Centennial Cougars: The 100 Greatest BYU Cougar Football Games

               When the BYU Cougars (7-3-1) started the 1974 season with a 0-3-1 record, nobody would have guessed that they’d come back and win the WAC. However, since their 3 losses were against non-conference schools, they successfully won the conference title with a 6-0-1 record by knocking off two ranked teams (Arizona & Arizona State). As the winner of the WAC, the Cougars were invited to their first bowl game, to face the Oklahoma State Cowboys (6-5) of the Big 8 in the fourth annual Fiesta Bowl.                In the first quarter, the Cougar D corralled the Cowboys, forcing punts on each of the Cowboys first 5 possessions. The Cougar offense, meanwhile, moved the ball well early on. Senior QB Gary Sheide led the Cougars to the Cowboy 13, where Mark Uselman booted a 30-yard  field goal. Although they punted on their second possession, the Cougars took advantage of good field positi...

As I get ready to launch my first official blog post of the Top 100 BYU Football games, I wanted to give a little ink to ten great games that didn't make the final cut, but deserve an honorable mention: 11/8/52 - NCAA record 4 TDs in one quarter - San Jose - 44, BYU - 27 Dick Felt set an NCAA record with 4 TDs (T4th) in a single quarter. After having missed most of the first three quarters of play, Felt came in at the end of the third quarter for a kickoff return. He was left in to play the fourth quarter and scored four rushing TDs - an NCAA record that has been tied, but still stands today.   09/29/62 – Fortie runs for a school record 272 yards : George Washington – 13, BYU - 12 Eldon “The Phantom” Fortie runs for a school record 272 yards against George Washington on his way to setting 21 school records (including most rushing yards in a season and a career, most passing yards in a career, and most TDs) and becoming BYU’s first All-American.   11/26/77  - Second stra...

 This blog is dedicated to highlighting the 100 greatest games in BYU Cougar football history. I've been a BYU fan since I was a little kid, and attended the university from 1992-1996. When I realized that 2022 was the 100th anniversary of BYU's first official football game, I decided to compile a list of the 100 greatest games in the program's history (from 1922-2021) and do a write-up for each of those games. I did something similar for the 50th anniversary of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, and figured I'd share my efforts with other BYU fans out there. Throughout the blog, I will be referring to Top 25 (or Top 20 prior to the expansion of the polls) rankings of either BYU or the teams they played. I realize that there are a couple of major polls, and even a few less famous ones, but for consistency sake I've decided to use the AP poll as the official ranking (even though BYU tends to be appreciated more by the coaches' poll). Also, many posts refer to the...