Texas A&M; Took a Page From BYU’s Playbook

If you thought your ticket to the Holiday Bowl bought you a look at defense, you were in the wrong store.

You get defense at the Holiday Bowl like you get a mink coat at an auto parts store or a watch at a fast-food joint or a sound system at a grocery store. Defense comes with the Holiday Bowl like mint juleps come with New Year’s Eve.

Some, maybe most, of the past scores look like price tags at Neiman-Marcus. The first 12 games included scores such as 38-37, 46-45, 38-36, 39-38, 62-14 and 50-39. Joe Paterno, stodgy old black shoes, was involved in that last one, which is a little bit like Ronald Reagan voting Democratic.

When Texas A&M; and Brigham Young squared off Saturday at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium, the smart money--the bookmakers--knew what to expect. They set the over-and-under at 62 1/2 points, meaning they expected the total point to be in that neighborhood and you could take your pick and bet it either way.

Anyone who considered going with the under was crazy. You don’t study form or teams or coaches. You bet the bowl.

If my calculator is correct, the total was 79 points. The only surprise was how it was split. No one outside of College Station, Tex., meaning no one with any sense, figured the Aggies to be 65-14 winners.

Texas A&M; was going to take the conservative military approach, like these cadet types would fight a war . . . the Civil War. Air, to them, was for breathing, not travel. The Aggies would take the weapons that got them here and win or lose with them.

They would run Darren Lewis wide and Robert Wilson up the middle and Bucky Richardson wherever he could find the six-inch opening he needed to get through. That would be it.

Boring? Of course. But effective.

If that was what you (or BYU) expected, that was not what the Aggies brought to the party. They came wearing lamp shades and masks. They must have thought this was New Orleans.

These guys averaged 152 passing yards a game this year. They had 680 yards from scrimmage Saturday night, but what was really significant was that they had 190 passing yards in the first half . One of those passes as thrown by running back Lewis to quarterback Richardson, naturally for a touchdown.

You don’t need to know a whole lot more about the game other than the fact that the halftime score was 37-7 . . . and how it got that way.

The Aggies used a 25-yard first-down pass from Richardson to Gary Oliver to set up their first touchdown. Admittedly, it was the only pass of the drive, but BYU should have taken the cue that this was to be an unconventional game plan from the other side of the field.

The next A&M; drive was kicked off on a reverse run by wide receiver Shane Garrett off a handoff from Lewis. It was Garrett’s second carry of the game. For the record, he carried four times all year.

There was more.

Lance Pavlas, the Aggies’ backup quarterback, came into the game for one play in the second quarter . . . and Richardson stayed in at running back, as if Lewis and Wilson didn’t give them enough firepower already. Richardson ran the ball on a reverse to the right and went in from the five-yard-line for a touchdown. This made the score 21-7.

And there was more.

Yes, there was Lewis taking the handoff from Richardson and then throwing back to Richardson for 22 yards and a touchdown. That came two plays after Richardson completed a BYUesque 55-yard pass to Cornelius Patterson, who caught eight passes for 143 yards all year.

Which team had BYU’s playbook, anyway?

Flash forward to the Aggies’ last possession of the half. They take over first and 25 because of a dead-ball personal foul after a change of possession. No problem, not with the playbook they brought to San Diego. Richardson simply threw for a gain of 30 to Mr. Oliver, thank you. Moments later, first and 20 after a holding penalty, A&M; promptly got all 20 yards on a scramble by Mr. Richardson, thank you.

Garrett made a diving touchdown catch on the next play and that was it for the half . . . 37-7.

What happened to BYU? You can catch excerpts from that first half at your nearest video store. Look under football follies.

Ty Detmer, Mr. Heisman, threw a pass off one of his offensive linemen for an interception. A BYU receiver, Scott Charlton, inadvertently ran out of bounds before catching a pass for what would have been a gain of 46 yards to the A&M; one. Detmer lateraled to an offensive lineman, Neal Fort, for a loss of 12. Punter Earl Kauffman had a snap go over his head for a safety. Detmer lost 38 yards--yes, you read it right--on a sack.

That was in the first half.

What BYU needed was a miracle, but what it got were shoulder separations. Two. Both to Ty Detmer. First, his left shoulder. Then, his right shoulder. That left him with no shoulder upon which to carry the burden of what would have to have been a miraculous comeback anyway.

The Aggies, those fun-devils, were just too clever to catch.