Old School: Ty Detmer Launches His Heisman Candidacy Over #1 Miami

"Old School" is the College Football FanHouse's irregular look back at the rich history of college football, usually through the medium of embeddable flash video. Check out the Old School archive for more famous plays and infamous hair.

This year, Ty Detmer will have his jersey retired by Brigham Young University. Detmer was an All-American, passed for over 15,000 yards in his career, and won the Heisman in 1990. He became the Heisman Trophy frontrunner very early with this game on September 8, against #1 Miami in Provo.

Miami took an early lead, but BYU answered, and went into the half with a 17-14 lead. A little more than 3 minutes into the second half, Miami took a 21-14 lead. They never scored again.

Detmer led the Cougars down the field, but had to settle for a field goal. Then BYU took the lead with a touchdown pass (Detmer's 3d of the night) and a two-point conversion to take a 28-21 lead that was the final score. Detmer passed for 406 yards.

The otherwise fantastic season for BYU and Detmer ended with a thud when the (Rainbow) Warriors of Hawaii routed them in the season finale, 59-28. It actually managed to get worse when Texas A&M demolished them in the Holiday Bowl 65-14. Detmer was knocked out of the game with two separated shoulders.

Despite the poor ending to 1990 for BYU, it doesn't take away from one of the finest college football quarterback performances, and the greatest upset in BYU history.