was almost magical how it played out. Maybe Lavell was up there pulling strings to keep the narrative going. BYU sustained a long drive that ended in a field goal, and it gave the announcers ample time to do a deep dive into Lavell Edwards influence on modern college passing game and offense, and the many coaches who have played for him or been his assistants.

There were references to those directly influenced by Lavell such as Andy Reid, Mike Holmgren, Bill Billichek, Steve Sarkisian, Kalani, Whittingham, etc. Then others indirectly influenced down the line like Kyle Shanihan, Ron LeFleur, Bill Walsh, Sean McVeay, But I was impressed that Joel Klatt did a deeper dive and brought up Mike Leach and Hal Mumme being directly influenced in their offensive philosophy by Lavell.

It was awesome, and I decided to go back through and see just how long of a segment that turned out to be and why there was such a lengthy block of time to do this. Here is the breakdown:

Actually, the series before when Arizona had the ball they introduced the Lavell coaching tree topic and said that they would expound on it again when BYU had the ball. BYU had a quick 3-and-out next, then Arizona had a drive for FG when Batty made the great third down stop on Fifita.

The next drive for BYU was the long, sustained drive allowing for the extended commentary. That drive was 10 plays, with the FG to end the drive. Here are the plays and stoppages:

Drive starts at the 6:12 mark in the third quarter. Total elapsed time of the drive, including referee stoppages and continued discussion into Arizona's next series, is 10 minutes 20 seconds.

Here are the plays where the Lavell commentary was happening:
They started with the Steve Sarkisian trivia question, then the commentary:

Play #1-Ropati run for 15 yards (play stopped for some reason. Gus Johnson mentions the fact that at this moment in time the top NFL team and top NCAA team both have coaches that played for Lavell Edwards. Then the deep dive begins.

Play #2-LJ Martin run for 2 yards.

Play #3-Incomplete pass (Discussion of Steve Young and Gus & Joel's interview with him for game prep)
3rd and 8
Penalty. Offsides Arizona. (Penalty allows another minute or so of elapsed time before the next snap. The ref also delays it further by instructing the clock operator to adjust the time on the clock)
Now 3rd and 3

Play #4-LJ Martin for 4 yards and 1st down (Gus recalls joke Lavell made about not Vegas not inviting Cougar fans because they take the 10 commandments and a $50 bill to Vegas and don't break either of them. (it was actually $100 bill in the original Lavell quote)

Play #5-Quick out to Chase Roberts for 15 yards and 1st down

Play #6-Pass to Lassiter for 11 yards and 1st down

Play #7-Quick out to K. Hill for 4 yards (Deeper discussion about the schematics of Lavell's passing game, forcing LB's and defensive coordinator's to adapt to being put in space so often, facilitating the hybrid safety, linebacker athletes who could cover the field better)

Play #8-Incomplete pass

Play #9-Incomplete pass, near TD to Lassiter

Play #10-Field Goal (Extra point allows additional time to continue discussion)

Then the coverage stayed with the game instead of going to a commercial break. Gus & Joel continued the discussion through the entire change of possession and kickoff back to Arizona.
The discussion continues back to Steve Young, saying he should write a book about all of his involvement with BYU, San Fran. Lavell, etc. Discussion goes right up to Arizona's first play of the next possession.
Total elapsed time: 10 minutes 20 seconds.

What great national exposure for BYU and its history and tradition.