1980 BYU Cougars football team

1980 BYU Cougars football
WAC champion
Holiday Bowl champion
Holiday Bowl, W 46–45 vs. SMU
Conference Western Athletic Conference
Ranking
Coaches No. 11
AP No. 12
1980 record 12–1 (6–1 WAC)
Head coach LaVell Edwards
Offensive coordinator Doug Scovil
Home stadium Cougar Stadium
1980 WAC football standings
Conf     Overall
Team W   L   T     W   L   T
#12 BYU $ 6 – 1 – 0     12 – 1 – 0
Colorado State 5 – 1 – 1     6 – 4 – 1
Hawaii 3 – 3 – 0     8 – 3 – 0
Wyoming 4 – 4 – 0     6 – 5 – 0
San Diego State 4 – 4 – 0     4 – 8 – 0
New Mexico 3 – 4 – 0     4 – 7 – 0
Utah 2 – 3 – 1     5 – 5 – 1
Air Force 1 – 3 – 0     2 – 9 – 1
UTEP 1 – 6 – 0     1 – 11 – 0
  • $ – Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll

The 1980 BYU Cougars football team represented Brigham Young University (BYU) for the 1980 NCAA Division I-A football season.

Schedule

Date Opponent# Rank# Site TV Result Attendance
September 6 at New Mexico University Stadium • Albuquerque, New Mexico L 21–25   16,840
September 13 San Diego State Cougar Stadium • Provo, Utah ABC W 35–11   36,178
September 20 at Wisconsin* Camp Randall Stadium • Madison, Wisconsin KBYU W 28–3   71,496
September 27 Long Beach State* Cougar Stadium • Provo, Utah W 41–25   37,152
October 11 Wyomingdagger Cougar Stadium • Provo, Utah W 52–17   41,296
October 18 at Utah State* Romney Stadium • Logan, Utah ABC W 70–46   23,230
October 25 at Hawaii No. 19 Aloha Stadium • Honolulu, HI W 34–7   49,139
November 1 UTEP No. 17 Cougar Stadium • Provo, Utah W 83–7   36,251
November 8 North Texas State* No. 13 Cougar Stadium • Provo, Utah W 41–23   36,583
November 15 Colorado State No. 13 Cougar Stadium • Provo, Utah W 45–14   40,515
November 22 at Utah No. 13 Rice Stadium • Salt Lake City W 56–6   30,520
November 29 at UNLV No. 12 Las Vegas Silver Bowl • Paradise, Nevada W 54–14   31,406
December 19 vs. No. 19 SMU* No. 14 San Diego Stadium • San Diego (Holiday Bowl) W 46–45   50,200
*Non-conference game. daggerHomecoming. #Rankings from AP Poll.

[1]

Personnel

Coaching staff

[2]

Game notes

San Diego State

San Diego St at BYU
1 234Total
San Diego St 0 308 11
• BYU 7 14140 35

Long Beach State

Long Beach State at BYU
1 234Total
Long Beach St 0 6136 25
• BYU 21 7013 41

Wyoming

Wyoming came into the contest with a wishbone attack that was fourth in the nation in rushing and sixth in total offense at 450 yards per game while BYU featured the nation's second best passing squad behind Jim McMahon, the best statistical passer in the country.

McMahon finished 22 of 31 for 408 yards and four touchdowns, his fourth straight game over 300 yards to keep his number one ranking. Wyoming attempted to rush seven and eight at McMahon but the offensive line and backs, normally featured in the passing game, did a superb job blocking. McMahon was never sacked as Nick Eyre, Lloyd Eldredge, Bart Oates, Calvin Close and Ray Linford dominated the line of scrimmage for the Cougars.

With the Cowboys committing to the pass rush, McMahon threw at will to targets Dan Plater (8 receptions for 99 yards and a touchdown), Lloyd Jones (5/120, TD), Bill Davis (7/143, TD) and Clay Brown (2/61, TD), who faced one-on-one coverage and exploit this advantage.

Meanwhile, BYU's defense was just as dominating, consistently getting into the Wyoming backfield and limiting the wishbone options for a team that came in averaging 323 yards on the ground. With the defensive line of Glen Titensor, Mike Morgan, Chuck Ehin, Pulusila Filiaga and Brad Anae shutting down the run, all the likes of Glen Redd, Kyle Whittingham, Bob Prested and Ed St. Pierre had to do was clean up.

The game was decided in the first quarter as BYU scored on two of its first three possessions and Wyoming gained 30 yards rushing in four. By halftime, BYU led 17-3 and the Cowboys had only increased their rushing total to 42.

"I've never seen a team compare with BYU throwing the football and I don't believe we've seen anyone physically as tough. BYU is much stronger than we are", Wyoming head coach Pat Dye said.

Dye continued, "McMahon is a great quarterback. We knew the four-man rush wouldn't get to them, so we tried different things. Today, a four-man rush or a seven-man rush didn't make any difference."

[4]

Utah

1 234Total
• BYU 7 142114 56
Utah 0 006 6

[5]

BYU clinched its third straight Holiday Bowl berth and its fifth straight Western Athletic Conference title with the victory over their in-state rivals. Jim McMahon completed 21 of 34 passes for 399 yards, an NCAA record tenth straight game over 300 yards passing. McMahon also broke San Diego State's Dennis Shaw's 1969 single-season touchdown pass record of 39 with his first scoring toss and later surpassed Shaw for most total touchdowns in a single season (45). [6]

Holiday Bowl

Holiday Bowl
SMU vs. BYU
1 234Total
SMU 19 1097 45
• BYU 7 6627 46

[7][8]

References

  1. ↑ College Football @ Sports-Reference.com
  2. ↑ CougarStats.com. 1980 BYU football season.
  3. ↑ Palm Beach Post. 1980 Sept 29.
  4. ↑ "Y. football stock up again." The Deseret News. Bill Ewer. 13 Oct 1980.
  5. ↑ "BYU breezes." Eugene Register-Guard. 1980 Nov 23.
  6. ↑ "Brigham Young Crushes Utah." Ocala Star-Banner. 1980 Nov 23
  7. ↑ My Favorite Bowl Games. Retrieved December 26, 2012.
  8. ↑ CougarStats. Retrieved December 26, 2012
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