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American college football season
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 .
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, 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 * ESPN W 20–1440,263
September 8 Baylor * No. 13 W 47–1363,705
September 15 Tulsa * No. 8 Cougar Stadium Provo, Utah W 38–1564,237
September 22 at Hawaii No. 6 W 18–1350,000
October 6 at Colorado State No. 8 W 52–928,671
October 13 Wyoming No. 7 Cougar Stadium Provo, Utah W 41–3864,839
October 20 at Air Force No. 7 W 30–2530,469
October 25 at New Mexico No. 5 W 48–019,227
November 3 UTEP No. 4 Cougar Stadium Provo, Utah W 42–962,530
November 10 San Diego State No. 4 Cougar Stadium Provo, Utah W 34–364,050
November 17 at Utah No. 3 KUTV W 24–1436,110
November 24 Utah State * No. 1 W 38–1365,580
December 21 vs. Michigan * No. 1 ESPN W 24–1761,243
*Non-conference game HomecomingRankings from AP
Personnel
1984 BYU Cougars football team roster
Players
Coaches
Offense
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
Head coach
Coordinators/assistant coaches
Legend
(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
Injured
Redshirt
Roster Last update: 2017-Jan-01
Rankings
Ranking movementsLegend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking — = Not ranked ( ) = First-place votes Week Poll Pre 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Final AP — 13 8 (1) 6 8 7 5 7 5 (3) 4 (4) 4 3 (11) 1 (40) 1 (34) 1 (33) 1 (38) Coaches — 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
Baylor
1
2 3 4 Total
Bears
7
0 0 6
13
• No. 13 Cougars
21
13 7 6
47
at Hawaii
1
2 3 4 Total
• No. 6 Cougars
3
9 0 6
18
Rainbows
0
10 0 3
13
Date: September 22Location: Aloha Stadium Game weather: Clear; 78 °F (26 °C)
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
[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
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
[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 21Location: Jack Murphy Stadium Game attendance: 61,243Game weather: Clear; 51 °F (11 °C)Television network: ESPN
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
[5] [6]
Draft picks
The following were selected in the 1985 NFL Draft .
Awards and honors
References
Venues Bowls & rivalries Culture & lore People Seasons National championship seasons in bold
1936–1949 1950s 1960s
1960 : Minnesota (AP, Coaches, NFF ) / Ole Miss (FWAA)
1961 : Alabama (AP, Coaches, NFF) / Ohio State (FWAA)
1962 : USC
1963 : Texas
1964 : Alabama (AP, Coaches) / Arkansas (FWAA) / Notre Dame (NFF)
1965 : Alabama (AP, FWAA) / Michigan State (Coaches, FWAA, NFF)
1966 : Notre Dame (AP, Coaches, FWAA, NFF) / Michigan State (NFF)
1967 : USC
1968 : Ohio State
1969 : Texas
1970s 1980–1991