LAS VEGAS -- The snapshots around Sam Boyd Stadium on Thursday night were exactly what John Beck and his BYU teammates imagined.

There were the BYU fans, the majority of the record-breaking 44,615 in attendance at this year's Las Vegas Bowl, swarming the field and raising their hands in the air in celebration.

There was senior linebacker Cameron Jensen, the team's defensive leader, riding a sea of hands onto the shoulders of those fans.

There was senior running back Curtis Brown, accepting the Las Vegas Bowl trophy, BYU's first bowl victory in almost 10 years.

And there was Beck himself, leading loyal Cougar fans in one last rendition of the fight song.

BYU's 38-8 victory over Oregon in the 15th Las Vegas Bowl on Thursday was so dominating, so complete, that Beck could only say things couldn't have finished better.

"When you step on campus, you dream," Beck said. "And when you dream, you dream about this."

Beck finished his career by breaking the passing record he set in last year's game with 375 yards, most of them to the wonderfully gifted Jonny Harline. The senior tight end caught nine passes for a bowl-record and career-high 181 yards and a touchdown.

After a slow start, BYU (11-2) took control with a 17-point second quarter and a defense that completely suffocated an Oregon team that averaged more than 30 points a game during the regular season.

"The slow start was just little things," Beck said. "There was no reason to panic."

Neither team mounted much of an offensive attack in the first quarter. Oregon's first offensive play was a flea-flicker than resulted in a 9-yard sack and BYU couldn't seem to find its way out of a malaise of dropped passes. Near the end of the first quarter, BYU took over on its own 2-yard line and drove to the Oregon 6. A 24-yard field goal from Jared McLaughlin put the first points of the bowl on the board with 13:25 to play in the second quarter.

BYU forced Oregon into a three-and-out and immediately found the end zone. Beck was 4-for-4 on the drive and Curtis Brown pounded in from six yards out for a 10-0 BYU lead.

On the Cougars' next possession, Beck scrambled and then found Harline all alone down the sideline on a 41-yard scoring play for a 17-0 lead.

"We knew where Harline was," said Oregon coach Mike Bellotti. "We tried to double him, bracket him, and tried to get pressure on Beck to throw somewhere else. But he and Beck have a great chemistry."

Harline made one-handed and athletic catches all night long and was named the game's MVP.

"It means so much," Harline said. "If feels so good to come out as a team and play so well. I feel like we wanted to come out and show we can compete with anyone."

Brown scored on a 4-yard run in the third quarter for a 24-0 BYU lead and Beck scrambled for a 13-yard touchdown to make it 31-0 with most of the fourth quarter left to play. Oregon (7-6) finally got on the board on a Dennis Dixon-to-Brian Paysinger 47-yard scoring play, but BYU came right back with a 17-yard touchdown pass from Beck to Manase Tonga for the final 38-8 margin.

Oregon's offense looked completely out of sync and was never able to take advantage its strong running game or tall receivers.

"We heard all week long about Oregon's running game and offense," said BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall. "We didn't hear much about our defense was difficult to score points against. We didn't hear much about how our defense gave up only 15 points per game this year.

"Coach (Jamie) Hill got our secondary ready and early on those sacks we had were coverage sacks. We didn't believe Oregon could win by having to go the length of the field."

Oregon finished with 260 yards of offense, but 140 of those yards came in the fourth quarter when the game was well out of reach. Oregon quarterbacks Dixon and Brady Leaf finished 16-of-34 for 166 yards and two interceptions, both by BYU senior cornerback Justin Robinson. Oregon, the top running team in the Pac 10 with almost 190 yards per game, ended up with 133 yards, 57 by Dixon. Jensen led BYU with eight tackles, but the Cougars also logged four sacks and consistently pressured the Oregon quarterbacks.

"We were tired of hearing all the talk all week about them," said BYU freshman defensive end Jan Jorgensen. "We were hearing from everybody how they were badder athletes, they were faster than we were. We were tired of it and wanted to come out and shut them down."

All that was left was for the BYU fans to count down the clock and celebrate the school's largest bowl victory margin ever.

Beck said he's wandered around BYU's Student Athlete Building, admiring the photos of Cougars past in celebration of a bowl victory.

"It was great to be a part of my own picture," Beck said. "It's the way we planned on going out as seniors."

Daily Herald Sports Editor Darnell Dickson can be reached at 344-2555 or by e-mail at ddickson@heraldextra.com.

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This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page C1.