1979 HOLIDAY BOWL

12.21.79 San Diego, California (52,200) 

The 1979 season ended with BYU leading the nation in scoring, passing and total offense. At 11-0, the Cougars were one of the few undefeated, untied teams in the nation. Those kinds of credentials, along with its No. 9 national ranking in the UPI and AP polls made BYU the favorite over the at-large entry, Indiana. The opportunistic Hoosiers played the Cougars tough, holding a 21-17 lead at the half. BYU jumped ahead in the third quarter, 24-21, on a 13-yard pass from All-American Marc Wilson to Homer Jones. The Cougars fell behind, 31-24, but regained the lead at 34-31 on a 15-yard pass to Eric Lane. With 12:14 left to play, BYU padded the lead on the third field goal of the game by Brent Johnson. But midway through the fourth quarter, Indiana’s Tim Wilbur returned a punt 62 yards to push the Hoosiers ahead 38-37. With 2:06 remaining, the Cougars moved the ball 69 yards to the Indiana 10. Then, with 11 seconds left, Johnson missed a 27-yard field goal that would have won the game. Wilson was voted the MVP on offense (28 of 43 for 380 yards) and Indiana’s Wilbur won the honor for defense. Clay Brown caught nine passes for 142 yards. Lane grabbed nine passes for 79 yards and also scored a rushing touchdown. Jones scored a touchdown and had 126 yards on seven kickoff returns.