Ty Detmer never liked ending a drive with a field goal. He was all about scoring touchdowns and his school-record 121 passing touchdowns may stand forever. But in Detmer’s first big game at BYU in the 1988 Freedom Bowl against Colorado, he needed his kicker to not only win the game, but to also solidify his job at quarterback the following season.

Jason Chaffetz ran onto the field and kicked a 31-yard field goal with 4:11 remaining in the fourth quarter to tie the game at 17-17. A few minutes later, after Detmer drove BYU to the Buffaloes’ 27-yard line, Chaffetz was called on again.

“I knew going out there that I was going to make it,” Chaffetz told the Deseret News last week. “When I first started kicking, I was a little nervous, but I got to the point with LaVell (Edwards), we’d look at each other on the sideline. I’d give him the nod that I could make it, and he would send me in.”

Colorado, behind running back Eric Bieniemy’s 144 yards rushing and two touchdowns, grabbed the lead in the first quarter. The Buffaloes never trailed until the special team’s trio of Chaffetz, Jay Shumway and Pat Thompson marched onto the field like a budding law firm eager to win the case.

“Those are moments kickers dream about,” Chaffetz said. “There is about 1.34 seconds from the time the ball snaps to get off the kick. You have to start moving toward the ball before it’s even on the ground. If they don’t put that ball down at the right spot, who knows what happens.”

“I knew going out there that I was going to make it. When I first started kicking, I was a little nervous, but I got to the point with LaVell (Edwards), we’d look at each other on the sideline. I’d give him the nod that I could make it, and he would send me in.”

—  BYU kicker Jason Chaffetz on his game-winning field against the Buffs

Shumway’s snap with 2:33 to play was perfect. Thompson’s hold was in place and Chaffetz booted the 35-yard field goal to win the game 20-17.

“He was clutch for us in that moment,” Detmer said. “Anytime you can get points in a tight game is huge.”

Full-circle moment

For Chaffetz, beating the Buffaloes was a full-circle moment. After spending his senior year in Winter Park, Colorado, and kicking for Middle Park High, he was hoping to stay home and play in front of his family.

“I didn’t start kicking until my junior year, but I thought I could play college-level football,” Chaffetz said. “I wanted to play at Colorado, but they wouldn’t even give me a look. So, when I got to BYU, it was pretty sweet to kick a couple of field goals in the last 4:11 to beat them by three points.”

Chaffetz was the hero, but the MVP trophy went to Detmer, who replaced Sean Covey at quarterback in the third quarter.

“Off the field, Ty is quiet and soft spoken, but when he gets on the field, he is taking charge at a level we hadn’t seen before,” Chaffetz said. “He knew exactly what to do and how to do it.”

Detmer completed 11 of 17 passes for 129 yards and a touchdown.

MVP trophy

“After the game, (Ty) gets the world’s largest trophy. I was like, ‘Wait a minute. I made the kicks, and you are the MVP?’” Chaffetz joked. “He was like, ‘Get used to it. That’s how it is for quarterbacks around here.’”

“I never said that,” Detmer laughed back. “I still have that trophy. I’ve never known what to do with it because it’s so big. It should be in the team facility because it was as big as the team trophy. Chris Smith (tight end) carried it off the field for me because I didn’t know what to do with it.”

Today the trophy sits proudly on top of Detmer’s gun safe, deep inside his Arizona home. It represents a significant win for both Detmer and Chaffetz, but for different reasons.

“Anything (Jason) could do to put the spotlight on him so he could take his helmet off — he was all for it,” Detmer remembered with a smile. “Back then, you didn’t get penalized for taking your helmet off on the field and he took full advantage of it.”

Riding momentum from the Colorado win, Detmer returned as the starter in 1989 and won the Heisman Trophy in 1990.

“I think it sealed the deal for being able to be the starter going into the next season,” Detmer said. “Winning that game kinda paved the way, even though Sean (Covey) was going to be a senior. He had surgery and missed spring practice and it just worked out for me.”

Meeting for the first time since the Freedom Bowl, No. 17 BYU (10-2) will face No. 23 Colorado (9-3) and this year’s Heisman winner, Travis Hunter, on Dec. 28 in the Alamo Bowl (5:30 p.m., ABC).

“It has everything you want in a bowl game,” Chaffetz said. “It will be one of those games where a lot of people who don’t normally watch BYU and Colorado are going to watch because of the two dynamic offenses. We have to play good defense and can’t afford to turn the ball over.”

Football and politics

Chaffetz, who booted 16 field goals and 89 extra points during two seasons at BYU, parlayed his kicking career into politics and broadcasting.

“The most important stat is we never lost a game based on the margin of my missed kicks,” he said. “That’s the only way you can run for political office in the state of Utah.”

Chaffetz was elected to Utah’s 3rd Congressional District from 2009-2017 and currently works as a contributor for Fox News and Fox News Radio; he also hosts his “Jason in the House” weekly podcast.

“I try to channel my inner place kicker. You get me in front of a big crowd in a big moment, and it doesn’t phase me,” Chaffetz said. “In fact, I rather enjoy it.”

Chaffetz has had a lot of big moments, but none were bigger at BYU than his pair of field goals to beat Colorado 36 years ago.

Detmer’s Texas roots

BYU signed Detmer out of Southwest High in San Antonio in 1986. During his senior year, he was named the Texas Player of the Year in football, all-state in baseball and all-region in basketball.

This is the first time the Cougars have ever played in San Antonio. Detmer will be in Texas, but up near Austin at his ranch. Barring a late change of plans, that’s where he plans to watch the game.

“It’s hard to get me off of the ranch, once I’m on the ranch,” he said. “It’s cool (BYU) gets to play there. I got to play in the Alamodome when I was with Atlanta and my dad got to watch on the sideline. That was pretty cool.”

With Mike Vick at quarterback, the Falcons defeated the Saints 34-31 on Oct. 16, 2005, after Hurricane Katrina forced New Orleans to move the game to San Antonio.

In addition to winning the Heisman Trophy at BYU, the San Antonio kid won the Maxwell Award, Sammy Baugh Trophy and two Davey O’Brien Awards. Detmer was a two-time consensus All-American. The Cougars retired his No. 14 jersey, and he was enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame.

For all of that, BYU owes San Antonio a Texas-sized dose of gratitude, and they can show it by giving the Lone Star State an Alamo Bowl to remember.

Dave McCann is a sportswriter and columnist for the Deseret News and is a play-by-play announcer and show host for BYUtv/ESPN+. He co-hosts “Y’s Guys” at ysguys.com and is the author of the children’s book “C is for Cougar,” available at deseretbook.com.