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 | |
Conference | Western Athletic Conference |
Ranking | |
Coaches | No. 16 |
AP | No. 20 |
1977 record | 9–2 (6–1 WAC) |
Head coach |
|
Offensive coordinator | Doug Scovil |
Defensive coordinator | Dick Felt |
Home stadium | Cougar Stadium |
1977 Western Athletic Conference football standings | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conf | Overall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Team | W | 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 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
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
Date | Time | Opponent | Rank | Site | TV | Result | Attendance |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
September 10 | 7:30 pm | Kansas State* | W 39–0 | 35,196 | |||
September 24 | 12:50 pm | at Utah State* | No. 20 | TV | W 65–6 | 20,103 | |
September 30 | 7:30 pm | New Mexico | No. 15 |
| W 54–19 | 33,352 | |
October 8 | 2:30 pm | at Oregon State* | No. 13 | L 19–24 | 33,965 | ||
October 15 | 1:30 pm | Colorado State | W 63–17 | 29,110 | |||
October 22 | 1:30 pm | at Wyoming | No. 17 | W 10–7 | 25,398 | ||
October 29 | 1:30 pm | Arizona![]() | No. 17 |
| W 34–14 | 33,621 | |
November 5 | 1:30 pm | Utah | No. 14 |
| W 38–8 | 34,208 | |
November 12 | 7:30 pm | at No. 17 Arizona State | No. 13 | L 13–24 | 58,295 | ||
November 19 | 1:30 pm | Long Beach State* | No. 17 |
| W 30–27 | 21,322 | |
November 26 | 7:30 pm | at UTEP | No. 18 | W 68–19 | 7,800 | ||
|
- Source:[3]
Roster
1977 BYU Cougars football team roster | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Players | Coaches | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Offense
|
Defense
|
Special teams
|
Roster |
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
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Utah | 0 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 8 |
BYU | 17 | 0 | 0 | 21 | 38 |
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
Game information | ||
---|---|---|
|
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.
Scoring summary | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Statistics
Passing
Player | Comp | Att | Yards | TD | INT |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Marc Wilson | 164 | 277 | 2,418 | 24 | 18 |
Gifford Nielsen | 98 | 156 | 1,167 | 16 | 3 |
Jim McMahon | 10 | 16 | 103 | 1 | 1 |
Terry McEwen | 3 | 3 | 32 | 0 | 0 |
Scott Phillips | 1 | 2 | 29 | 0 | 1 |
Dan Hartwig | 1 | 2 | 9 | 0 | 0 |
John VanDerWouden | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
- Source:[14]
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
Player | Position | Round | Pick | NFL club |
Todd Christensen | Tight End | 2 | 56 | Dallas Cowboys |
Gifford Nielsen | Quarterback | 3 | 73 | Houston Oilers |
Mekeli Ieremia | Defensive End | 6 | 158 | Chicago Bears |
Lance Reynolds | Tackle | 9 | 241 | Pittsburgh Steelers |
References
- "It might not add up, but Irish are clearly No. 1". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). AP, UPI. January 4, 1978. p. 3C.
- "Notre Dame gets No. 1 tag". Deseret News. (Salt Lake City, Utah). UPI. January 4, 1978. p. F1.
- 1977 BYU Cougars football media guide. Retrieved 2018-Dec-25.
- Miller, Hack (September 26, 1977). "Cougars' air attack keeps Ags grounded". Deseret News. (Salt Lake City, Utah). p. 4B.
- Conrad, John (October 9, 1977). "Beavers put BYU down, and Nielsen out". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). p. 1C.
- "Beavers end BYU win skein". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. October 9, 1977. p. D3.
- Benson, Lee (October 10, 1977). "Nielsen out as breaks stun Y." Deseret News. (Salt Lake City, Utah). p. 4B.
- https://byucougars.com/athlete/football/13752/Gifford-Nielsen
- Conrad, John (October 8, 1977). "Can the Beavers ground Brigham Young's pilot?". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). p. 2B.
- Benson, Lee (October 8, 1977). "BYU reputation arrives at OSU ahead of Cougars". Deseret News. (Salt Lake City, Utah). p. 2D.
- "BYU's Wilson sets pass record". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). wire service reports. November 6, 1977. p. 10C.
- "Adams sparkles". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. November 12, 1972. p. 6C.
- Ferguson, George (November 13, 1972). "Adams' hot hand buries Utah". Deseret News. (Salt Lake City, Utah). p. 8B.
- 1977 football season – CougarStats