1977 BYU Cougars football team

The 1977 BYU Cougars football team represented Brigham Young University (BYU) for the 1977 NCAA Division I football season. The Cougars were led by sixth-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 a share of the conference title for the second consecutive year, sharing the title with Arizona State with a conference record of 6–1.

1977 BYU Cougars football
WAC co-champion
ConferenceWestern Athletic Conference
Ranking
CoachesNo. 16
APNo. 20
1977 record9–2 (6–1 WAC)
Head coach
Offensive coordinatorDoug Scovil
Defensive coordinatorDick Felt
Home stadiumCougar Stadium
1977 Western Athletic Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
No. 20 BYU + 6 –1 –0  9 –2 –0
No. 18 Arizona State + 6 –1 –0  9 –3 –0
Colorado State 5 –2 –0  9 –2 –1
Wyoming 4 –3 –0  4 –6 –1
Arizona 3 –4 –0  5 –7 –0
New Mexico 2 –5 –0  5 –7 –0
Utah 2 –5 –0  3 –8 –0
UTEP 0 –7 –0  1 –10 –0
  • + – Conference co-champions
Rankings from AP Poll

The previous season, BYU was invited to the Tangerine Bowl, where they lost to Oklahoma State. Despite finishing the regular season with a record of 9–2 and ranked 17th in the AP Poll, the Cougars were not invited to a bowl game and dropped to twentieth in the final poll, and tied for sixteenth in the UPI Coaches Poll.[1][2]

Schedule
DateTimeOpponentRankSiteTVResultAttendance
September 107:30 pmKansas State*
W 39–035,196
September 2412:50 pmat Utah State*No. 20
TVW 65–620,103
September 307:30 pmNew MexicoNo. 15
  • Cougar Stadium
  • Provo, Utah
W 54–1933,352
October 82:30 pmat Oregon State*No. 13
L 19–2433,965
October 151:30 pmColorado State
W 63–1729,110
October 221:30 pmat WyomingNo. 17
W 10–725,398
October 291:30 pmArizonaNo. 17
  • Cougar Stadium
  • Provo, Utah
W 34–1433,621
November 51:30 pmUtahNo. 14
W 38–834,208
November 127:30 pmat No. 17 Arizona StateNo. 13
L 13–2458,295
November 191:30 pmLong Beach State*No. 17
  • Cougar Stadium
  • Provo, Utah
W 30–2721,322
November 267:30 pmat UTEPNo. 18
W 68–197,800
  • *Non-conference game
  • Homecoming
  • Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game
  • All times are in Mountain time
Source:[3]

Roster
1977 BYU Cougars football team roster
Players Coaches
Offense
Pos.#NameClass
TE 95 Rob Anderson So
RB 23 Clay Blackwell So
QB 12 Ray Brock So
TE 85 Clay Brown So
OT 64 Alan Carlile So
FB 30 Steve Carlson So
FB 33 Todd Christensen Sr
WR 29 Mike Chronister Jr
OT 63 Calvin Close So
WR Bill Davis Fr
OT 66 Russ Davis Jr
T 72 Nick Eyre Fr
QB 17 Mark Flammer Jr
OG 58 Clayton Forsythe Jr
RB Dave Francis Fr
OT 76 Al Gaspard Jr
WR 88 Bruce George Jr
FB 24 Roger Gourley Sr
OG 62 Danny Hansen So
TE Brad Hardisty Fr
WR 26 George Harris Sr
OT 72 Kelly Harris Sr
QB 11 Dan Hartwig So
QB Mike Heinrich Fr
TE 86 Richard Herlin Jr
OT Steve Herring Fr
OT 70 Jim Jaramillo So
WR 87 Lloyd Jones So
WR 84 Rick Jones Sr
RB 20 Robbie Kahuanui So
RB 31 Larry Kemp Jr
RB 36 Eric Lane Fr
WR Ron Lewis Jr
OG 67 Raymond Linford So
OT Walt Manwill Fr
QB 7 Terry McEwen Sr
QB 9 Jim McMahon Fr
C 54 Tom Miller Sr
QB 14 Gifford Nielsen Sr
C 50 Scott Nielson So
OT 75 Bart Oates Fr
C 55 Corey Pace So
OT Nelson Paynter Jr
QB Scott Phillips Fr
RB Scott Reber Fr
OT 78 Lance Reynolds Sr
RB 35 Bill Ring Jr
FB Kim Stewart Jr
OG 59 Gary Stoddard Jr
C 52 Brad Sullivan Jr
TE Norman Taylor Fr
TE 92 Tod Thompson Jr
WR 25 Kent Tingey Jr
OG 77 Keith Uperesa Sr
OT 69 Jan Van de Merwe Sr
WR 8 John VanDerWouden Sr
FB 34 Roy Ward Sr
RB 32 Ken White So
FB 44 Vic Whitsett So
RB 48 Doug Williams So
QB 6 Marc Wilson So
RB 43 Casey Wingard Jr
WR Stan Younger Fr
WR 22 Lynn Zwahlen So
 Defense
Pos.#NameClass
DB 42 Steve Anderson So
DE 90 Kip Apostol Sr
DT 65 Craig Barr So
LB Russ Beck Jr
LB 41 Mark Berntsen Sr
LB 53 Gary Bouck Jr
S 23 Perry Bradford So
DB Mark Brady Fr
DE 68 Rob Buchanan Jr
LB Mark Campbell Fr
DB 10 Dave Campos Sr
S 21 Jason Coloma Jr
CB 13 Steve Corson Jr
LB 45 Tom Enlow Jr
LB Danny Frazier Fr
LB 56 Brian Hansen So
DE 89 Jeff Harris Jr
DB 16 Steve Hartmann So
DE Greg Head Jr
CB 27 Tony Hernandez Sr
DT 80 Mekeli Ieremia Sr
DE 93 Conrad Jepson So
LB 37 Gary Kama Jr
CB 15 David McKee So
DE 83 Mat Mendenhall So
LB 82 Larry Miller Jr
S 47 John Neal Jr
DT 71 Gary Peterson Sr
DE 96 Rick Pinckard So
DB 19 Bill Popin Sr
CB 5 Bob Prested So
LB 49 John Ramage So
LB 41 Glen Redd So
DB Bill Schoepflin Fr
DT 73 Bob Simmerman Jr
DT 79 Doug Stromberg So
S 46 Mark Swenson Jr
DT 60 Jeff Taggart So
DB 18 Mark Terranova Sr
DE 91 Ross Varner Jr
S 9 Ron Velasco Jr
DE 94 Dennis Webb So
LB 36 Rod Wood Jr
 Special teams
Pos.#NameClass
K 3 Dev Duke Sr
K 2 Brent Johnson So
K Craig Wing So
P 9 Jim McMahon Fr
Head coach
Coordinators/assistant coaches
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  • Injured
  • Redshirt

Roster
Last update: 2018-Dec-25

Game summaries

Utah State

Senior quarterback Gifford Nielsen completed 30 of 40 passes for 321 yards and six touchdowns. Head coach LaVell Edwards pulled Nielsen with about three minutes left in the first half and again at 3:46 in the third quarter while three more potential touchdown passes were dropped otherwise Nielsen's stats would have been even greater. On the road in Logan, the BYU players were actually cheered by the Utah State fans as they left field.[4]

Oregon State

Starting quarterback Nielsen injured his knee late in the loss at Corvallis on October 8, ending his collegiate career; he was replaced by sophomore Marc Wilson.[5][6][7][8] The struggling Oregon State Beavers were seven-point underdogs,[9][10] and went winless in the Pac-10 Conference.

Utah
Utah Utes at #14 BYU Cougars
1 2 34Total
Utah 0 2 608
BYU 17 0 02138

at Cougar Stadium • Provo, Utah

  • Date: November 5
  • Game time: 1:30 p.m. MST
  • Game weather: Overcast • 60 °F (16 °C)
  • Game attendance: 33,828
  • CougarStats

BYU's Marc Wilson threw for 571 yards,[11] breaking the single-game NCAA record set by Utah State's Tony Adams in 1972, also against Utah.[12][13] Wilson was pulled with two minutes left, but returned a minute later and completed three passes, including a touchdown to John VanDerWouden, to set the record,[11] which drew the ire of Utah head coach Wayne Howard.

Statistics

Passing
PlayerCompAttYardsTDINT
Marc Wilson1642772,4182418
Gifford Nielsen981561,167163
Jim McMahon101610311
Terry McEwen333200
Scott Phillips122901
Dan Hartwig12900
John VanDerWouden01000
Source:[14]
  • Starting quarterback Nielsen was lost for the season late in the fourth game.[5][7]

Awards
  • WAC Offensive Player of the Year: QB Marc Wilson
  • All-WAC: LB Mark Berntsen, RB Todd Christensen, WR Mike Chronister, OL Jason Coloma, DL Mekeli Ieremia, OL Lance Reynolds
Source:[14]

NFL Draft
Main article: 1978 NFL Draft
PlayerPositionRoundPickNFL club
Todd ChristensenTight End256Dallas Cowboys
Gifford NielsenQuarterback373Houston Oilers
Mekeli IeremiaDefensive End6158Chicago Bears
Lance ReynoldsTackle9241Pittsburgh Steelers

References
  1. "It might not add up, but Irish are clearly No. 1". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). AP, UPI. January 4, 1978. p. 3C.
  2. "Notre Dame gets No. 1 tag". Deseret News. (Salt Lake City, Utah). UPI. January 4, 1978. p. F1.
  3. 1977 BYU Cougars football media guide. Retrieved 2018-Dec-25.
  4. Miller, Hack (September 26, 1977). "Cougars' air attack keeps Ags grounded". Deseret News. (Salt Lake City, Utah). p. 4B.
  5. Conrad, John (October 9, 1977). "Beavers put BYU down, and Nielsen out". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). p. 1C.
  6. "Beavers end BYU win skein". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. October 9, 1977. p. D3.
  7. Benson, Lee (October 10, 1977). "Nielsen out as breaks stun Y." Deseret News. (Salt Lake City, Utah). p. 4B.
  8. https://byucougars.com/athlete/football/13752/Gifford-Nielsen
  9. Conrad, John (October 8, 1977). "Can the Beavers ground Brigham Young's pilot?". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). p. 2B.
  10. Benson, Lee (October 8, 1977). "BYU reputation arrives at OSU ahead of Cougars". Deseret News. (Salt Lake City, Utah). p. 2D.
  11. "BYU's Wilson sets pass record". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). wire service reports. November 6, 1977. p. 10C.
  12. "Adams sparkles". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. November 12, 1972. p. 6C.
  13. Ferguson, George (November 13, 1972). "Adams' hot hand buries Utah". Deseret News. (Salt Lake City, Utah). p. 8B.
  14. 1977 football season – CougarStats
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