BYU Football 100 Seasons: Great Moments

BYU football won its first conference championship with a 4-1 record in the Western Athletic Conference and 6-4 season overall. No win was bigger for the BYU than a 25-20 triumph over rival Utah, its first such victory in Provo. The 1965 Cougars were led by three First Team All-WAC performers on offense in quarterback Virgil Carter, fullback John Ogden and wide receiver Phil Odle.

Despite an 0-3-1 start to the season, the 1974 Cougars flipped the script with a 7-1 finish and a series of historic firsts for the program in LaVell Edwards' third season at the helm. 

With Sammy Baugh Trophy winner Gary Sheide commanding the Cougar offense and All-American Wayne Baker anchoring the defensive line, BYU earned its first-ever wins over ranked opponents with defeats of No. 16 Arizona and No. 16 Arizona State. The Cougars' wins over the Wildcats and Sun Devils paved the way to Edwards' first WAC title and the program's first bowl berth and AP Poll appearance. 

Edwards began his famed quarterback factory with Sheide but it didn’t take long for it to continue through two more prolific passers.

Gifford Nielsen led BYU to a 9-3 record in 1976 and tie for the WAC title while passing for 3,192 yards and 29 touchdowns. Nielsen earned First Team All-America honors after finishing the season ranked top-five nationally in total offense and completions per game. Running back Jeff Blanc and tight end Brian Billick were each awarded Honorable Mention All-America status at season’s end. The Cougars capped the season with their second bowl game in three seasons, this time facing Oklahoma State in the Citrus Bowl.

Little did Edwards and the Cougars’ know at the time, but BYU’s 1977 roster would house three future College Football Hall of Fame quarterbacks. Nielsen, underclassmen Marc Wilson and Jim McMahon each filled the Cougar quarterback room during the program’s second-straight nine-win campaign.

Despite a season-ending injury to Nielsen, BYU didn’t skip a beat with Wilson under center. Wilson set an NCAA single-game record with 571 passing yards in a 38-8 win over Utah and helped the Cougars once again lead the nation in passing offense. Honorable Mention All-American and future NFL great Todd Christensen aided the BYU attack at fullback. The Cougars played their first regular season game as a ranked team in 1977 and finished the season in the AP Poll for the first time as well, coming in at No. 20 with a 9-2 record.

BYU began the 1979 season with a bang as it upset No. 14 Texas A&M of the Southwestern Conference 18-17 in Houston, Texas for the program’s first all-time win over a top-15 team. Down 14-3 in the third quarter, the Cougars rallied with Wilson finding Dan Plater for a 20-yard touchdown strike. An Aggie field goal put the Cougars down 17-10 late before Wilson and company finished a decisive drive in the end zone on a 3-yard completion to tight end Clay Brown. BYU then won the game as Wilson hit Mike Lacey for a 2-point conversion.

The Cougars went on to earn nine weeks in the AP Poll and finish ranked 13^th with an 11-1 record, their only blemish coming in a one-point loss to Lee Corso’s Indiana Hoosiers in the Holiday Bowl. All-American offensive lineman Tom Bell kept Wilson upright while running back Homer Jones and linebacker Glen Redd earned Honorable Mention All-America.

Wilson finished the season as BYU’s first Consensus All-American and won the program’s second Sammy Baugh Trophy with 3,720 passing yards and 29 touchdowns.

The 1980 Holiday Bowl pitted No. 14 BYU and its prolific passing attack versus No. 19 SMU and the vaunted “Pony Express” rushing attack of Craig James and Eric Dickerson. Down 45-25 with 3:58 to play, quarterback Jim McMahon led BYU in a comeback and wrote their way into the annals of great college football finishes.

The Cougars refused to go away and cut the Mustang lead to 45-39 with 1:57 remaining. BYU’s shot at victory came when defensive back Bill Schoepflin blocked an SMU punt and set the Cougars up within striking distance of the end zone. McMahon and the offense took the field at the Mustang 41 yard-line with 13 seconds left to score. The future College Football Hall of Famer found tight end Clay Brown amid a host of SMU defenders, tying the game at 45 before kicker Kurt Gunther put the Cougars on top for the improbable 46-45 victory now known as simply, “The Miracle Bowl.”

The win over SMU gave BYU its first bowl win and proved the perfect finish to a 12-1 season. McMahon and the Cougar offense outgained opponents by nearly 200 yards per game on their way to a No. 12 finish in the AP Poll. A First Team All-American, McMahon completed 64-percent of passes for 4,571 yards and 47 touchdowns while setting 32 NCAA records. Consensus All-American Nick Eyre anchored the Cougar offensive line while Brown finished a Second Team All-American with 48 receptions for 1,009 yards and 15 touchdowns.

BYU jumpstarted its 1983 season with a 37-35 win over eventual Rose Bowl Champion UCLA in Pasadena. The Cougars cruised throughout the rest of the season with an NCAA-record 584.2 yards of offense per game that fueled what became a 25-game win streak stretching into the 1985 season.

Once again, the final chapter of the season would be written in San Diego at the Holiday Bowl, this time against Missouri. There, dynamic quarterback Steve Young powered BYU to victory with a rushing, passing and receiving touchdown. Down 17-14 in the waning moments of the game, Young handed the ball to running back Eddie Stinnett who threw it back to his quarterback and let Young do the rest. The Consensus All-American scrambled for the end zone and delivered the Cougars to a 21-17 triumph.

Young finished runner-up in the Heisman voting while winning both the Sammy Baugh Trophy and Davey O’Brien Awards along with a Consensus All-America nod. The future Pro Football Hall of Famer completed 71-percent of his passes for 3,902 yards and 33 touchdowns while rushing for 444 yards and eight scores. Tight end Gordon Hudson’s 44 receptions for 596 yards and six touchdowns were enough for a second-straight Consensus All-America honor.

BYU began the 1984 season beneath the eye of the Goodyear Blimp and the nation in ESPN’s first live televised college football contest, a matchup between the Cougars and No. 3 Pitt in Pittsburgh. The Cougars put the nation on notice with new quarterback Robbie Bosco delivering a game-winning 50-yard scoring strike to Adam Haysbert with 2:36 to play.

BYU continued to ride the momentum of the win over Pitt as it climbed the polls and cruised to a 12-0 regular season finish as WAC Champions. The Cougars’ eventual undefeated season faced its stiffest test in a tight, 18-13 win on the road over Hawaii. It was there that defensive back Kyle Morrell made one of the great plays in school history with a game-saving tackle of Rainbow Warrior quarterback Raphel Cherry at the goal line.

The Cougars’ No. 1 ranking and National Championship hopes were on the line in a Holiday Bowl showdown with Bo Schembechler’s Michigan Wolverines.

Bosco overcame injury and a tenacious Michigan defense as he orchestrated two second-half scoring drives, including the game-winner with a 13-yard completion to Kelly Smith with 1:23 to play. A game-sealing interception from Marv Allen gave the Cougars the 24-17 win and, ultimately, the 1984 National Championship.

Bosco, center Trevor Matich, tight end David Mills, Morrell and linebacker Leon White each finished the season as All-Americans.

Following a week one win over UTEP, No. 16 BYU and its junior quarterback Ty Detmer, hosted Dennis Erickson’s No. 1-ranked and defending national champion Miami Hurricanes.

BYU and Miami went at it in a back-and-forth battle that ended in a 28-21 Cougar victory thanks to key plays on both offense and defense. With 3:36 to go in the third quarter, the ever-elusive Detmer slipped through a pair of Hurricane defenders and found running back Mike Salido in the end zone for a seven-yard touchdown, capping a nine-play, 71-yard drive.

The eventual Cotton Bowl champions threatened again and again but were decisively turned away with Cougar defensive back Ervin Lee intercepting and breaking up each of Miami’s final drives deep into BYU territory.

Detmer’s 38 completions for 406 yards and three touchdowns on the night propelled the Cougar signal-caller on his way to winning the 1990 Heisman Trophy along with the Maxwell and Davey O’Brien Awards. Detmer passed for an NCAA-record 5,188 yards on the season, one of just 47 NCAA records he broke that year. Consensus All-American tight end Chris Smith helped Detmer to the Heisman with 68 receptions for 1,156 yards.

BYU finished 10-3 and ranked 18^th in 1994 with a historic 200^th win for Edwards along with marquee victories at Notre Dame and versus Oklahoma. Edwards’ reached the two-century mark in the win column after a 49-47 shootout defeat of New Mexico. The Cougars built on that success with a 21-14 upset of No. 17 Notre Dame in South Bend. Running back Jamal Willis recorded 183 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns as BYU handed Lou Holtz’s Irish a rare defeat at Notre Dame Stadium.

A 31-6 win over Oklahoma in the Copper Bowl capped a season in which quarterback John Walsh threw or 3,712 yards and 29 touchdowns, offensive lineman Evan Pilgrim earned Second Team All-America honors and Willis rewrote the school career rushing records with a 1000-yard season.

After a rare absence from bowl season in 1995, the Cougars wasted no time roaring back into the national spotlight in 1996.

BYU began the season hosting R.C. Slocum’s 13^th-ranked Texas A&M team at Cougar Stadium in the Pigskin Classic. Down 37-34 with 90 seconds to play, senior quarterback Steve Sarkisian put BYU in scoring position with two quick completions before finding receiver K.O. Kealaluhi for the game-winning 46-yard touchdown.

The upset of the Aggies set the tone for a 12-win regular season, WAC Division title and eventual WAC Championship. BYU was then set to conclude its dominant season in a New Year’s Day matchup with No. 14 Kansas State in the annual Cotton Bowl Classic.

The Cougars earned a late 19-15 lead over the Wildcats after the defense forced a safety and Sarkisian found Kealaluhi and receiver James Dye for touchdowns. Bill Snyder’s Kansas State team looked to retake the lead late as it pushed to the BYU 12 yard-line with 1:04 remaining. BYU’s defense then slammed the door on the Wildcats as cornerback Omarr Morgan intercepted a pass and returned the ball to the Cougars for their victory formation.

BYU’s 14 wins in 1996 set an NCAA record. Sarkisian won yet another Sammy Baugh Trophy for the Cougars while leading the nation in pass efficiency. Offensive lineman John Tait earned Freshman All-America honors while tight end Itula Mili finished as a First Team All-American. Linebacker Shay Muirbook led the Cougar defense with 97 tackles and nine sacks while earning a place in the Cotton Bowl Hall of Fame in 2012.

Prior to the start of the 2000 season, BYU head coach LaVell Edwards announced his decision to retire following the conclusion of his 29^th campaign at the helm in Provo. To honor the legendary Edwards, Gordon B. Hinckley, President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced the renaming of Cougar Stadium to LaVell Edwards Stadium in a ceremony before the kickoff of Edwards’ final home game.

There was still one game to play on the season, and with a 5-6 record, the Cougars went to Salt Lake City determined to beat rival Utah and send Edwards out a winner.

BYU led 26-10 before Utah climbed back into the game late and took a 27-26 lead with 2:11 to play. In just his second collegiate start, Cougar quarterback Brandon Doman faced a 4^th-and-20 from his own 17-yard line with 1:04 to go and the season on the line. Doman kept BYU’s hopes alive with a 34-yard conversion to receiver Jonathan Pittman. After another acrobatic Pittman grab along the sideline, Doman and the Cougars were positioned to retake the lead at the Utah four. Blocking for their season and their coach, the Cougar offense cleared a path for Doman on a game-winning rushing score as the clock wound down.

Doman and Pittman’s late-game heroics ensured a 34-27 BYU win, Edwards’ final and 257^th of his career. The College Football Hall of Fame headman finished among college football’s winningest and still ranks 11^th all-time today.

Doman returned to quarterback the BYU offense in 2001 and benefitted from the skills of All-Mountain West receiver Reno Mahe and a running back by the name of Luke Staley.

Staley rewrote the BYU rushing record books in 2001, toting the rock 197 times for 1,582 yards and 24 touchdowns along with 32 receptions for 320 yards and four scores. The junior back led the nation in scoring and yards per carry on his way to Consensus All-America honors and the 2001 Doak Walker Award.

With Staley, Doman and Mahe tiring defenses and All-American defensive end Ryan Denney terrorizing opposing quarterbacks, the Cougars won the Mountain West Conference and achieved the program’s fourth season of 12 or more wins at 12-2.

No moment was bigger for the Cougars in 2001 than the annual rivalry showdown with Utah. No. 8 BYU overcame the Utes with Doman finding a post-appendectomy Mahe for a passing touchdown and Staley scampering down the sideline for the go-ahead score with 1:16 to play. Staley finished the night with 197 all-purpose yards and two scores. Cornerback Jernaro Gilford sealed the win for the Cougars with one of his six interceptions on the season.

After a 6-6 finish in 2005, the tide began to turn for Mendenhall and the Cougars with a 31-17 upset of No. 17 TCU in Forth Worth, Texas on September 28, 2006. BYU rode the momentum of the win over the Horned Frogs as it cruised through the remainder of its Mountain West slate and arrived in Salt Lake City to conclude the regular season against the Utes.

Quarterback John Beck, tight end Jonny Harline and a stingy defense led by All-Mountain West linebacker Cameron Jensen combined for one of the most thrilling finishes in rivalry history. Harline cemented his All-America status with three touchdowns on the day, including his iconic 11-yard game-winning reception in the corner of the end zone with the clock at zeroes. The 33-31 win over Utah gave BYU its second Mountain West title and sent Beck on to Mountain West Offensive Player of the Year.

The Cougars finished the season with a resounding 38-8 win over Oregon in the Las Vegas Bowl. Beck, Harline, offensive lineman Jake Kuresa and defensive end Jan Jorgensen each earned All-America honors while the Cougars finished 11-2 and ranked 16^th.

Quarterback Max Hall took the reins of the BYU offense and guided the Cougars to a 21-5 record during his sophomore and junior seasons in 2007 and 2008. BYU finished both seasons with 10-plus wins and in the AP Poll, including a final ranking of 14^th in 2007. The Cougars secured back-to-back Mountain West titles with a 17-10 win over Utah in Provo on November 24, 2007. The rivalry game again came down to a dramatic finish.

Facing 4^th-and-18 from deep in his own territory, Hall rolled right and found receiver Austin Collie shooting down the near sideline for a 49-yard game-preserving completion. The BYU offense continued to creep closer to paydirt and found it as running back Harvey Unga smashed into the end zone for an 11-yard score with 38 seconds remaining.

Unga finished the season a Freshman All-American with over 1200 rushing yards while offensive lineman Ray Feinga earned Second Team All-America. BYU’s 11th win of 2007 was preserved in the final seconds of the Las Vegas Bowl as freshman Eathyn Manumaleuna swatted away a last-gasp UCLA field goal attempt.

Hall and the Cougar offense jumped out to a 6-0 start in 2008, highlighted by a 59-0 win over UCLA. The junior quarterback tied a BYU record with seven touchdown passes in the win over the Bruins. Collie, then a junior, finished 2008 with a school-record 1,538 receiving yards.

Twenty-five years after opening the season facing No. 3 Pitt under the lights of ESPN, No. 20 BYU took the field on a familiar stage as it matched up on the network with 2008 national runner-up and 3^rd-ranked Oklahoma in the first-ever college football game at the new Dallas Cowboy’s Stadium.

The BYU defense stymied the Sooners throughout the night and opened the way for Hall and the offense to have one more look at the end zone late. Hall and tight end Dennis Pitta kept the Cougars’ hopes alive with a 4^th-and-4 conversion from the Oklahoma 29. Receiver McKay Jacobson then found himself open in the back of the end zone and reeled in a seven-yard, game-winning touchdown pass from Hall with 3:03 to play. An errant 54-yard field goal from the Sooners gave BYU the national spotlight with a stunning upset.

BYU won its 10^th and 11^th games of the season with a 26-23 overtime win over Utah and 44-20 victory over Oregon State in the Las Vegas Bowl. Hall once again delivered late-game heroics versus the Utes with a game-winning touchdown down the middle of the field to tight end Andrew George. The Cougars’ 11-2 season ended with a No. 12 ranking in the AP Poll while Pitta earned Consensus All-America honors. Hall became the program’s all-time winningest quarterback at 32-7 while Unga rode another 1000-yard season to the school career rushing record.

The first two seasons of independence were highlighted by one of the program’s most dynamic defensive playmakers in linebacker Kyle Van Noy. The playmaking ball-hawk began independence with a game-winning forced fumble and recovery for a touchdown in a 14-13 win over Ole Miss on the road. Van Noy helped the Cougars finish third nationally in total defense in 2012. No performance proved more illustrative of Van Noy than his single-handed game-winning plays versus San Diego State in the 2012 Poinsettia Bowl.

Van Noy led the Cougars to a 23-6 win over the Aztecs with eight tackles, 3.5 for loss, 1.5 sacks, a forced fumble, interception, blocked punt and two defensive touchdowns. The eventual two-time Super Bowl Champion finished his Cougar career in 2013 with 226 tackles, 62 tackles-for-loss, 24 sacks, five defensive touchdowns, seven interceptions, 11 forced fumbles, five fumble recoveries, 32 quarterback hurries and 17 pass breakups.

The Cougar offense was on full display for the nation in a pair of historic wins over blueblood Texas in 2013 and 2014. BYU quarterback Taysom Hill rushed for 259 yards in a 40-21 upset of the No. 15 Longhorns on September 7, 2013 in Provo. Hill, running back Jamaal Williams and the Cougars combined for 550 rushing yards on the night, a single-game school record allowance that still stands at Texas.

BYU picked up where it left off with the Longhorns in 2014 as it went into Austin and defeated the home team 41-7. The Cougars outgained Texas 429-258, including 248-82 on the ground with Hill accounting for 181 passing yards, 99 rushing and three rushing scores. BYU’s 41-7 win in Austin was the Longhorns’ worst home defeat since 1997.

No BYU season has begun with consecutive dramatic finishes quite like 2015. Freshman Tanner Mangum took over at quarterback for the Cougars in the season-opener at Nebraska following an injury to junior Taysom Hill. While just months removed from missionary service in Chile, Mangum went 7-of-11 for 111 yards and a touchdown in his first collegiate action. Down 28-27 with seconds to play, Mangum drove the Cougars to the Nebraska 42-yard line and unleashed a game-winning Haily Mary to receiver Mitch Mathews. The 33-28 Cougar win delivered the Cornhuskers their first season-opening loss in 30 years and did so before a national audience on ABC.

Mangum proved heroic late once again a week later with a 35-yard game-winner to Mitchell Juergens in the closing minutes of the home-opener versus No. 20 Boise State. Safety Kai Nacua put away the Broncos for good, 35-24, with a game-sealing interception returned for a touchdown.

BYU football leveraged it independence to play and win marquee games at historic venues. These included a 31-14 victory over Michigan State in 2016, a 24-21 upset of No. 6 Wisconsin at Camp Randall Stadium in 2018 and a 29-26 double overtime triumph over Tennessee at Neyland Stadium in 2019.

With the COVID-19 pandemic reshaping life and college football, BYU and Director of Athletics Tom Holmoe found a way to play in spite of the unique difficulties of 2020. The Cougars made the most of it, going 11-1 on the season and finishing ranked 11th, their best final ranking since 1996.

Eventual second-overall NFL Draft pick Zach Wilson led a BYU offense that finished top-5 in scoring. Wilson came in eighth in the Heisman voting, became a Manning Award finalist and ranked top-10 in 11 statistical categories while setting BYU single-season records for completion percentage and pass efficiency. Consensus All-American Brady Christensen bolstered the BYU offensive line while Burlsworth Trophy finalist Dax Milne led the Cougars in receiving.

BYU received its long-awaited opportunity to play Power Conference football on September 10, 2021 as it accepted an invitation to join the Big 12 Conference.

Just 24 hours after its Big 12 invite, BYU football proved it hadn’t faded after 2020 with a 26-17 win over No. 21 Utah at home. The Cougars rushed for 219 yards on the Utes and rode the win to a return to the national rankings the following week.

BYU beat its second ranked team in as many weeks on September 18, 2021 with a 27-17 victory over No. 19 Arizona State. Running back Tyler Allgeier was instrumental in the win over the Sun Devils and went on to break Luke Staley’s 20-year-old school single-season rushing record with 1,601 yards in 2021.

The Cougars previewed Big 12 membership with a matchup versus No. 9-ranked and defending Big 12 Champion Baylor in Provo in week two of the 2022 season. Freshman receiver Chase Roberts made an early impression on Cougar fans with a toe-tap touchdown and trick-play passing score that set up a 26-20 double-overtime win over the Bears.

BYU football entered a new era in 2023 as it embarked on its first season in the Big 12 Conference.

Receivers Chase Roberts and Darius Lassiter provided highlight-reel plays as the Cougars earned wins at Arkansas and versus, Cincinnati and Texas Tech.

BYU recorded its first-ever Big 12 win on Sept. 29, 2023 in Provo against the Bearcats.