Flashback: On the arm of Ty Detmer and Matt Bellini's prowess for finding the end zone, BYU beats Navy

BYU RB Matt Bellini, 1989 BYU Media Guide

I have been trying to use a previous game against the upcoming opponent as the subject for the weekly flashback, but the only other game BYU has played against UMass was just last season. It seems a little early to do a flashback for that game, plus it will spoil the Did you know? feature for tomorrow.

That led to doing a little bit of connecting the dots. Like BYU, UMass is also independent, as well as Army. BYU has never played Army, but it has played Navy once. Since it was Veteran's Day four days ago, it made more sense to feature a school from the armed forces than the only other independent, Notre Dame.

Hope you enjoy.

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For the third game of the 1989 season, BYU ventured east of the Mississippi River for just the 14th time. The unfamiliar territory must have had the Cougar defense discombobulated at the start of the game. BYU is normally very good at defending the option, but Navy had the Cougar defense confused and scored a touchdown on their first possession to take a 7-0 lead.

Led by Ty Detmer at quarterback, BYU responded with a 17-yard touchdown pass to Matt Bellini to tie the game. The score remained knotted up at the end of the first quarter. A second touchdown by Bellini, this time on a run from three yards out, gave BYU its first lead of the game at 14-7.

Navy kicked a field goal before halftime to close the gap to 14-10, but that was as close as the Midshipmen would get. Both teams would get an extra 10 minutes to rest and make adjustments during the break due to a power outage.

Whether it was the extended break, or the rainy weather, neither team did much in the third quarter. BYU extended its lead with a 24-yard Jason Chaffetz field goal to lead 17-0 going into the final 15 minutes of play.

Bellini scored two more touchdowns in the fourth quarter. The first was a 20-yard pass from Detmer, and the second was a 10-yard run. The four touchdowns were the most he scored in a single game during his career.

The final score was 31-10.

Both Bellini and Fred Whittingham led the Cougars with 50 yards rushing.

Detmer had a stellar game completing 23 of 35 pass attempts for 353 yards and zero interceptions to go along with his two touchdowns to Bellini. Detmer's pass efficiency rating for the game was 177.9 His passing yards set a new Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium record breaking the old record held by Doug Flutie.

The Cougar defense was able to sack the Navy quarterback six times.

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