ARLINGTON, Texas — The Cougars created another one for the DVD library.
In a game of colossal ramifications for college football, No. 20 BYU
used a gutsy goal-line stand and late fourth-quarter 78-yard scoring
drive to knock off No. 3-ranked Oklahoma 14-13 in the new Dallas
Cowboys Stadium on Saturday.
Bronco Mendenhall, who showed rare unbridled emotion all game long,
led the celebration on the sideline as Oklahoma kicker Tress Way's
54-yard field goal fell short and the Cougars took the field for a
token possession as the clock wound down.
Then BYU's sideline went crazy.
"If I were to use words to describe the win, I'd say grit and determination," said Mendenhall afterward.
It marked the first BYU win over a top-10 team since Miami in 1990.
The Cougar win will surely add to the debate over the controversial
BCS system on the heels of Utah's win over Alabama in the Sugar Bowl
nine months ago.
At the least, it is the first major upset of the college football season.
After a summer of congressional hearings, a rejected Mountain West
BCS proposal and heated debate over the fairness of the college
football system, BYU's unlikely upset of the Sooners should pour gas on
a debate already aflame.
The BYU win will likely affect the BCS rankings and strength of
schedule for teams like Oklahoma's rival, Texas. It will place pressure
on AP and USA Today poll voters who will judge how to rank
non-automatic qualifiers TCU, Utah and the Cougars, who started the
game ranked behind Boise State of the non-BCS Western Athletic
Conference.
When BYU senior linebacker Colby Clawson delivered that crushing hit
and takedown of Oklahoma's Heisman Trophy winner, Sam Bradford, it may
have changed the 2009 Heisman Trophy race, not to mention Oklahoma's
ability to challenge for the Big 12 title if Bradford misses league
games.
BYU's offense outperformed the nation's No. 1 scoring machine in
2008 (357 to 265 total yards). And the oft-maligned Cougar defense, led
by a defensive coordinator Jaimie Hill making all the calls for the
first time in his three years, overshadowed a Sooner defense considered
one of the best in the nation.
And finally, Max Hall, fresh off two season-ending losses, including
a turnover-filled loss at rival Utah ofwhich he accepted the blame,
might have elevated his national stature and certainly etched his name
among BYU's most storied quarterbacks.
At the end of the game, BYU's sideline erupted in hugs, tears and
elation as a contingent of some 15,000 Cougar fans roared approval, and
the stunned Oklahoma faithful, who outnumbered those in blue 6-to-1,
headed for the exits.
One of those with a BYU sideline pass was New York Giants linebacker
Bryan Kehl, who jumped and hopped around like a gushing freshman.
"It's as good as it gets," said Kehl. "It was unreal.
"This goes down in the annals of history as one of the best games
ever. Oklahoma? They were the No. 3-ranked team in the country. This
wasn't a mid-level BCS team, this was Oklahoma and this was their home
game, basically, and we came in here and beat them.
"BYU marched up and down the field on them and the defense held them
out on the goal line for six plays and the offense then goes 78 yards?
"I haven't felt like this since BYU-Utah my senior year," Kehl said.
"The electricity on that sideline was unbelievable. This has to rank
right up right up there. No. 3 in the country and all the mistakes BYU
made and they still beat them? It is unreal."
Former All-Pro NFL tight end Chad Lewis agreed. A volunteer helper
in the offseason, Lewis said the upset win was an antidote to the
painful end to last season, which left a bitter taste in the mouths of
players.
"They lost to TCU, Utah and Arizona and that pushed them to work
hard since that time. I saw it and I noticed the chemistry this team
developed," said Lewis.
"This win is similar to Miami. BYU has done a very good job in early
season games against top-ranked opponents. That goal-line stand at the
end of the game? That only happens with teams that are special. This
one believes."
BYU defensive line coach Steve Kaufusi, who was part of BYU's early
success and run of championships in the early '80s, said that one
ingredient is what he'll take from Saturday's win over the Sooners.
"It just shows what believing can do," he said.
E-mail: dharmon@desnews.com