Editor’s note: Last in a series on Ty Detmer.
“BYU has about as much chance of upsetting this team (Miami) as the Vatican Swiss Guards would have of defeating the U.S. Marines. Cute uniforms, no ammunition. You get the picture — no chance of upsetting this Miami team.” — Danny Sheridan, USA Today/CNN.
PROVO — When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, my editor asked each of the Deseret News sports staff to write a piece on one of the greatest games they’d covered in their careers. I’ve seen many, but this Miami defeat at the hands of BYU ranked at the top. I sold the idea that a series of reflective stories putting together the pieces of the puzzle of that night might work.
As I sorted out my research, it was easy to see it could have become twice or three times the five installments we settled upon. Some question that, but I disagree. You have more than 200 people who were part of that game on the field, sidelines and in the booth. They all have stories to tell as combatants.
The BYU victory over No. 1 Miami in September 1990 did something for Ty Detmer’s Heisman Trophy campaign like nothing else could.
It legitimized a quarterback who’d thrown for the fifth-most yards all-time in high school at the time (8.005 yards).It solidified that he was a serious All-American and Heisman candidate going into that Miami game, having thrown for 6,199 yards and 46 touchdowns in 25 college games and as a junior, playing his second game of the season.
Before that game Detmer passed for 387 yards and a touchdown against UTEP (71% completions). Against Miami he had 406 yards and two touchdowns (70%), and the week after Miami, he lit up Washington State for 448 yards and five touchdowns (64%).
So, in a sense, Detmer’s performance against the defending national champs and No. 1-ranked defense the previous year was a routine production for him. He was that good.
It did lead to a Heisman Trophy Award a few months later, and back-to-back Davey O’Brien awards as the best college football player in the country. He became the first collegian to pass for more than 15,000 yards and 121 touchdowns.
Reflecting on what that game meant, Detmer, 53, believes there is little doubt that BYU’s win over Miami pushed his candidacy from wish to reality.
“Some of BYU’s quarterbacks that went before me didn’t win the Heisman. You know, Jim McMahon, Steve Young or Robbie Bosco, because sometimes people just doubted BYU’s schedule and some of those things.
“Having a chance to beat them (Miami) kind of took that argument away from me, beating them when they were Alabama at that time in college football. So, it really did open the door going forward for the rest of the year. (People would say), ‘He did it against Miami’ instead of ‘He couldn’t do it against Miami.’”
Well, he did.
“As a teammate, I absolutely loved playing with Ty Detmer,” said halfback Matt Bellini, reflecting on that Miami night and Detmer’s abilities.
“He just really took command. He was very, very knowledgeable of everyone on the field and what everyone’s job was. He held everyone accountable. He did it in a way — and it can be done poorly by people, too, if that makes sense — where he would get on you, but he had the type of personality that you respected.
“When he made mistakes he owned up to them, but he also held you accountable. The interesting thing about him as a quarterback is that you never knew where the ball was going. So you’d have five guys out in the route every play and in other years with other quarterbacks, you could be certain that the No. 1 option was going to get the ball, the No. 2 option was going to get the ball so if you needed a little rest, you could take it.
“But that’s not the way Ty played,” Bellini continued. “We’d run the same play 15 times in a row and you wouldn’t see the ball and then all of a sudden you’d see it three times in a row and I think it made you work harder. You never knew where the ball was going and that made us work harder. He is a very competitive person and a lot of fun to be around. I don’t think people realize how much fun it is to be around a public persona that is a lot different than he seems.”
Receiver Andy Boyce agreed. Over the years, he, Bellini, Eric Drage and Detmer have hung out, played golf. He finds it interesting that at one time, all they knew about each other was football and when they’d meet, they’d all revert back to their BYU days. But now they have kids and grandkids, lives full of experience and opinions about politics, finances, businesses and a whole litany of things they’d never discussed in the ’90s.
“It’s quite refreshing to get in a conversation with old teammates, get in-depth with them, which you never really did before when it was fun and games and laughs,” Boyce said. “It’s cool.”
One thing that has never changed with Detmer, said Boyce, is his competitive spirit, which he said is a fierce force of his nature.
On BYU’s first touchdown, Detmer led a 60-yard scoring drive, but Miami appeared to have the Cougars stopped, flushing Detmer out of the pocket at the 14. But Detmer dodged linebacker Shane Curry. He then stepped out of a tackle by Russell Maryland and took off, sprinting for the sideline. Both Maryland and Curry had their faces in the turf.
At full gait, Detmer never took his eyes off downfield, where five receivers were adjusting routes. He knew exactly where each was and when he squared his shoulders to the line, he lofted a soft, feathery touch pass into the arms of Bellini over the head of corner Ryan McNeil. That tied the score at seven apiece.
Miami led 14-10 with 1:42 left in the first half when Detmer’s competitive nature kicked into full gear after a Cougars fumble.
This is about the time an offense can crack and stall. Instead, the Cougars went into a two-minute offense before a stunned ESPN audience and 300 sports writers and sportscasters in the press box, Detmer completed seven straight passes. Miami’s’ defense looked confused and disjointed, not knowing how to stop BYU’s receivers from finding seams in their coverage, and Detmer was slipping in passes with ease.
That kind of movement by an opposing offense was foreign to the Hurricanes. Neither Notre Dame nor Alabama had done that the year before. Detmer drove the Cougars to the 2-yard line where he found Boyce on a quick out-route for a TD and 17-14 lead.
A nation and packed stadium had that kind of scoreboard to talk about during intermission. But what it did was make a statement. Miami was in trouble, BYU’s receivers had found their spots, Detmer was hot and they had no answer.
Miami’s defense had allowed just 270 yards a game the previous year, but BYU had gained 332 yards passing in the first 30 minutes of play. Detmer had passed for 200 yards in the second quarter alone.
It was a game that defined Detmer. The second half was more of the same.
Miami had no clue and in a game of momentum, BYU was not going to give it back.
The Hurricanes didn’t go down easy, but when BYU’s defense rose up and stopped Stephen McGuire on a crucial fourth-down run attempt in the fourth quarter, that sustained effort lifted the Cougars bench and sideline. McGuire never made it to the line of scrimmage as Rocky Biegel and Rich Kaufusi swarmed over him. Had Miami scored on that possession, they’d have taken control of the game.
Trailing 21-20 BYU took possession near midfield and Detmer marched the offense into scoring position. Of the game-winner, Denver Post columnist Dick Connor wrote: “One freeze frame should be blown up and left on the locker room wall. It will show Miami defenders Kipp Vickers, Shane Curry, Jessie Armstead and Eric Miller all stomach down. Meanwhile, seven yards up in the end zone, Mike Salido had the winning touchdown. And standing over the flattened quartet, Detmer was clapping his hands with glee.
“When the play started, Salido was a junior. By the time Detmer ran around, shed one tackler after another, waited for somebody to come open and finally found Salido, he was a senior.
Detmer pumped, pulled the ball in, ran, pumped again, twisted, had Vickers and Curry knock each other off the play as they collided, then spotted Salido sneaking across the end zone.”
BYU went for two, again, Detmer bootlegged around the end, rifling a pass to Boyce as defender Darryl Williams, on his knees, could do nothing but rip up pieces of grass.
Game over.
Detmer was a bit of a Houdini that night. His team followed his example. BYU defenders had the game of their lives.
Year later, BYU offensive coordinator Norm Chow was talking to Ed Orgeron, now coach of national champion LSU. Orgeron was Miami’s defensive line coach that night. He told Chow that during halftime, he and the other Miami defensive coach Tommy Tuberville went to head coach Dennis Erickson and told him, “We have no idea how to stop Detmer and that offense.”
Said Chow, “We got a good laugh talking about that night and that game.”
“I’ve seen a lot of passers, but this guy, I’ve never seen one like him. He reads defenses like nobody else I’ve ever seen at such an early age. I’ve never seen one go to the second receiver as young as he does. And I’ve never seen anyone go to the right receiver at the right time as often as he does.” — Vince Dooley, former Georgia head football coach