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1984 BYU Cougars football team

The 1984 BYU Cougars football team represented Brigham Young University (BYU) in the 1984 NCAA Division I-A football season. The Cougars were led by 13th-year head coach LaVell Edwards and played their home games at Cougar StadiuminProvo, Utah. The team competed as a member of the Western Athletic Conference, winning the conference for the ninth consecutive year. The Cougars finished the regular season as the only undefeated team in Division I-A, and secured their first ever national title by defeating Michigan in the 1984 Holiday Bowl.

A number of pollsters and coaches were reluctant to name the Cougars as national champion, partly because they believed BYU's schedule was too weak. Only two of BYU's opponents won at least seven games. They had played only one ranked opponent all season, preseason #3 Pittsburgh, a team that would finish 3–7–1 and unranked. No other team in the WAC was even close to being their equal; the Cougars were the only team in the league with fewer than four overall losses. In the end, BYU was ranked number one in both major final polls, the AP Poll and the Coaches Poll.^[1] The team was named national champion by NCAA-designated major selectors of AP, Billingsley, Football Research, FW, National Football Foundation, Poling, UPI, and USA/CNN, while named co-champion by both National Championship Foundation and Sagarin (ELO-Chess).^[2]

To date, the 1984 Cougars are the last team from outside a "power conference" to win a national title. It is widely believed that the various systems devised over the years with a view toward deciding the national championship on the field, with their emphasis on strength of schedule, make it extremely difficult for a team outside the power conferences to be considered for championship contention.^[1]

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 1	at No. 3Pittsburgh*		Pitt Stadium Pittsburgh, PA	ESPN	W 20–14	40,263
September 8	Baylor*	No. 13	Cougar Stadium Provo, UT		W 47–13	63,705
September 15	Tulsa*	No. 8	Cougar Stadium Provo, UT		W 38–15	64,237
September 22	atHawaii	No. 6	Aloha Stadium Halawa, HI		W 18–13	50,000
October 6	atColorado State	No. 7	Hughes Stadium Fort Collins, CO		W 52–9	28,671
October 13	Wyoming	No. 5	Cougar Stadium Provo, UT		W 41–38	64,839
October 20	atAir Force	No. 7	Falcon Stadium Colorado Springs, CO	ABC	W 30–25	30,469
October 25	atNew Mexico	No. 5	University Stadium Albuquerque, NM	ESPN	W 48–0	19,227
November 3	UTEP	No. 4	Cougar Stadium Provo, UT		W 42–9	62,530
November 10	San Diego State	No. 4	Cougar Stadium Provo, UT		W 34–3	64,050
November 17	atUtah	No. 3	Robert Rice Stadium Salt Lake City, UT (Holy War)	KUTV	W 24–14	36,110
November 24	Utah State*	No. 1	Cougar Stadium Provo, UT (rivalry)		W 38–13	65,580
December 21	vs. Michigan*	No. 1	Jack Murphy Stadium San Diego, CA (Holiday Bowl)	ESPN	W 24–17	61,243
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

1984 BYU Cougars football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class G, C 57 Robert Anae  Sr WR 11 Mark Bellini So OL 71 John Borgia Fr QB 6 Robbie Bosco  Jr RB 28 Paul Crawford WR 18 Jim Edwards QB 16 Blaine Fowler OL 75 David Futrell OL 59 Craig Garrick WR 1 Adam Haysbert RB 35 Lakei Heimuli OL 68 John Hunter OL 66 David King WR 7 Glen Kozlowski  Jr TE 90 Lance Lindley QB 8 Steve Lindsley OL 73 Chris Matau C 50 Trevor Matich  Sr OL 67 Keith McCullough WR 26 David Miles TE 12 David Mills TE 94 Trevor Molini WR 85 Scott Norberg OL 75 Sam Oramas WR 19 Richard Orr HB 43 Robert Parker So OL 61 Doug Rawlinson Fr OL 63 Randy Rawlinson OL 69 Scott Robinson OL 55 Brian Rondoni Fr FB 33 Thor Salanoa So OL 56 Jay Shumway HB 23 Vai Sikahema Jr HB 21 Kelly Smith OL 60 David Tidwell HB 46 Tom Tuipulotu TE 89 Brett Varoz RB 33 Fred Whittingham OL 70 Louis Wong OL 78 David Wright QB 12 Mike Young	Defense Pos. # Name Class LB 51 Ladd Akeo So DB 22 Mark Allen Sr LB 49 Marv Allen Sr LB 31 John Bechtold So LB 37 Alema Fitisemanu LB 34 Kurt Gouveia Jr DL 78 Larry Hamilton DB 42 Steve Haymond DB 2 Brian Hazelgren DE 92 Jim Herrmann Sr LB 57 Richard Hobbs DL 96 Jay Huckaby DL 77 Shawn Knight DL 76 Tim Knight DB 9 Rob Ledenko DL 80 Ty Mattingly LB 44 Jim McDade LB 96 Jay McDonald DB 5 Kyle Morrell Sr LB 55 David Neff DB 27 Kory Rasmussen So LB 59 Steve Sanders DB 5 Marc Sherman DB 24 Shane Shumway DL 76 Brad Smith DL 65 Ken Smith DB 25 Jeff Sprowls DB 3 Rodney Thomas LB 9 JC VonCollin LB 41 Leon White Jr LB 53 Cary Whittingham Jr DB 14 Jeff Wilcox	Special teams Pos. # Name Class P, PK 10 Lee Johnson Sr PK 3 Pete Rossi PK 15 Gary Webster	Head coach LaVell Edwards Coordinators/assistant coaches Bart Andrus Norm Chow Dick Felt Roger French Mike Holmgren Mel Olson Jim Paronto (Inside linebackers coach) Tom Ramage Lance Reynolds Ken Schmidt Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt Roster Last update: 2017-Jan-01

^[3]

• Robbie Bosco 28-43, 363 yards, 6 TD

• Glen Kozlowski 9 Rec, 156 Yds

^[4]

• Robbie Bosco 29-44, 384 yards, 5 TD
• David Mills 7 receptions, 136 yards, 3 TD

External videos
Second half broadcast (partial)

• Robbie Bosco 28-41, 484 yards, 4 TD, INT

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The following were selected in the 1985 NFL Draft.^[10]

• Robbie Bosco, Sammy Baugh Trophy^[11]
• LaVell Edwards, Paul "Bear" Bryant Award