Texas A&M; Blitz Wraps Ty in Knots : College football: Aggies knock Detmer, BYU’s Heisman Trophy winner, out of game and romp to 65-14 victory.

An option quarterback named Bucky who leads a team with the nation’s fourth-leading rushing attack stormed into Brigham Young’s winter home Saturday night, grabbed the Cougars by the throat and seized a healthy dose of respect for Texas A&M.;

The Aggies blitzed furiously enough to separate both of BYU quarterback Ty Detmer’s shoulders, quarterback Bucky Richardson and the rest of the offense executed with near perfection, and they totally dismantled No. 13 BYU, 65-14, in the most lopsided game in the 13-year history of the Holiday Bowl and the most lopsided loss in BYU history.

The blowout, which came in front of 61,441 in San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium--the second-largest crowd in Holiday Bowl history--surpassed Oklahoma State’s 62-14 rout of Wyoming in the 1988 game.

For the Cougars (10-3), who have played in nine of 13 Holiday Bowls, it was their worst defeat in the game since a 47-17 loss to Ohio State in 1982.

“Without a doubt, it was our most complete football game,” Texas A&M; Coach R.C. Slocum said.

Richardson was phenomenal, completing nine of 11 passes for 203 yards and a touchdown, rushing 12 times for 119 yards and even catching a 22-yard touchdown pass from halfback Darren Lewis.

It was Richardson’s passing yardage, though, that was the biggest surprise.

“They didn’t throw a lot, they just threw it effectively,” BYU Coach LaVell Edwards said. “Very effectively. Their play-action--when you get that running and attack as well as they did . . .

“They did about what they wanted to and kept doing it.”

All of those numbers and Richardson didn’t even play a full game. He left after the first series of the fourth quarter with the Aggies ahead, 51-14.

He was the first quarterback since BYU’s Steve Young in the 1983 Holiday Bowl to catch, run and pass for a touchdown.

“I feel like that was the best game of my career,” said Richardson, a 6-foot-1, 214-pound junior.

This is a guy who almost quit the team last spring because Aggie coaches were running a straight passing game, and he didn’t see any place in the scheme for an option quarterback. This is a guy who missed all last season with a bad knee.

The option? The Aggies (9-3-1) ran only 16 option plays last year and, when this season started, had only two option plays in their playbook.

Saturday, their playbook ran the gamut. They started with the option, worked in some key passes, and delivered the knockout punch with some trick plays. They used the halfback pass and reverses . . . every trick play from their playbook but one.

“We kept them on their toes all night long,” Richardson said. “Offensively, that’s what you try to do, and that’s what we did. We know we’re a good team, and we hadn’t gotten the respect we deserve. I think we proved tonight we can play with anybody.”

Texas A&M; scored the first touchdown, watched BYU tie the game at 7-7, then reeled off 30 consecutive points.

The only thing worse than the final score might be the final statistics. The Aggies, averaging 319 yards on the ground per game, rolled up 356 against BYU. The Cougars had minus-12. The Aggies, not exactly known as a passing team, threw for 324 yards to BYU’s 197.

As for total offense, Texas A&M; had 680. BYU checked in with 185.

“It surprised me we did anything as easy as we did,” Richardson said. “We executed all night long.”

Detmer, meanwhile, was forced to leave the game early in the third quarter.

Rough night? Detmer suffered a partially separated left shoulder when William Thomas sacked him just past the midway point of the second quarter. Detmer went into the BYU dressing room and had it numbed, and returned in time to finish the half.

But then, with 11:58 left in the third quarter and BYU trailing, 37-7, he was sacked by Anthony Williams and landed hard enough to separate his right shoulder. He went to the sidelines, paced, picked up a ball and threw one pass, and then kicked his helmet several yards in disgust.

“It hurt to raise (the right shoulder),” he said. “When I had the previous shoulder injury, it didn’t hurt to raise it . . .

“I’m not going to leave a game unless I can’t throw or run. It hurt to throw.”

He finished with 11 completions on 23 attempts for 120 yards and a touchdown. For the first time all season, he didn’t throw for 300 or more yards.

A large part of that was because Texas A&M;’s blitz, led by outside linebackers William Thomas and Marcus Buckley, was effective all night. Detmer was sacked twice for minus-45 yards, and backup Joe Evans was sacked three more times for minus-27 yards.

“The reason we were so successful tonight was because we kept getting a lot of pressure on them,” Thomas said. “We set out to get a lot of pressure, and that’s what we did.”

Said Edwards: “We figured they would try to come after us with the blitz. We’ve had success against it, but we didn’t tonight.”

The blitz kept BYU off-balance and allowed Texas A&M; to take the 30-point halftime lead.

“Nothing really surprised us,” BYU linebacker Alema Fitisemanu said. “They just ran it down our throats. The reverses, halfback pass . . . we were probably out-coached and out-manned tonight.”

Large deficits are nothing new to BYU. The Cougars came back from a 45-26 deficit against Southern Methodist in 1980 to win, 46-45, in one of the wildest Holiday Bowl games played. Earlier this year, BYU scored 36 fourth-quarter points in a 50-36 comeback victory over Washington State.

But this time, things were different. Halfback Matt Bellini, BYU’s third-leading receiver, tried to play with a torn ligament in his foot and couldn’t last. He caught one pass for 19 yards. BYU defensive backs Tony Crutchfield and Norm Dixon didn’t even suit up because of injuries. Both Cougar inside linebackers, Rocky Biegel and Shad Hansen, were nursing nagging shoulder injuries.

Sure, they had a history of comebacks, but they couldn’t muster one this time. Texas A&M; led at the half, 37-7, and continued to apply pressure throughout the second half. The Aggies completed two touchdown passes in the fourth quarter when they already had a 51-14 lead.

“When I’ve got young players moving down the field, and it’s third and four, am I supposed to tell them not to score?” Slocum asked. “I had my third-team quarterback in at the end of the fourth quarter, and my second-team quarterback played most of the fourth quarter.”

By halftime, Richardson had completed eight of 10 passes for 168 yards and a touchdown. How unusual was this passing output? In the seven games he started this season, Richardson passed for 168 yards in an entire game only once, when he had 241 against Houston.

Texas A&M; drove 80 yards for a touchdown on its opening possession. Richardson connected on two passes for a total of 31 yards on the drive, but 11 of the 13 plays were rushes--six by Lewis. Robert Wilson scored the touchdown from the 1.

The game looked like it had the makings of another high-scoring Holiday Bowl when Brigham Young, undaunted, came right back with a touchdown on its first possession. Detmer passed on BYU’s first four plays, and completed three--a 10-yard flare to tight end Chris Smith, a three-yard quickie to Eric Drage and a 27-yarder to Micah Matsuzaki. Fullback Peter Tuipulotu went 21 yards on the next play on BYU’s draw-trap, and two plays later, Detmer passed eight yards to Smith for a touchdown.

After a Texas A&M; punt, the game turned.

With about three minutes left in the first quarter, Albert Jones got to Detmer in the BYU backfield. Detmer pushed off a sidearm shovel pass, and the ball ended up in the arms of Aggie outside linebacker William Thomas at the BYU 35.

Four plays later, Lewis went six yards to his left on a sweep for another Aggie touchdown, making it 14-7.

That was one of three key plays for Thomas in the first half.

On BYU’s next possession, he sacked Detmer for a 13-yard loss. A few minutes later, he sacked Detmer on another blitz, separating Detmer’s left shoulder.

Those weren’t the only memorable moments in a first half of big plays. With BYU trailing early in the second quarter, 14-7, Detmer connected with running back Scott Charlton for an apparent 46-yard completion to the Aggie 1. The officials, though, ruled Charlton had stepped out of bounds on his route and negated the play.

And a few minutes after Richardson scored on a six-yard run midway through the second quarter to make it 21-7, BYU long snapper Bruce Jenne snapped the ball high over Earl Kauffman’s head. Kauffman batted it out of bounds, saving an Aggie touchdown but giving them a safety. It was 23-7.

A few minutes later, from the BYU 22, Richardson handed off to Lewis, who stopped and threw a pass back to Richardson, who was wide enough open that he hoisted the ball into the air for the final five yards of his touchdown run.

Then, with 31 seconds left in the half, Richardson passed six yards to Shane Garrett for another touchdown, making it 37-7.

Things didn’t get any better for BYU.