BYU Has Inside Track to Holiday After Tie

In a 52-52 tie, Brigham Young was a winner.

Ty Detmer, with one of the best performances of his career, rallied No. 23 BYU from a 28-point deficit in the third quarter Saturday night to an improbable tie against San Diego State.

The result means BYU (7-3-1 overall, 6-0-1 in the WAC) will go to the Holiday Bowl as conference champion unless the Cougars lose to Utah and Air Force loses to Hawaii. If that happens, BYU and San Diego State would tie for first and the Aztecs (8-2-1, 6-1-1) would go on a tiebreaker. The WAC runner-up will play Tulsa in the Freedom Bowl.

Detmer, the 1990 Heisman Trophy winner, threw four of his six touchdown passes in the last 20 minutes. The tie earned the Cougars at least a share of their 14th Western Athletic Conference title in the past 20 seasons.

The rally stirred memories of BYU’s 20-point comeback in the last four minutes to beat SMU 46-45 in the the 1980 Holiday Bowl. And it made Detmer feel better about his return to Jack Murphy Stadium. The last time he was there, both his shoulders were separated in a 65-14 loss to Texas A&M; in the 1990 Holiday Bowl.

“Maybe it’ll get turned on the good side again,” said Detmer, who required 20 stitches to close a gash above his left eye when he collided facemask-to-facemask with a defender early in the game.

Detmer barely outbombed San Diego State’s David Lowery, completing 31 of 54 passes for a BYU-record 599 yards, with three interceptions. Lowery hit 26 of 39 for 547 yards and five TDs with one interception, throwing scoring passes of 75 and 79 yards to Darnay Scott and 80 yards to record-setting freshman running back Marshall Faulk.

Faulk set two more national records to raise his total to 13 in eight games. He ran for 118 yards and caught six passes for 116 and scored four touchdowns.

Faulk has 23 touchdowns in eight games, one more than national leader Desmond Howard of Michigan has in 10 games. Faulk’s 23 TDs and 140 points surpass previous freshman records of 20 and 120 by Reggie Cobb of Tennessee in 1987.

Faulk’s averages of 159.4 rushing yards and 17.5 points would lead the nation if he had played 75 percent of his team’s games, as required in the NCAA statistics. He missed three games because of fractured ribs and a punctured lung and sat out the last 10 minutes Saturday night because of a bruised rib cage. He is expected back for the Nov. 30 game at No. 1 Miami, which would qualify him on the official stat lists.

Detmer, who led the Cougars to seven consecutive victories after a 0-3 start, broke the record of 585 yards set by Robbie Bosco in 1985 against New Mexico.

“There’ve been a lot of great quarterbacks here who had a lot of big games,” Detmer said. “If you throw it that many times you’re going to do something good.”

The Cougars would meet No. 9 Iowa, the Big Ten runner-up, in the Holiday Bowl on Dec. 30.

Detmer has an NCAA-record 14,653 yards passing in his career, and can become the first quarterback to reach 15,000 yards when the Cougars close the season at home against Utah on Saturday.

“I feel I’m playing as good as I’ve ever played,” Detmer said. “I did have three interceptions, but one was up for grabs at the end of the half and the other two were great plays. I’m feeling really confident playing out there.”

With San Diego State leading 45-17 with five minutes left in the third period, Detmer got BYU going with touchdown passes of 49 yards to Jamal Willis, 10 yards to Byron Rex and 20 to Peter Tuipulotu.

Lowery threw his fifth touchdown pass, a 47-yarder to Keith Williams, for a 52-38 lead with 8:35 left.

Detmer’s sixth scoring pass, a four-yarder to Mark Atuaia with 6:19 to go, again cut the deficit to seven.

After San Diego State’s Andy Trakas missed a 41-yard field goal with 2:46 to play, Detmer moved BYU 77 yards in seven plays, the key being his 42-yard pass to Eric Drage to the Aztecs’ 35. Willis tied it with a five-yard sweep off right end with 30 seconds left.

After Keith Lever’s PAT, the BYU players leaped in joy.

“I knew about four touchdowns before that that we’d play for the tie,” Detmer said. “As long as we don’t lose, we’re in (the Holiday Bowl).”

Lowery, a sophomore who led SDSU to six straight wins since replacing Cree Morris, cried for several minutes after the game.

“Nothing feels good right now,” he said. “We could have scored 110 points, but it doesn’t matter. We should’ve had this game.”