Aggies Hang Detmer on Trophy Wall : Holiday Bowl: BYU’s Heisman winner suffers separations of both shoulders as Texas A&M; romps to 65-14 victory.

An option quarterback 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 Heisman Trophy winner Ty Detmer’s shoulders, quarterback Bucky Richardson and the rest of the offense executed with near perfection and Texas A&M; dismantled No. 13 BYU, 65-14. It was 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 before 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.

The Cougars (10-3), who have played in nine of 13 Holiday Bowls, suffered 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 completed 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.

His passing yardage 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.

He 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 all of last year and, when this season started, had only two option plays in their playbook.

Saturday, their game plan 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 . . . nearly every trick play from their playbook.

“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, 7-7, then reeled off 30 consecutive points.

The only thing worse than the final score may have been the final statistics. The Aggies, averaging 319 rushing yards, 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 was forced to leave the game early in the third quarter. He 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, then returned to finish the half.

But 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. Detmer went to the sidelines, paced, picked up a ball, 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 pass for 300 or more yards.

A large part of that was because Texas A&M;’s blitz, led by outside linebackers Marcus Buckley and Thomas, 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 ever played.

But not this time.