Ty Detmer assaulted the Brigham Young Cougars record book during his four-year career. When his playing days concluded, it was hard to find a record that he did not hold.
Twenty years later, Detmer still holds the BYU record for most passing yards in a season (5,188) and a career (15,031), most touchdown passes in a career (121), most passes attempted in a season (562) and a career (1,530), most passes completed in a season (361) and a career (958), and the longest pass play (97 yards to Eric Drage vs. Utah). Twenty years isn’t too teribbly long for a record to stand, however, it is becoming apparent that some of these records will stand the test of time. In 100 years, they will still be the standard of greatness.
Records That Will Be Broken
Current quarterback Jake Heaps is well on his way to breaking the records for most pass completions and attempts in a career. He only needs to average 382.3 passes each of the next three years (he had 383 as a freshman) to break the career attempts record. Under Bronco Mendenhall, neither John Beck nor Max Hall ever threw less than 400 passes. Hepas will need to average 246.3 pass completions over the next three seasons to break Detmer’s total completions record. Once again, this is a mark easily achieved, and exceeded, by the good BYU quarterbacks.
Former quarterback Max Hall had 330 completions in 2008, which isn’t too far off Detmer’s record of 361. That leads me to believe that someone will come along and set a new record for most completions in a season. All it would take is a year where either the run game or the defense is sub-par, and BYU is forced to rely on the pass or outscore the opposition to win.
While I consider it less likely, the 562 pass attempts in one season is breakable, for the same reasons the pass completions mark will go down. Additionally, with bowl games counting as a part of single season stats, a future quarterback would have 13 games, as opposed to 12. Detmer averaged 46.8 attempts per game. The record breaker would have to average just 43.23--nearly four fewer per game.
Records That Will Last
That leaves four records that will last: most passing yards in a season, most passing yards in a career, most touchdown passes in a career, and longest pass play.
It is possible to throw a 98 or 99 yard touchdown pass. (In principle, it is possible to exceed any of these marks.) However, given that BYU quarterbacks have completed almost 5,200 passes since Detmer’s 97-yard connection with Drage, not to mention the thousands of passes completed prior to that record setting pass, this record is 99.999% likely to last forever--not just the rest of Detmer’s and my lifetime.
If Detmer’s record for most touchdown passes in a career is broken, then the quarterback would have to average over 30 touchdown passes for four years. BYU quarterbacks have passed for 30 or more touchdowns 13 times. However, only Detmer has done it three times (Jim McMahon, Robbie Bosco, and Max Hall all did it twice). Of course, one 40 touchdown season would mean another season could be just 20 touchdowns. Keep in mind, these hypothetical numbers are assuming a quarterback plays very well as a freshman. Jake Heaps has been the only freshman ever at BYU to play more than half of his freshman season (Matt Berry had six starts), and he struggled to get 15 touchdown passes. Bottom line is, even as a senior, 30 touchdown passes in one year is a very good achievement, and 40 is phenomenal.
Even with a 13 game schedule, a quarterback needs to throw for roughly 400 yards per game to exceed Detmer’s 5,188 yards in 1990. To help quantify that, Max Hall averaged only 304.4 yards per game (3,957 yards) in his best season. John Beck averaged 323.8 yards per game in his best season (3,885 yards in 2006). Clearly, it will take a complete paradigm shift in BYU’s offensive philosophy for a quarterback to average 400 yards passing over a 13 game season.
Finally, the Mt. Everest of BYU passing records: most yards passing in a career. Once again, to establish the incredibleness of what Detmer achieved, here are the per year averages, and how often they have been achieved, that the same quarterback would need to average for four full seasons. Detmer had 15,031 passing yards, which would be 3,757.75 yards per year for four years. Once again, several BYU quarterbacks have hit this mark. Eleven to be exact. Besides Detmer, only Robbie Bosco and Max Hall exceeded 3,757 yards in a single season twice. If a quarterback was to pass for 4,000 yards in one season, the other three seasons would have to average 3,677 yards. That has been done by 15 Cougar quarterbacks, but once again, besides Detmer, none have done it more than twice.
By now, it should be evident that Detmer was a once in a lifetime player, who accomplishsed once in a lifetime achievements. The cliché is “records were meant to be broken,” but in the case of some of Detmer’s records, they are so high, they will never be broken. At least, not in this lifetime.
More flashbacks can be found on the Flashbacks page.
The Editor appreciates all feedback. He can be reached via email at bluecougarfootball@gmail.com
Twenty years later, Detmer still holds the BYU record for most passing yards in a season (5,188) and a career (15,031), most touchdown passes in a career (121), most passes attempted in a season (562) and a career (1,530), most passes completed in a season (361) and a career (958), and the longest pass play (97 yards to Eric Drage vs. Utah). Twenty years isn’t too teribbly long for a record to stand, however, it is becoming apparent that some of these records will stand the test of time. In 100 years, they will still be the standard of greatness.
Records That Will Be Broken
Current quarterback Jake Heaps is well on his way to breaking the records for most pass completions and attempts in a career. He only needs to average 382.3 passes each of the next three years (he had 383 as a freshman) to break the career attempts record. Under Bronco Mendenhall, neither John Beck nor Max Hall ever threw less than 400 passes. Hepas will need to average 246.3 pass completions over the next three seasons to break Detmer’s total completions record. Once again, this is a mark easily achieved, and exceeded, by the good BYU quarterbacks.
Former quarterback Max Hall had 330 completions in 2008, which isn’t too far off Detmer’s record of 361. That leads me to believe that someone will come along and set a new record for most completions in a season. All it would take is a year where either the run game or the defense is sub-par, and BYU is forced to rely on the pass or outscore the opposition to win.
While I consider it less likely, the 562 pass attempts in one season is breakable, for the same reasons the pass completions mark will go down. Additionally, with bowl games counting as a part of single season stats, a future quarterback would have 13 games, as opposed to 12. Detmer averaged 46.8 attempts per game. The record breaker would have to average just 43.23--nearly four fewer per game.
Records That Will Last
That leaves four records that will last: most passing yards in a season, most passing yards in a career, most touchdown passes in a career, and longest pass play.
It is possible to throw a 98 or 99 yard touchdown pass. (In principle, it is possible to exceed any of these marks.) However, given that BYU quarterbacks have completed almost 5,200 passes since Detmer’s 97-yard connection with Drage, not to mention the thousands of passes completed prior to that record setting pass, this record is 99.999% likely to last forever--not just the rest of Detmer’s and my lifetime.
If Detmer’s record for most touchdown passes in a career is broken, then the quarterback would have to average over 30 touchdown passes for four years. BYU quarterbacks have passed for 30 or more touchdowns 13 times. However, only Detmer has done it three times (Jim McMahon, Robbie Bosco, and Max Hall all did it twice). Of course, one 40 touchdown season would mean another season could be just 20 touchdowns. Keep in mind, these hypothetical numbers are assuming a quarterback plays very well as a freshman. Jake Heaps has been the only freshman ever at BYU to play more than half of his freshman season (Matt Berry had six starts), and he struggled to get 15 touchdown passes. Bottom line is, even as a senior, 30 touchdown passes in one year is a very good achievement, and 40 is phenomenal.
Even with a 13 game schedule, a quarterback needs to throw for roughly 400 yards per game to exceed Detmer’s 5,188 yards in 1990. To help quantify that, Max Hall averaged only 304.4 yards per game (3,957 yards) in his best season. John Beck averaged 323.8 yards per game in his best season (3,885 yards in 2006). Clearly, it will take a complete paradigm shift in BYU’s offensive philosophy for a quarterback to average 400 yards passing over a 13 game season.
Finally, the Mt. Everest of BYU passing records: most yards passing in a career. Once again, to establish the incredibleness of what Detmer achieved, here are the per year averages, and how often they have been achieved, that the same quarterback would need to average for four full seasons. Detmer had 15,031 passing yards, which would be 3,757.75 yards per year for four years. Once again, several BYU quarterbacks have hit this mark. Eleven to be exact. Besides Detmer, only Robbie Bosco and Max Hall exceeded 3,757 yards in a single season twice. If a quarterback was to pass for 4,000 yards in one season, the other three seasons would have to average 3,677 yards. That has been done by 15 Cougar quarterbacks, but once again, besides Detmer, none have done it more than twice.
By now, it should be evident that Detmer was a once in a lifetime player, who accomplishsed once in a lifetime achievements. The cliché is “records were meant to be broken,” but in the case of some of Detmer’s records, they are so high, they will never be broken. At least, not in this lifetime.
More flashbacks can be found on the Flashbacks page.
The Editor appreciates all feedback. He can be reached via email at bluecougarfootball@gmail.com
Comments
Post a Comment