BYU Wins, 54-7, Over Air Force : Cougars: Detmer passes for 397 yards, extending his record of 300-yard passing games to 20.

It was snowing and the temperature was 27 with a wind-chill factor that made it zero degrees Saturday, but Brigham Young quarterback Ty Detmer was still hot.

Detmer completed 30 of 43 passes for 397 yards and three touchdowns to lead No. 10 BYU to a 54-7 Western Athletic Conference victory over Air Force.

Detmer, a junior, extended his NCAA record of consecutive 300-yard passing games to 20 and tied the record of 22 consecutive 200-plus games set by BYU’s Steve Young in 1983.

“My offensive line played as well as they ever have played as a group,” Detmer said. “I was very surprised at the amount of time I had in the pocket.”

The Cougars improved to 7-1 overall and 5-0 in the WAC. With No. 19 Wyoming’s 17-8 loss to Colorado State, BYU took over sole possession of first place in the conference.

Air Force is 4-5 and 2-4.

Detmer connected with Andy Boyce on touchdown pass plays of seven, 35 and four yards before BYU Coach LaVell Edwards pulled his quarterback at the end of the third quarter when the Cougars had a 47-7 lead.

Boyce caught 10 passes for 127 yards and Chris Smith caught seven passes for 115 yards.

Detmer increased his career passing total to 9,180 yards, 12th on the NCAA Division I list. He needs 1,246 yards to break the NCAA mark held by Todd Santos and 357 to eclipse the BYU record held by Jim McMahon.

Detmer came out throwing, completing a 12-yard pass to Smith on the first play of the game. By the end of the half, Detmer had completed 21 of 29 passes for 251 yards.

Air Force’s only touchdown came midway through the third quarter on a 29-yard run by Jason Jones.