JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA -- His body battered, his offense humbled, this was no way for LaVell Edwards to begin his farewell tour.
The Brigham Young coach barely avoided having his 25-year-old streak without a shutout snapped. A lonely field goal in a 29-3 loss to No. 2 Florida State was all the Cougars could cheer about Saturday night.
BYU has scored in an NCAA-record 313 straight games -- a hollow victory on a harrowing night.
``I don't worry about that,'' Edwards said. ``I don't care if it was the last game or 100 games ago. I just know Florida State is a very good defensive team.''
Edwards, 69, will retire after this season, and after games like Saturday, he must feel like he's getting too old for this.
Just three minutes into the game, he took a bone-jarring hit from Chris Weinke as the Florida State quarterback got shoved into the sideline while throwing his first touchdown pass of the season.
``That's football,'' Weinke said.
Then, an even worse fate -- Edwards had to watch his offense play.
The Cougars gained just 225 yards. They produced only two prime scoring threats and both were exercises in ineptitude.
After moving to the Florida State 11, BYU committed three straight penalties -- holding, delay-of-game and false start. Ned Stearns lost a fumble on the next play, as Edwards paced calmly on the sideline, one arm folded across his body, the other hand resting on his chin.
Late in the third quarter, the Cougars made it to the 22. From there, they lost 3 yards. Owen Pochman made a 42-yard field goal to put BYU on the board and end the night's only tangible drama.
``It's frustrating because we usually do well when we get into scoring range,'' Edwards said. ``And against a good football team, it makes it worse, because you don't get many chances down there.''
Of course, it wasn't like anybody in Utah, the Rocky Mountains or the United States really expected BYU to challenge the defending national champions.
Still, Edwards has been known for his high-flying offenses for even longer than Seminoles coach Bobby Bowden.
At a minimum, the BYU coach was hoping to use this game to find a full-time quarterback. At best, he found one by default.
Bret Engemann -- the brother-in-law of Larry King, who was in the crowd -- started for BYU. King has been touting Engemann as the next prodigy in a long line of Cougars quarterbacks. He finished 12-for-18 with three interceptions and looked more like Ross Perot than Robbie Bosco. He also strained the medial collateral ligament in his left knee and could be out up to four weeks.
``It's tough to make that many mistakes,'' Engemann said. ``We were jumpy on offense. I had a lot of mis-reads on blitzes. Just a frustrating night.''
Edwards' other option, Charlie Peterson, didn't fare much better, finishing 6-for-18 for 88 yards.
On the bright side, the Cougars played well after falling behind 22-0, never withering against the overwhelming depth the Seminoles brought to Jacksonville.
They played good defense and didn't get overwhelmed by Bowden's passing attack or his huge arsenal of receivers.
But it's offense and touchdowns, not defense and field position, that have defined BYU in Edwards' quarter-century of excellence. From that standpoint, it was not the kind of game that will look good in Edwards' scrapbook.
