1977 BYU Cougars football team

Last updated

1977 BYU Cougars football
WAC co-champion
Conference Western Athletic Conference
Ranking
CoachesNo. 16
APNo. 20
Record9–2 (6–1 WAC)
Head coach
Offensive coordinator Doug Scovil (2nd season)
Offensive scheme West Coast
Defensive coordinator Dick Felt (6th season)
Base defense 4–3
Home stadium Cougar Stadium
Seasons
←  1976
1978  →
1977 Western Athletic Conference football standings
ConfOverall
TeamW L TW L T
No. 20 BYU + 6 –1 –09 –2 –0
No. 18 Arizona State + 6 –1 –09 –3 –0
Colorado State 5 –2 –09 –2 –1
Wyoming 4 –3 –04 –6 –1
Arizona 3 –4 –05 –7 –0
New Mexico 2 –5 –05 –7 –0
Utah 2 –5 –03 –8 –0
UTEP 0 –7 –01 –10 –0
  • + – Conference co-champions
Rankings from AP Poll

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.

Contents

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

DateTimeOpponentRankSiteResultAttendanceSource
September 107:30 pm Kansas State *
W 39–035,196 [3]
September 2412:50 pmat Utah State *No. 20
W 65–620,103 [4]
September 307:30 pm New Mexico No. 15
  • Cougar Stadium
  • Provo, UT
W 54–1933,352 [5]
October 82:30 pmat Oregon State *No. 13
L 19–2433,965 [6]
October 151:30 pm Colorado State
W 63–1729,110 [7]
October 221:30 pmat Wyoming No. 17
W 10–725,398 [8]
October 291:30 pm Arizona Dagger-14-plain.pngNo. 17
  • Cougar Stadium
  • Provo, UT
W 34–1433,621 [9]
November 51:30 pm Utah No. 14
W 38–834,208 [10]
November 127:30 pmat No. 17 Arizona State No. 13
L 13–2458,295 [11]
November 191:30 pm Long Beach State *No. 17
  • Cougar Stadium
  • Provo, UT
W 30–2721,322 [12]
November 267:30 pmat UTEP No. 18
W 68–197,800 [13]
  • *Non-conference game
  • Dagger-14-plain.pngHomecoming
  • Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game
  • All times are in Mountain time

[14]

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. [15]

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. [16] [17] [18] [19] The struggling Oregon State Beavers were seven-point underdogs, [20] [21] and went winless in the Pac-10 Conference.

Utah

Utah Utes at #14 BYU Cougars
Quarter1234Total
Utah 02608
BYU17002138

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, [22] breaking the single-game NCAA record set by Utah State's Tony Adams in 1972, also against Utah. [23] [24] 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, [22] which drew the ire of Utah head coach Wayne Howard.

Roster

1977 BYU Cougars football team roster
PlayersCoaches
Offense
Pos.#NameClass
TE 95Rob AndersonSo
RB 23Clay BlackwellSo
QB 12Ray BrockSo
TE 85 Clay Brown So
OT 64Alan CarlileSo
FB 30Steve CarlsonSo
FB 33 Todd Christensen Sr
WR 29Mike ChronisterJr
OT 63Calvin CloseSo
WR Bill DavisFr
OT 66Russ DavisJr
OT 72 Nick Eyre Fr
QB 17Mark FlammerJr
G 58Clayton ForsytheJr
RB Dave FrancisFr
OT 76Al GaspardJr
WR 88Bruce GeorgeJr
FB 24Roger GourleySr
G 62Danny HansenSo
TE Brad HardistyFr
WR 26George HarrisSr
OT 72Kelly HarrisSr
QB 11Dan HartwigSo
QB Mike HeinrichFr
TE 86Richard HerlinJr
OT Steve HerringFr
OT 70Jim JaramilloSo
WR 87Lloyd JonesSo
WR 84Rick JonesSr
RB 20Robbie KahuanuiSo
RB 31Larry KempJr
RB 36 Eric Lane Fr
WR Ron LewisJr
G 67Raymond LinfordSo
OT Walt ManwillFr
QB 7Terry McEwenSr
QB 9 Jim McMahon Fr
C 54Tom MillerSr
QB 14 Gifford Nielsen Sr
C 50Scott NielsonSo
OT 75Bart OatesFr
C 55Corey PaceSo
OT Nelson PaynterJr
QB Scott PhillipsFr
RB Scott ReberFr
OT 78Lance ReynoldsSr
RB 35Bill RingJr
FB Kim StewartJr
G 59Gary StoddardJr
C 52Brad SullivanJr
TE Norman TaylorFr
TE 92Tod ThompsonJr
WR 25Kent TingeyJr
G 77Keith UperesaSr
OT 69Jan Van de MerweSr
WR 8John VanDerWoudenSr
FB 34Roy WardSr
RB 32Ken WhiteSo
FB 44Vic WhitsettSo
RB 48Doug WilliamsSo
QB 6 Marc Wilson So
RB 43Casey WingardJr
WR Stan YoungerFr
WR 22Lynn ZwahlenSo
Defense
Pos.#NameClass
DB 42Steve AndersonSo
DE 90Kip ApostolSr
DT 65Craig BarrSo
LB Russ BeckJr
LB 41Mark BerntsenSr
LB 53Gary BouckJr
S 23Perry BradfordSo
DB Mark BradyFr
DE 68Rob BuchananJr
LB 48Scott GarrettSo
DB 10Dave CamposSr
S 21Jason ColomaJr
CB 13Steve CorsonJr
LB 45Tom EnlowJr
LB Danny FrazierFr
LB 56Brian HansenSo
DE 89Jeff HarrisJr
DB 16Steve HartmannSo
DE Greg HeadJr
CB 27Tony HernandezSr
DT 80Mekeli IeremiaSr
DE 93Conrad JepsonSo
LB 37Gary KamaJr
CB 15David McKeeSo
DE 83 Mat Mendenhall So
LB 82Larry MillerJr
S 47John NealJr
DT 71Gary PetersonSr
DE 96Rick PinckardSo
DB 19Bill PopinSr
CB 5Bob PrestedSo
LB 49John RamageSo
LB 41 Glen Redd So
DB Bill SchoepflinFr
DT 73Bob SimmermanJr
DT 79Doug StrombergSo
S 46Mark SwensonJr
DT 60Jeff TaggartSo
DB 18Mark TerranovaSr
DE 91Ross VarnerJr
S 9Ron VelascoJr
DE 94Dennis WebbSo
LB 36Rod WoodJr
Special teams
Pos.#NameClass
K 3Dev DukeSr
K 2Brent JohnsonSo
K Craig WingSo
P 9 Jim McMahon Fr
Head coach
Coordinators/assistant coaches
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  • Injury icon 2.svg Injured
  • Redshirt.svg Redshirt

Roster
Last update: 2018-Dec-25

Statistics

Passing

PlayerCompAttYardsTDINT
Marc Wilson 1642772,4182418
Gifford Nielsen 981561,167163
Jim McMahon 101610311
Terry McEwen333200
Scott Phillips122901
Dan Hartwig12900
John VanDerWouden01000

[25]

Awards

[25]

NFL draft

PlayerPositionRoundPickNFL club
Todd Christensen Tight end256 Dallas Cowboys
Gifford Nielsen Quarterback373 Houston Oilers
Mekeli IeremiaDefensive end6158 Chicago Bears
Lance ReynoldsTackle9241 Pittsburgh Steelers

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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. ↑ "B.Y.U. batters K-State". The Kansas City Star. September 11, 1977. Retrieved October 19, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
  4. ↑ "Nielsen, Cougars bomb Aggies by 65–6". The Salt Lake Tribune. September 25, 1977. Retrieved October 19, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
  5. ↑ "BYU bombs Lobos". Tucson Citizen. October 1, 1977. Retrieved October 19, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
  6. ↑ "Cougars beaten by Oregon State". Casper Star-Tribune. October 9, 1977. Retrieved October 19, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
  7. ↑ "BYU's Wilson climbs in 'Nielsen ratings'". Colorado Springs Gazette-Telegraph. October 16, 1977. Retrieved October 19, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
  8. ↑ Chuck Harkins (October 23, 1977). "Cougars top fumbling Pokes, 10–7". Casper Star-Tribune. p. 22. Retrieved October 19, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
  9. ↑ "Cougars take easy win over Arizona". The Ogden Standard-Examiner. October 30, 1977. Retrieved October 19, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
  10. ↑ "BYU's Wilson passes record 571 yards". The Los Angeles Times. November 6, 1977. Retrieved October 19, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
  11. ↑ "Devils stop Cougar offensive machine". The Daily Herald. November 13, 1977. Retrieved October 19, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
  12. ↑ "BYU rallies for 30–27 win over Long Beach". The Fresno Bee. November 20, 1977. Retrieved October 19, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
  13. ↑ "BYU passes ambush El Paso". The Sunday Oregonian. November 27, 1977. Retrieved October 19, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
  14. ↑ "1977 Brigham Young Cougars Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved October 19, 2024.
  15. ↑ Miller, Hack (September 26, 1977). "Cougars' air attack keeps Ags grounded". Deseret News. (Salt Lake City, Utah). p. 4B.
  16. 1 2 Conrad, John (October 9, 1977). "Beavers put BYU down, and Nielsen out". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). p. 1C.
  17. ↑ "Beavers end BYU win skein". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. October 9, 1977. p. D3.
  18. 1 2 Benson, Lee (October 10, 1977). "Nielsen out as breaks stun Y." Deseret News. (Salt Lake City, Utah). p. 4B.
  19. ↑ "Gifford Nielsen - Football".
  20. ↑ Conrad, John (October 8, 1977). "Can the Beavers ground Brigham Young's pilot?". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). p. 2B.
  21. ↑ Benson, Lee (October 8, 1977). "BYU reputation arrives at OSU ahead of Cougars". Deseret News. (Salt Lake City, Utah). p. 2D.
  22. 1 2 "BYU's Wilson sets pass record". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). wire service reports. November 6, 1977. p. 10C.
  23. ↑ "Adams sparkles". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. November 12, 1972. p. 6C.
  24. ↑ Ferguson, George (November 13, 1972). "Adams' hot hand buries Utah". Deseret News. (Salt Lake City, Utah). p. 8B.
  25. 1 2 1977 football season – CougarStats
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