By Richard Evans
The Daily Universe celebrates 50 years
From Ty Detmer to Gary Crowton, the last 15 years have produced some wild ups and downs in the BYU football program.
The stretch included BYU''s first (and only) Heisman Trophy, the team''s lone victory against a No. 1-ranked team, a 3-6-1 record in bowl games, a new conference, the retirement of LaVell Edwards and the relatively brief Crowton era.
At the start of this decade-and-a-half stretch, there was every reason for optimism. The Cougars appeared to be entrenched as the premier football power in this part of the country, based on a long, unbroken string of bowl invitations and the fact they''d dominated the Western Athletic Conference since the mid-''70s.
And then there was Detmer. The lean quarterback from San Antonio, Texas, opened BYU''s decade in style, leading the Cougars to an upset of then No. 1-ranked Miami in the first home game of the 1990 season.
From there all he did was rewrite much of the passing and total-offense sections of the NCAA record book en route to winning college football''s most prestigious individual award, the Heisman Trophy.
The rest of that 1990 season, however, went less successfully. Just hours after receiving the Heisman news, Detmer was injured and his team was pummeled by a fired-up Hawaii squad. The Cougars'' bowl game four weeks later was equally disastrous, as Texas A&M reinjured Detmer and rolled over BYU, 65-14.
Somewhat minor setbacks aside, the Cougars continued to roll along in typical fashion as long as Edwards remained at the helm. In the ''90s BYU captured six WAC titles, put together two 10-win seasons and a 14-1 campaign (in 1996) and had 22 players selected in the NFL Draft.
In 1999, BYU made a move that many fans had long clamored for: They bolted the WAC. BYU and seven other WAC schools formed the Mountain West Conference ? a maneuver intended to boost the schools'' football prestige. BYU welcomed itself to the conference by tying for the conference title.
So far, the new millennium hasn''t been overly kind to the Cougars. They went just 6-6 in 2000 ? only the second time in 27 years that they''d finished under .500. That season ended on a positive note, however, as the Cougs knocked off the Utes in Salt Lake City in Edwards'' last game.
A year later BYU appeared poised for a revival under new head coach Crowton. He led the Cougs to a 12-2 record, and though the season ended with a 28-10 Liberty Bowl loss to Louisville, fans felt they had every reason to expect that their favorite team was on the right track.
But over the next three seasons, Crowton''s teams won just 14 games, resulting in considerable fan disaffection and ultimately Crowton''s departure from BYU after the 2004 season.
To fill the coaching vacancy, BYU turned to its defensive coordinator, Bronco Mendenhall, a visionary leader who has focused on restoring to the once-fabled program a sense of tradition and a commitment to excellence.
Mendenhall''s attitude showed signs of taking hold with players during a somewhat up-and-down 2005 season. Despite an injury-depleted secondary that was routinely exploited by pass-proficient opponents, the team showed definite signs of improvement and managed to finish second in the conference and earn a bid to the Las Vegas Bowl.