Centennial Cougars: The 100 Greatest BYU Cougar Football Games

          The #10 BYU Cougars began their defense of their national title by playing in the Kickoff Classic against Cotton Bowl champions - Boston College. The Kickoff Classic was billed as a preseason bowl game by the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, who organized the first Classic in 1983 to replace the less-popular Garden State Bowl. The preseason game provided the benefit of allowing the participating teams to play a 12-game regular season. The Cougars, whose national championship the previous season had been denigrated by college football pundits who claimed that their schedule had been too easy, jumped at the chance to add a big-name college (Boston College finished the 1984 season ranked #4) from a big-name conference to their schedule.            In the first quarter, the Cougar D forced an Eagle punt. The Cougars moved into BC territory, but couldn’t convert a fourth-and-one play, turning the ball back over to the Eagles. After a second Eagle punt, the Cougars’ d

After suffering their first losing season in 30 years in 2002, the BYU Cougars wanted to start their season off on the right foot against the formidable Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets from the tough ACC. It would be the second ever meeting between the two schools. Their initial meeting had occurred the previous season, when the Yellow Jackets scored 14 points in the fourth quarter to defeat the Cougars 28-19. The Yellow Jackets put points on the board first. Taking advantage of a Cougar interception at the Cougar 38, they marched 30 yards before booting a 26-yard FG. Following the kickoff, QB Matt Berry guided the Cougars to the Yellow Jacket 38. Rather than punt on fourth down, the Cougars decided to go for it. TE Daniel Coats got a step on his defender, and Berry led him with a pass that Coats snatched out of the air and ran straight up the gut for a 38-yard TD reception. The Yellow Jackets drove back into scoring position on the ensuing possession. Dan Burnett’s 39-yard FG narrowe

            After winning their first conference championship in 1965, the Cougars were hoping to follow up that break-through season with another banner year. With only one loss, the BYU Cougars (5-1) still held out hope of winning another conference championship. Although the Miners of Texas Western (UTEP) (4-2) were not yet members of the WAC, they were scheduled to play most of the teams from the conference, and would thus be a good measuring stick to help determine how the Cougars stacked up against their remaining foes.           Senior QB Virgil Carter put the Cougars on the board first, completing a 2-yard pass to Kent Oborn. The Cougars added to their lead with a 20-yard TD pass to Casey Boyett. This time, the Cougars followed up the touchdown with a 2-point conversion courtesy of Oborn. UTEP came back with a scoring drive of their own. Larry McHenry scored with a 3-yard rush, then tallied two more by completing the 2-point play. Near the end of the first quarter, the Miners

                 Despite BYU’s dismal performance in their opening season (1-5), enthusiasm for the sport ran high among the students. The 1923 graduating class submitted a proposal to raise funds to build a stadium as its senior class project. The project was supported by Franklin S. Harris, who was installed as school president in 1921 and pledged to “exert every effort and endeavor to make football a major sport at the Y.” Construction began in 1926, with much of the work being done by volunteers using funds and equipment donated by companies from across the state. BYU’s first game of season #2 was scheduled against Montana State. Details of this game are very sketchy, but we do know that BYU won 16-15. With a one-point differential, it must have been an extremely exciting game. Unfortunately, things didn’t pan out as well the rest of the year, and the Cougars finished the season with a 2-5 record. Cleo and Tarbo Courtesy of BYU Library Cosmo the Cougar Courtesy of BYU Photo School

            After tying a school record with 8 wins in 1966, Cougar fans were curious about how their Cougars would perform in 1967. After all, their star quarterback, Virgil Carter, had graduated and been drafted into the NFL. Who would their new quarterback be? And how could anyone truly replace Carter? At least senior All-WAC wide receiver Phil Odle was back to help the new quarterback learn the ropes. In the first game of the season, the Cougars tried out 3 quarterbacks. Each did well, and the Cougars won 44-14 over New Mexico. So, as the Cougars (1-0) approached their second game, there was ongoing speculation as to which QB would take the reins against Western Michigan (1-1).           Western Michigan got the scoring started on their initial drive, marching 63 yards and booting a 34-yard field goal. The Cougars responded with a 47-yard drive, capped by a 22-yard FG by Dennis Patera. At the end of one quarter, the score remained tied at 3-3; but as the quarter drew to a close,

Junior QB Jim McMahon didn’t like to share the limelight with anyone. Yet that is exactly what he’d had to do in Provo. When Jim arrived in 1977, he found himself the backup to Marc Wilson, who enjoyed a spectacular sophomore season. The next year, the two QBs shared time behind center. That didn’t work out so well, so McMahon redshirted in 1979 - Wilson’s senior season. The result was the first undefeated regular season in team history. Now, it was Jim’s turn, and he wanted to break every single one of Wilson’s records, as well as set a bunch of new ones. Unfortunately, the Cougars started the 1980 season with a surprise loss to lightly regarded New Mexico. The loss served as a wake-up call to BYU, who were universally picked to repeat as WAC champions. The Cougars rolled out six straight victories, including a 28-3 win over Wisconsin on Sept. 20. These were convincing wins - with a minimum margin of victory of 16+ points. However, the Cougs didn’t break into the Top 20 until Oct. 18,

Ty Detmer courtesy of BYU.fandom.com           The BYU Cougars (8-3-1) faced the #7 Iowa Hawkeyes (10-1) in the 1991 Holiday Bowl. Although both teams had started the year ranked #19 and #18 respectively in the AP preseason poll, Iowa had remained a fixture in the poll the entire year, finally rising to #7. Their lone loss was to the #4 team in the nation - the Michigan Wolverines. That loss not only cost the Hawkeyes a shot at an undefeated season, it had also robbed them of the Big 10 Conference title and an invite to the Rose Bowl, where they could have theoretically been playing for the national championship. Instead, they had to settle for the much less lucrative Holiday Bowl. Meanwhile, the Cougars had dropped out of the polls early on, after starting 0-3 against ranked opponents: #1 Florida State, #23 UCLA & #12 Penn St. The Cougars had finally resurfaced at #23 following a seven game win streak, only to be dropped following a dramatic 52-52 tie game against SDSU, in which