The 1995 BYU football team, despite winning a share of the WAC championship, may mostly be remembered in Cougar sports history as the one that ended the bowl streak.
For 17 consecutive years, LaVell Edwards' teams spent December preparing for a postseason battle. This year, however, the BYU football season was over two days after Thanksgiving. There was a glimmer of hope last week that the Cougs would be invited to the Carquest Bowl after Miami couldn't go bowling, but Arkansas got the berth instead."I've always thought WAC championships are more important than bowl games. I wouldn't trade the championship for a bowl," said Edwards, trying his best to look on the bright side after being left out of the bowl picture.
Suddenly, things that Cougar fans had taken for granted for 20 years - like wins over Utah and postseason bowl berths - have become hard to come by.
Still, Edwards - who recently signed a multi-year contract extension - felt good about the '95 campaign that saw his team finish 7-4 overall and 6-2 in the WAC.
"Overall, I was pleased with how we played this year," Edwards said. "The Air Force and Utah games were obviously disappointing, but for the most part, the guys did a nice job . . . The defense was better than it had been in a number of years."
Some of the highlights for the Cougars included a relatively easy road win over Colorado State, the WAC's Holiday Bowl representative; a near-shutout against Hawaii (the Rainbows scored on a last-second bomb against BYU's second-string defense in a 45-7 victory); and quarterback Steve Sarkisian's record-breaking passing performance in the season-finale at Fresno State.
Some of the lowlights for BYU included a lopsided loss to Air Force in the season opener, blowing a fourth quarter lead to lose at Arizona State and its third-straight setback against Utah. A win in either the Air Force or Utah games would have put the Cougars into the Holiday Bowl. The loss at ASU likely cost BYU an at-large spot in one of the other bowl games.
Individually, the Cougars had several players turn in fine seasons. Six Cougars, more than any other in the league, were named first-team all-WAC. The much-improved defense was led by all-WAC linebackers Shay Muirbrook and Stan Raass and lineman John Raass, while tight end Chad Lewis and guard Larry Moore were offensive standouts. Junior return specialist James Dye was named as the WAC's special teams Player of the Year and led the nation in punt returns, averaging 21.9 yards per attempt.
Sarkisian finished first in the WAC and third in the nation in total offense, averaging 297 yards per game. The junior college transfer, like the rest of the team, was up-and-down however. The final two games seemed to typify Sarkisian's season, as he threw four interceptions and blamed himself for the loss to Utah only to follow it up by completing an NCAA record 31 of 34 passes against Fresno State.
The 1996 Cougars will have more experience returning than the '95 team had. Only eight starters from '94 were back for this season - next year, 14 starters will return.
Among those that won't be back are leading receiver Mike Johnston, leading rusher Hema Heimuli, the Raass brothers, three offensive linemen and cornerback Dermmell Reed. But returnees Sarkisian, Dye, Muirbrook, Lewis, tight end Itula Mili, cornerback Tim McTyer and defensive end Ed Kehl will give Edwards and the other coaches a good base to start from next season.
The Cougars also had what was rated as the best recruiting class in the WAC last year and many of those players redshirted this season. Defensive players like Marc Dragony, Nate Foreman, Byron Frisch and Ryan Denney are expected to help for years to come as are running back Ned Stearns and others who sat out this season.
While the speculation that Edwards might shortly retire was laid to rest when he signed the new muti-year deal, the Cougar coaching staff may still see a bit of a shakeup during the offseason, as veteran assistant coach Norm Chow, who has been with the Cougars for 20 years, is being considered for the vacant head coaching position at Hawaii.