Later, Sooners

ARLINGTON, Texas — The Cougars created another one for the DVD library.

In a game of colossal ramifications for college football, No. 20 BYU used a gutsy goal-line stand and late fourth-quarter 78-yard scoring drive to knock off No. 3 ranked Oklahoma 14-13 in the new Dallas Cowboys Stadium on Saturday.

Bronco Mendenhall, who showed rare unbridled emotion all game long, led the celebration on the sideline as Oklahoma kicker Tress Way's 54-yard field goal fell short and the Cougars took the field for a token possession as the clock wound down.

Then BYU's sideline went crazy.

"If I were to use words to describe the win, I'd say grit and determination," said Mendenhall afterward.

It marked the first BYU win over a Top 10 team since Miami in 1990.

The Cougar win will surely add to the debate over the controversial BCS system on the heels of Utah's win over Alabama in the Sugar Bowl nine months ago.

At the least, it is the first major upset of the college football season.

After a summer of congressional hearings, a rejected Mountain West BCS proposal and heated debate over the fairness of the college football system, BYU's unlikely upset of the Sooners should pour gas on a debate already aflame.

The BYU win will likely affect the BCS rankings and strength of schedule for teams like Oklahoma's rival, Texas. It will place pressure on AP and USA Today poll voters who will judge how to rank non-automatic qualifiers TCU, Utah and the Cougars, who started the game ranked behind Boise State of the non-BCS Western Athletic Conference.

When BYU senior linebacker Colby Clawson delivered that crushing hit and takedown of Oklahoma's Heisman Trophy winner, Sam Bradford, it may have changed the 2009 Heisman Trophy race, not to mention Oklahoma's ability to challenge for the Big 12 title if Bradford misses league games.

BYU's offense outperformed the nation's No. 1 scoring machine in 2008 (357 to 265 total yards). And the oft-maligned Cougar defense, led by a defensive coordinator Jaimie Hill making all the calls for the first time in his three years, overshadowed a Sooner defense considered one of the best in the nation.