Going into New Mexico game, Hall can match Detmer’s BYU record for career victories

BYU’s Hall one win from matching Detmer’s record

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Two seasons ago in his first action as BYU’s quarterback, Max Hall wasn’t thinking about the school’s legacy at the game’s most glamorous position.

“I was more worried about fumbling the snap than anything else,” Hall recalled this week. “I was worried about remembering the plays and somehow being able to deliver a football and complete a pass.”

No problem. Things turned out fine for Hall.

Now a senior, he leads the No. 22 Cougars (7-2, 4-1 Mountain West) into Saturday’s game at struggling New Mexico (0-9, 0-5) with a chance to make history.

With one more victory, Hall will match Heisman Trophy winner Ty Detmer’s school record of 29 career wins from 1988-91. And while Hall doesn’t have enough time remaining in his playing days to threaten Detmer’s school record of 15,031 yards passing, he’s satisfied.

“Ty absolutely dominated in his career,” Hall said. “He did some things and had some records that are unbelievable and almost unbeatable. Really, what really mattered to me was just winning games. We’ve tried to win at least 10 games each year and at least have a shot at the conference title.”

Hall had a spectacular performance in last weekend’s 52-0 victory at Wyoming.

He played into the third quarter, completing 20 of 22 attempts for 312 yards passing and a season-high four touchdowns. His 90.0 percent completion rate for a single game was just shy of Steve Sarkisian’s school-record 91.2 percent against Fresno State from 1995.

Hall piled up the victories because he’s been fortunate to stay healthy and because BYU went 11-2 and 10-3 during his two earlier seasons as a starter.

“To have a chance to be up there and be mentioned with some of the greats that have played here, maybe even break a record while I’m here, having an opportunity to do that is great,” Hall said. “I want to take advantage of it and hopefully win the next few games.”

The Cougars have a chance at 10 regular-season victories for the fourth straight year if they can win out against the Lobos, Air Force and rival Utah. If they do, they’ll also have an outside shot at a share of the Mountain West title.

The Cougars can’t win the title outright without Utah or TCU losing twice over the final three games.

Quarterbacks at BYU are always measured against the ones who played earlier during a long line of standouts, from Gifford Nielsen, Marc Wilson, Jim McMahon, Steve Young and Robbie Bosco to Detmer, Sarkisian and, more recently, John Beck.

BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall was asked if Hall might have benefited from a softer schedule than what those other Cougars played against though the years.

He replied that it’s difficult to say — and irrelevant, at least to Mendenhall.

“I do know I am very fortunate to be Max’s coach. I’m very fortunate that he’s here with us and I’m fortunate that he has helped us win a lot of football games. … I think that speaks a lot about what he’s been able to accomplish,” Mendenhall said.

New Mexico seems to be the perfect opponent for Hall to pad his victory total.

The Lobos are still trying to snap a 13-game losing streak and avoid their worst season since an 0-11 campaign in 1987. Worse, Mike Locksley’s first year as coach has been mayhem off the field, most notably his altercation with an assistant coach and fallout from the university’s botched investigation.

Hall insisted the Cougars won’t be looking past the Lobos.

“New Mexico, obviously, has not had the kind of season they wanted,” he said. “They’ve had some bumps along the way and lost some games they should have won. We’re not going to take them lightly, though. I still feel like they’re going to be well prepared.”