The 1990 BYU Cougars football team represented

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ...

(BYU) in the

1990 NCAA Division I-A football season The 1990 NCAA Division I-A football season ended with a split national championship and the ensuing controversy helped lead to the creation of the Bowl Coalition, a precursor to the Bowl Championship Series. The national title was split between th ...

. The Cougars offense scored 524 points while the defense allowed 350 points. Led by head coach

LaVell Edwards Reuben LaVell Edwards (October 11, 1930 – December 29, 2016) was an American football head coach for Brigham Young University (BYU). With 257 career victories, he ranks as one of the most successful college football coaches of all time. Among ...

, the team participated in the

Holiday Bowl The Holiday Bowl is a post-season NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision college football bowl game that has been played in San Diego since 1978. San Diego County Credit Union has been the game's title sponsor since 2017, and the bowl has b ...

Schedule

Roster

Preseason

Ty Detmer Ty Hubert Detmer (born October 30, 1967) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL). He won the Heisman Trophy in 1990 while playing college football for the BYU Cougars. Detme ...

was entering his third year as a starter and a

Heisman Trophy The Heisman Memorial Trophy (usually known colloquially as the Heisman Trophy or The Heisman) is awarded annually to the most outstanding player in college football. Winners epitomize great ability combined with diligence, perseverance, and hard ...

candidate. Head coach

considered him so valuable that he was allowed to go through spring practice untouched. While Detmer and tight Chris Smith were projected to lead another high-flying BYU offense, Edwards was looking for improvement with the team's defense that had been embarrassed in the

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campu ...

, which had led him to pay a visit to the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

in the offseason. Even with their defensive deficiencies, BYU was considered a Top 20 squad and expected to once again to win the WAC.

Game summaries

Game 1: UTEP

Game 2: Miami (FL)

Utah

Statistics

Passing

CougarStats

Awards and honors

*Heisman Trophy: Ty Detmer *Maxwell Award: Ty Demter *Davey O'Brien Award: Ty Detmer Runner Up WAC Defensive Player of the Year: Alema Fitisemanu *All-WAC: (1st) Alema Fitisemanu, Matt Bellini, Andy Boyce, Ty Detmer, Neal Fort, Earl Kauffman (P), Rich Kaufusi, Brian Mitchell, Robert Stephens, (2nd) Mike Keim, Rocky Biegel, Tony Crutchfield East West Shrine All Star Game: Alema Fiitsemanu, Rich Kaufusi, Chris Smith, Andy Boyce

Team players in the NFL

The following were selected in the

1991 NFL Draft The 1991 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 21–22, 1991, at the Marriott Mar ...

References

BYU Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day S ...

BYU Cougars football seasons Western Athletic Conference football champion seasons

BYU Cougars football The BYU Cougars football team is the college football program representing Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah. The Cougars began collegiate football competition in 1922, and have won 23 conference championships and one national champion ...

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