1984 BYU Cougars football team

The 1984 BYU Cougars football team represented Brigham Young University (BYU) in the 1984 NCAA Division I-A football season. The Cougars were led by 13th-year head coach Lavell Edwards and played their home games at Cougar Stadium in Provo, Utah. The team competed as a member of the Western Athletic Conference, winning the conference for the ninth consecutive year. The Cougars finished the regular season as the only undefeated team in Division I-A, and secured their first ever national title by defeating Michigan in the 1984 Holiday Bowl.

1984 BYU Cougars football
Consensus national champion WAC champion Holiday Bowl champion
Holiday Bowl, W 24–17 vs. Michigan
Conference	Western Athletic Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 1
AP	No. 1
1984 record	13–0 (8–0 WAC)
Head coach	LaVell Edwards (13th season)
Home stadium	Cougar Stadium

1984 Western Athletic Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 1 BYU $	8	–	0	–	0			13	–	0	–	0
Hawaii	5	–	2	–	0			7	–	4	–	0
Air Force	4	–	3	–	0			8	–	4	–	0
Utah	4	–	3	–	1			6	–	5	–	1
San Diego State	4	–	3	–	1			4	–	7	–	1
Wyoming	4	–	4	–	0			6	–	6	–	0
Colorado State	3	–	5	–	0			3	–	8	–	0
New Mexico	1	–	7	–	0			4	–	8	–	0
UTEP	1	–	7	–	0			2	–	9	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

A number of pollsters and coaches were reluctant to name the Cougars as national champion, partly because they believed BYU's schedule was too weak. Only two of BYU's opponents won at least seven games. They had played only one ranked opponent all season, preseason #3 Pittsburgh. No other team in the WAC was even close to being their equal; the Cougars were the only team in the league with fewer than four overall losses. In the end, BYU was ranked number one in both major final polls, the AP Poll and the Coaches Poll.[1] The team was named national champion by NCAA-designated major selectors of AP, Billingsley, Football Research, FW, National Football Foundation, Poling, UPI, and USA/CNN, while named co-champion by both National Championship Foundation and Sagarin (ELO-Chess).[2]

To date, the 1984 Cougars are the last team from outside a "power conference" to win a national title. It is widely believed that the various systems devised over the years with a view toward deciding the national championship on the field on the field, with their emphasis on strength of schedule, make it extremely difficult for a team outside the power conferences to be considered for championship contention.[1]

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 1	at No. 3 Pittsburgh*		Pitt Stadium Pittsburgh	ESPN	W 20–14	40,263
September 8	Baylor*	No. 13	Cougar Stadium Provo, Utah		W 47–13	63,705
September 15	Tulsa*	No. 8	Cougar Stadium Provo, Utah		W 38–15	64,237
September 22	at Hawaii	No. 6	Aloha Stadium Honolulu, HI		W 18–13	50,000
October 6	at Colorado State	No. 8	Hughes Stadium Fort Collins, Colorado		W 52–9	28,671
October 13	Wyoming	No. 7	Cougar Stadium Provo, Utah		W 41–38	64,839
October 20	at Air Force	No. 7	Falcon Stadium Colorado Springs, Colorado		W 30–25	30,469
October 25	at New Mexico	No. 5	University Stadium Albuquerque, New Mexico		W 48–0	19,227
November 3	UTEP	No. 4	Cougar Stadium Provo, Utah		W 42–9	62,530
November 10	San Diego State	No. 4	Cougar Stadium Provo, Utah		W 34–3	64,050
November 17	at Utah	No. 3	Rice Stadium Salt Lake City, Utah (Holy War)	KUTV	W 24–14	36,110
November 24	Utah State*	No. 1	Cougar Stadium Provo, Utah (Old Wagon Wheel)		W 38–13	65,580
December 21	vs. Michigan*	No. 1	Jack Murphy Stadium San Diego (Holiday Bowl)	ESPN	W 24–17	61,243
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP

Personnel

1984 BYU Cougars football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class OG, C 57 Robert Anae  Sr WR 11 Mark Bellini So OL 71 John Borgia Fr QB 6 Robbie Bosco  Jr RB 28 Paul Crawford WR 18 Jim Edwards QB 16 Blaine Fowler OL 75 David Futrell OL 59 Craig Garrick WR 1 Adam Haysbert RB 35 Lakei Heimuli OL 68 John Hunter OL 66 David King WR 7 Glen Kozlowski  Jr TE 90 Lance Lindley QB 8 Steve Lindsley OL 73 Chris Matau C 50 Trevor Matich  Sr OL 67 Keith McCullough WR 26 David Miles TE 12 David Mills TE 94 Trevor Molini WR 85 Scott Norberg OL 75 Sam Oramas WR 19 Richard Orr HB 43 Robert Parker OL 61 Doug Rawlinson Fr OL 63 Randy Rawlinson OL 69 Scott Robinson OL 55 Brian Rondoni Fr FB 33 Thor Salanoa So OL 56 Jay Shumway HB 23 Vai Sikahema Jr HB 21 Kelly Smith OL 60 David Tidwell HB 46 Tom Tuipulotu TE 89 Brett Varoz RB 33 Fred Whittingham OL 70 Louis Wong OL 78 David Wright QB 12 Mike Young	Defense Pos. # Name Class LB 51 Ladd Akeo So DB 22 Mark Allen Sr LB 49 Marv Allen Sr LB 31 John Bechtold So LB 37 Alema Fitisemanu LB 34 Kurt Gouveia Jr DL 78 Larry Hamilton DB 42 Steve Haymond DB 2 Brian Hazelgren DE 92 Jim Herrmann Sr LB 57 Richard Hobbs DL 96 Jay Huckaby DL 77 Shawn Knight DL 76 Tim Knight DB 9 Rob Ledenko DL 80 Ty Mattingly LB 44 Jim McDade LB 96 Jay McDonald DB 5 Kyle Morrell Sr LB 55 David Neff DB 27 Kory Rasmussen So LB 59 Steve Sanders DB 5 Marc Sherman DB 24 Shane Shumway DL 76 Brad Smith DL 65 Ken Smith DB 25 Jeff Sprowls DB 3 Rodney Thomas LB 9 JC VonCollin LB 41 Leon White LB 53 Cary Whittingham Jr DB 14 Jeff Wilcox	Special teams Pos. # Name Class P, PK 10 Lee Johnson Sr PK 3 Pete Rossi PK 15 Gary Webster	Head coach LaVell Edwards Coordinators/assistant coaches Norm Chow Dick Felt Roger French Mike Holmgren Mel Olson Jim Paronto Tom Ramage Lance Reynolds Ken Schmidt Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt Roster Last update: 2017-Jan-01

Rankings

Further information: 1984 NCAA Division I-A football rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below. ( ) = First place votes.

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Final
AP	NR	13	8 (1)	6	8	7	5	7	5 (3)	4 (4)	4	3 (11)	1 (40)	1 (34)	1 (33)	1 (38)
Coaches	NR	12	6 (1)	4	8	6	5	5 (1)	4 (1)	3 (5)	4 (4)	3 (12)	1 (30)	1 (21)	1 (24)	1 (28)

Results

at Pittsburgh

1 2 3 4 Total • Cougars 0 3 6 11 20 No. 3 Panthers 0 0 14 0 14 Date: September 1 Location: Pitt Stadium, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Game attendance: 40,263 Game weather: 73° F, Overcast

See also: 1984 Pittsburgh Panthers football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
First meeting

Baylor

1 2 3 4 Total Bears 7 0 0 6 13 • No. 13 Cougars 21 13 7 6 47 Date: September 8 Location: Cougar Stadium, Provo, Utah Game attendance: 63,705 Game weather: 79° F, Clear

See also: 1984 Baylor Bears football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
0–1	1983	L 36–40

at Hawaii

1 2 3 4 Total • No. 6 Cougars 3 9 0 6 18 Rainbows 0 10 0 3 13 Date: September 22 Location: Aloha Stadium Game weather: Clear; 78°F

Scoring summary Q1 BYU Johnson 46 yard field goal BYU 3–0 Q2 BYU Johnson 36 yard field goal BYU 6–0 Q2 BYU Kel. Smith 4 yard run (pass failed) BYU 12–0 Q2 HAW Aguiar recovered blocked punt in end zone (Spelman kick) BYU 12–7 Q2 HAW Spelman 33 yard field goal BYU 12–10 Q4 HAW Spelman 17 yard field goal HAW 13–12 Q4 BYU Kozlowski 25 yard pass from Bosco (pass failed) BYU 18–13

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
6–4	1982	W 39–25

• Glen Kozlowski 9 Rec, 156 Yds

[3]

at Utah

BYU at Utah

1 2 3 4 Total • No. 3 Cougars 7 3 7 7 24 Utes 7 0 7 0 14 Date: November 17 Location: Rice Stadium, Salt Lake City

Scoring summary 1 8:54 UTAH Moloani Hola 1 yard run (Andre Guardi kick) UTAH 7-0 1 2:41 BYU Adam Haysbert 11 yard pass from Robbie Bosco (Lee Johnson kick) Tied 7-7 2 0:02 BYU Lee Johnson 19 yard field goal BYU 10-7 3 8:11 BYU Glen Kozlowski 19 yard pass from Robbie Bosco (Lee Johnson kick) BYU 17-7 3 1:35 UTAH Thomas Beard 11 yard pass from Mark Stevens (Andre Guardi kick) BYU 17-14 4 7:26 BYU Kelly Smith 4 yard pass from Robbie Bosco (Lee Johnson kick) BYU 24-14

See also: 1984 Utah Utes football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
16–39–4	1982	W 55–7

[4]

vs. Michigan (Holiday Bowl)

1 2 3 4 Total Wolverines 0 7 7 3 17 • No. 1 Cougars 0 10 0 14 24 Date: December 21 Location: Jack Murphy Stadium Game attendance: 61,243 Game weather: Clear; 51°F Television network: ESPN Source: CougarStats.com

Scoring summary Q2 BYU Kel. Smith 5 yard run (Johnson kick) BYU 7–0 Q2 MICH Rogers 5 yard run (Bergeron kick) Tie 7–7 Q2 BYU Johnson 31 yard field goal BYU 10–7 Q3 MICH Perryman 10 yard pass from Zurbrugg (Bergeron kick) MICH 14–10 Q4 MICH Bergeron 32 yard field goal MICH 17–10 Q4 BYU Kozlowski 7 yard pass from Bosco (Johnson kick) Tie 17–17 Q4 BYU Kel. Smith 13 yard pass from Bosco (Johnson kick) BYU 24–17

Main article: 1984 Holiday Bowl

See also: 1984 Michigan Wolverines football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
First meeting

[5][6]

Draft picks

The following were selected in the 1985 NFL Draft.[7]

Player	Position	Round	Overall	NFL Team
Trevor Matich	Center	1	28	New England Patriots
Kyle Morrell	Cornerback	4	106	Minnesota Vikings
Louis Wong	Guard	5	131	St. Louis Cardinals
Lee Johnson	Punter	5	138	Houston Oilers
Jim Herrmann	Defensive End	7	184	Dallas Cowboys

Awards and honors

• Robbie Bosco, Sammy Baugh Trophy[8]

References

1. Mandel, Stewart (2009-08-06). "BYU pulled off a miracle 25 years ago; will it ever happen again?". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 18 October 2016.
2. 2018 NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association. August 2018. pp. 114, 120. Retrieved December 12, 2018.
3. CougarStats.com. Retrieved 2016-Dec-18.
4. 1984 BYU vs. Utah – CougarStats CougarStats: BYU Football: BYU vs. Utah 1984 Archived 2010-08-21 at the Wayback Machine
5. "Hobbling Bosco Lifts No. 1 BYU to 13-0 Season". The Washington Post. December 22, 1984. Retrieved November 3, 2019.
6. "BOSCO PASSES LIFT B.Y.U." The New York Times. December 22, 1984. Retrieved November 3, 2019.
7. https://www.pro-football-reference.com/draft/1985.htm
8. http://www.touchdownclubofcolumbus.com/Awards.htm#SAMMY Archived 2011-05-25 at WebCite