drive also put Detmer into the NCAA record book. His 15-yard pass to Brent Nyberg gave him 95 yards passing and passed Mitchell.

Detmer, though, wasn’t about to rest there. He hooked up with Frandsen again early in the second quarter, this time for a 27-yard touchdown pass with 11:16 left. Detmer then threw to Matt Bellini for a two-point conversion to make it 21-14.

It was an easy 37-yard drive for BYU. And it was set up in part by Lowery’s first collegiate completion. Not exactly the stuff dreams are made.

On first down from the SDSU 19, Lowery threw a nice 19-yard strike to Robert Claiborne. But Claiborne fumbled, and BYU recovered at the 38.

Although the Cougars didn’t score, SDSU was at a distinct field position disadvantage. BYU’s Earl Kaufman punted to the SDSU one, the Aztecs didn’t move, and SDSU’s Joe Santos ended up punting from his own end zone, giving BYU the ball at the SDSU 37.

BYU scored twice more before halftime. Bellini scored on a three-yard run to finish an 89-yard drive during which Detmer completed five of five passes for 73 yards, and then Andy Boyce caught a nine-yard Detmer pass to make it 35-14.

McGwire returned 2:27 before halftime. He completed his first pass, a 10-yarder to Claiborne, but then was sacked twice in a row, first by defensive end Rich Kaufusi for nine yards and then by defensive tackle Bud Orr for seven.

Aztec Notes

SDSU wide receiver Monty Gilbreath’s first reception, a 10-yard pass over the middle from Dan McGwire four minutes into the game, was noteworthy for two reasons. First, it extended his school record to 37 consecutive games with a reception. And it moved him to second on the all-time Aztec career receiving yards list, past Gary Garrison (2,188). . . . Despite taking their lumps in recent years, the Aztecs had not lost a regular season finale since 1984. Their closest call was a 10-10 tie with Hawaii in 1985. . . . Linebacker Thane Fisher (left wrist) and offensive tackle Chuck Hardaway (left foot) did not play Saturday.