1980 BYU Cougars football team

The 1980 BYU Cougars football team represented Brigham Young University (BYU) for the 1980 NCAA Division I-A football season. The Cougars were led by ninth-year head coach LaVell Edwards and played their home games at Cougar Stadium in Provo, Utah. The team competed as a member of the Western Athletic Conference, winning their fifth consecutive conference title with a conference record of 61. After a season-opening loss to New Mexico, BYU ended on a 12-game winning streak, including a victory over SMU in the 1980 Holiday Bowl, finishing 121 overall and ranked 12th in the final AP Poll. The Cougars' offense scored 606 points during the season for an average of 46.6 points per game. They scored over 50 points in a game five times, including two games scoring over 70 points.

1980 BYU Cougars football
WAC champion
Holiday Bowl champion
Holiday Bowl, W 46–45 vs. SMU
ConferenceWestern Athletic Conference
Ranking
CoachesNo. 11
APNo. 12
Record12–1 (6–1 WAC)
Head coach
Offensive coordinatorDoug Scovil (4th season)
Offensive schemeWest Coast
Defensive coordinatorFred Whittingham (2nd season)
Base defense3–4
Home stadiumCougar Stadium
1980 Western Athletic Conference football standings
ConfOverall
TeamW L TW L T
No. 12 BYU $ 6 1 012 1 0
Colorado State 5 1 16 4 1
Hawaii 3 3 08 3 0
Wyoming 4 4 06 5 0
San Diego State 4 4 04 8 0
New Mexico 3 4 04 7 0
Utah 2 3 15 5 1
Air Force 1 3 02 9 1
UTEP 1 6 01 11 0
  • $ Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll

Schedule

DateOpponentRankSiteTVResultAttendance
September 6at New MexicoL 21–2516,840
September 13San Diego StateABCW 35–1136,178
September 20at Wisconsin*KBYUW 28–371,496
September 27Long Beach State*
  • Cougar Stadium
  • Provo, Utah
W 41–2537,152
October 11Wyomingdagger
  • Cougar Stadium
  • Provo, Utah
W 52–1741,296
October 18at Utah State*ABCW 70–4623,230
October 25at HawaiiNo. 19W 34–749,139
November 1UTEPNo. 17
  • Cougar Stadium
  • Provo, Utah
W 83–736,251
November 8North Texas State*No. 13
  • Cougar Stadium
  • Provo, Utah
W 41–2336,583
November 15Colorado StateNo. 13
  • Cougar Stadium
  • Provo, Utah
W 45–1440,515
November 22at UtahNo. 13W 56–630,520
November 29at UNLVNo. 12W 54–1431,406
December 19vs. No. 19 SMU*No. 14MizlouW 46–4550,200
  • *Non-conference game
  • daggerHomecoming
  • Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

[1]

Personnel

1980 BYU Cougars football team roster
Players Coaches
Offense
Pos.#NameClass
TE 85 Clay Brown Sr
WR 88 Bill Davis Sr
OT 72 Nick Eyre Sr
TE 95 Gordon Hudson Fr
RB 36 Eric Lane Sr
C 52 Trevor Matich So
QB 9 Jim McMahon RJr
C 50 Bart Oates So
OT 64 Andy Reid Sr
RB 23 Vai Sikahema Fr
QB 8 Steve Young Fr
Defense
Pos.#NameClass
DE 93 Brad Anae Jr
DT 78 Chuck Ehin So
DB 46 Tom Holmoe So
DT 66 Doug Kellermeyer  Fr
DE 77 Mike Morgan So
LB 41 Glen Redd Sr
LB 47 Todd Shell Fr
LB 59 Kyle Whittingham Jr
Special teams
Pos.#NameClass
K 10 Lee Johnson Fr
Head coach
Coordinators/assistant coaches

Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  • Injured Injured
  • Redshirt Redshirt

Roster

Season summary

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
  • BYU: Jim McMahon 339 Yds passing [2]

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."

[3]

At Utah

#13 BYU Cougars (9–1) at Utah Utes (6–2–1)
Period 1 2 34Total
BYU 7 14 211456
Utah 0 0 066

at Rice Stadium, Salt Lake City, Utah

  • Date: November 22, 1980
  • Game weather: Light rain, 42 °F (6 °C)
  • Game attendance: 30,520
  • Box Score
Game information

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). [4] [5]

External video
video icon 1980 BYU at Utah – Highlights

Holiday Bowl

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

[6][7]

References

  1. College Football @ Sports-Reference.com
  2. Palm Beach Post. 1980 Sept 29.
  3. "Y. football stock up again." The Deseret News. Bill Ewer. 13 Oct 1980.
  4. "Brigham Young Crushes Utah." Ocala Star-Banner. 1980 Nov 23
  5. "BYU breezes." Eugene Register-Guard. 1980 Nov 23.
  6. My Favorite Bowl Games. Archived 2013-03-09 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved December 26, 2012.
  7. CougarStats. Retrieved December 26, 2012
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