The 2006 BYU Cougars football team represents 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 play 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
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