The 2006 BYU Cougars football team represented Brigham Young University in the 2006 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Cougars won the Mountain West Conference (MWC) championship outright with an 11–2 record (8–0 in the MWC), their first unbeaten conference play since 2001. This was also BYU's third season with at least a share of the MWC title (co-champions with CSU and Utah in 1999, and sole champions in 2001). The Cougars played their home games at LaVell Edwards Stadium, named after its legendary coach, LaVell Edwards.

Pre-season Among the returning starters were quarterback John Beck, running back Curtis Brown, linebacker Cameron Jenson and tight end Jonny Harline.

During the season The Cougars started the season unranked in either the Coaches Poll or the AP Poll, and would not enter the polls until they had won their eighth game. They steadily rose in the rankings mainly on the strength of an offense that finished the regular season 5th in the nation in scoring and 4th in passing yards of 323.5 per game. The key to their offense was quarterback John Beck, who was one of the nation's top quarterbacks, running back Curtis Brown, and tight end Jonny Harline. They averaged a 465.5 yards and 36.8 points per game.

The Cougars played five bowl-bound teams during the season—Boston College, their second opponent from one of the six BCS conferences; Tulsa; TCU; the New Mexico; and their conference rivals, the Utah Utes. Notably, BYU defeated TCU (then ranked #15) by 31-17 putting an end to the Horned Frogs' 13-game winning streak.

Postseason awards and citations John Beck MWC Offensive Player of the Week for seven weeks Mountain West Conference Offensive Player of the Year (unanimous) Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award Finalist Davey O'Brien Award Semifinalist Heisman candidate Walter Camp National Offensive Player of the Week First Team All-Mountain West Conference (unanimous) Second Team All-America, The Sporting News Honorable Mention All-America, CBSSportsline.com, Pro Football Weekly, College Football News

Jonny Harline Mackey Award semifinalist First Team All-America, The Sporting News, ESPN, College Football News, CBSSportsline.com, SI.com Third Team All-America, Associated Press

Jake Kuresa Second Team All-America, College Football News Honorable Mention All-America, The Sporting News First Team All-Mountain West Conference

Bronco Mendenhall AFCA Region 5 Coach of the Year

Curtis Brown First Team All-Mountain West Conference

Sete Aulai Second Team All-Mountain West Conference

Cameron Jensen First Team All-Mountain West Conference (unanimous) Mountain West Conference Defensive Player of the Week

Quinn Gooch Second Team All-Mountain West Conference

Bryan Kehl Honorable Mention All-Mountain West Conference

Jared McLaughlin Second Team All-Mountain West Conference

Nate Meikle Second Team All-Mountain West Conference Academic All-District National Scholar-Athlete Candidate

Schedule

Rankings

Roster (as of September 2006) Wide receivers 2 Bryce Mahuika - Sophomore 3 Michael Reed† - Sophomore 5 Brett Cooper - Senior 9 Nathan Meikle† - Senior 10 Matt Allen† - Junior 19 Zac Erekson - Sophomore 80 McKay Jacobson - Freshman 82 Ryan Neeley - Junior 83 Saia Hafoka - Sophomore 85 Zac Collie - Senior 86 Daniel Tervort - Freshman 87 Matt Smith - Senior

Offensive guards 62 Braden Hansen - Freshman 74 Travis Bright† - Sophomore 76 Ray Feinga† - Sophomore

Offensive tackles 65 Dallas Reynolds† - Sophomore 66 Garrett Reden - Freshman 68 David Oswald - Sophomore 73 Jake Kuresa† - Senior

Centers 60 Ryan Freeman - Freshman 67 Sete Aulai† - Junior

Offensive linemen 53 Tom Sorensen - Sophomore 55 Jeff Rhea - Junior 59 Eddie Keele - Senior 61 Jackson Smith - Freshman 69 John Barrett - Freshman 71 Rick Wolfley - Freshman 72 Nick Longshore - Senior 75 Walter Kahaialii -Freshman 77 Jason Speredon - Freshman 79 Erik Freeman - Junior 58 Jayson Clark - Senior Tight ends 13 Jonny Harline† - Senior 20 Daniel Coats - Senior 37 Vic So'oto - Sophomore 84 Jeff Allen - Freshman 88 Andrew George - Freshman 89 Brock Hansen - Freshman

Fullbacks 11 Manase Tonga† - Sophomore 27 Joe Semanoff - Junior

Quarterbacks 4 James Lark - Freshman 7 Jason Beck - Senior 11 Sam Doman - Freshman 12 John Beck† - Senior 16 Jacob Bower - Freshman 24 Kurt McEuen - Freshman

Running backs 1 Fui Vakapuna - Sophomore 6 Curtis Brown† - Senior 22 Ray Hudson - Sophomore 31 Isaac Taylor - Sophomore 32 Mike Hague - Freshman 45 Harvey Unga - Freshman

Defensive line 54 Kyle Luekenga - Sophomore 57 Dan Alleto - Freshman 75 Jordan Richardson - Freshman 77 Ian Dulan - Freshman 90 Mosese Foketi - Junior 92 Brett Denney - Freshman 93 Sean Sullivan - Junior 94 Tommy Nelson - Freshman 95 Temana Paongo - Freshman 96 Kalama Kaluhiokalani - Freshman 97 Garrett Eskelsen - Freshman

Defensive ends 70 Hala Paongo† - Senior 84 Jan Jorgensen† - Freshman 91 Judd Anderton - Junior 99 Matangi Tonga - Freshman

Defensive tackles 51 Russell Tialavea† - Freshman 98 Romney Fuga - Freshman Defensive backs 4 Brandon Howard - Freshman 6 Jordan Stephan - Freshman 10 Jeff Sorensen - Freshman 14 Tyler Kozlowski - Freshman 16 Kellen Fowler - Junior 18 Aaron Attig - Freshman 19 Brandon Bradley - Freshman 20 Michael Moore - Freshman 22 Carter Mees - Freshman 24 Nate Hutchinson - Freshman 26 Aaron Gordon - Senior 29 Kelly Bills - Sophomore 30 Robbie Buckner - Freshman 31 Chris Warner - Sophomore 32 Scott Johnson - Sophomore 39 Cole Miyahira - Senior

Linebackers 35 Cameron Jensen† - Senior 36 Markell Staffieri - Junior 41 Bryan Kehl† - Junior 42 Gary Lovely - Senior 43 David Nixon - Sophomore 44 Dan Van Sweden - Freshman 45 Rex Doman - Junior 45 Zed Mendenhall - Freshman 46 Kelly Poppinga - Junior 47 Terrance Hooks - Freshman 48 Andrew Stacey - Senior 49 Shawn Doman - Freshman 50 Chris Bolden - Junior 52 Aaron Wagner - Senior 53 Austin Nielsen - Freshman 55 Skyler Stephens - Sophomore 56 Dan Bates - Senior 58 Jeff Bell - Freshman 63 Connell Hess - Freshman 76 Graeme Girdler- Freshman

Cornerbacks 15 Justin Robinson† - Senior 21 Ben Criddle† - Junior 33 Andre Saulsberry - Junior 34 Kayle Buchanan† - Junior

Safeties 25 Quinn Gooch† - Junior 23 David Tafuna - Junior 28 Dustin Gabriel† - Junior

Punters 29 Derek McLaughlin† - Senior 30 Jared McLaughlin - Senior

Kickers 30 Jared McLaughlin† - Senior 29 Derek McLaughlin - Senior 38 Spencer Covert- Freshman † Starter at position     * Injured

Regular season

Arizona

Tulsa

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Boston College

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Utah State

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TCU

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San Diego State

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UNLV

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Air Force

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Colorado State

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Wyoming

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New Mexico

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Utah

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Announcer James Bates: "Five in a row won't happen." Referring to Utah winning the past four years in the rivalry series.

Las Vegas Bowl

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"Um, remind me again who's in the Mountain West Conference." - Mike Bellotti on BYU's undefeated conference record "Collectively, no, they couldn't compete at the highest level in the Pac-10. They lost to Arizona this year. They wouldn't even be a midlevel Pac-10 team." - Bellotti on BYU as Pac-10 team BYU first bowl win since 1996 season

References