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 , a team that would finish 3–7–1 and unranked. 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 W 38–1564,237
September 22 at Hawaii No. 6 W 18–1350,000
October 6 at Colorado State No. 7 W 52–928,671
October 13 Wyoming No. 5 W 41–3864,839
October 20 at Air Force No. 7 ABC W 30–2530,469
October 25 at New Mexico No. 5 ESPN W 48–019,227
November 3 UTEP No. 4 W 42–962,530
November 10 San Diego State No. 4 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 Poll released prior to the game
Personnel
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)
Game summaries
At No. 3 Pittsburgh
1
2 3 4 Total
• Cougars
0
3 6 11
20
No. 3 Panthers
0
0 14 0
14
[3]
Baylor
1
2 3 4 Total
Bears
7
0 0 6
13
• No. 13 Cougars
21
13 7 6
47
Tulsa
1
2 3 4 Total
Golden Hurricane
0
6 3 6
15
• No. 8 Cougars
14
7 3 14
38
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)
[4]
At Colorado State
1
2 3 4 Total
• No. 7 Cougars
21
17 7 7
52
Rams
3
0 0 6
9
Date: October 6Location: Hughes Stadium Game attendance: 28,671Game weather: Sunny; 64 °F (18 °C)
Wyoming
1
2 3 4 Total
Cowboys
7
13 18 0
38
• No. 5 Cougars
14
7 12 8
41
Robbie Bosco 29-44, 384 yards, 5 TD
David Mills 7 receptions, 136 yards, 3 TD
At Air Force
1
2 3 4 Total
• No. 7 Cougars
7
7 13 3
30
Falcons
7
2 10 6
25
Date: October 20Location: Falcon Stadium Game attendance: 30,469Game weather: Overcast, periods of snow; 36 °F (2 °C)Television network: ABC
Robbie Bosco 28-41, 484 yards, 4 TD, INT
At New Mexico
1
2 3 4 Total
• No. 5 Cougars
7
17 24 0
48
Lobos
0
0 0 0
0
Date: October 25Location: University Stadium Game attendance: 19,277Game weather: Mostly cloudy; 50 °F (10 °C)Television network: ESPN
UTEP
1
2 3 4 Total
Miners
0
3 0 6
9
• No. 4 Cougars
14
7 21 0
42
San Diego State
1
2 3 4 Total
Aztecs
3
0 0 0
3
• No. 4 Cougars
14
10 3 7
34
At Utah
BYU at Utah
1
2 3 4 Total
• No. 3 Cougars
7
3 7 7
24
Utes
7
0 7 0
14
[5]
Utah State
1
2 3 4 Total
Aggies
0
7 6 0
13
• No. 1 Cougars
10
7 7 14
38
[6]
[7]
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
[8] [9]
Draft picks
The following were selected in the 1985 NFL Draft .
Awards and honors
References
^ a b Mandel, Stewart (August 6, 2009). "BYU pulled off a miracle 25 years ago; will it ever happen again?" . Sports Illustrated . Retrieved October 18, 2016 .
^ 2018 NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records (PDF) . National Collegiate Athletic Association. August 2018. pp. 114, 120. Retrieved December 12, 2018 .
^ "Brigham Young 20, No. 3 Pittsburgh 14" . UPI Archives . September 1, 1984. Retrieved August 20, 2022 .
^ CougarStats.com . Retrieved 2016-Dec-18.
^ 1984 BYU vs. Utah – CougarStats CougarStats: BYU Football: BYU vs. Utah 1984 Archived 2010-08-21 at the Wayback Machine
^ "B.Y.U. Extends Streak to 23" . The New York Times . November 25, 1984. Retrieved August 21, 2022 .
^ "Who's Number One? BYU Gets the Nod, but Others Shake Their Heads" . The Washington Post . November 25, 1984. Retrieved August 21, 2022 .
^ "Hobbling Bosco Lifts No. 1 BYU to 13-0 Season" . The Washington Post . December 22, 1984. Retrieved November 3, 2019 .
^ "BOSCO PASSES LIFT B.Y.U." The New York Times . December 22, 1984. Retrieved November 3, 2019 .
^ "Awards" . www.touchdownclubofcolumbus.com . Archived from the original on July 17, 2011.
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
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