Editor's note: Ninth in a series exploring BYU's 1984 national football championship.
Forty years have passed, and still hardly a week goes by, sometimes hardly a day, when Robbie Bosco doesn't hear about it. From passersby on the street, from reporters, from incoming freshmen who weren't born when it happened, from outright strangers who hear the surname and put two and two together — are you that Bosco? The quarterback who won the national championship?
Since he's lived in Provo and worked for BYU in the athletic department for most of those 40 years, minus the two seasons he was in the employ of the Green Bay Packers , the attention and notoriety is no more surprising than it is unexpected. It comes with the territory. People like to cling to the past, especially this past.
And yet, amid all the attaboys, the pats on the back, the "can we take a selfie?" requests, no one gets very far congratulating Bosco before he deflects the adulation away from him and toward those who paved the way.
"No way what happened in 1984 happened without those guys who came first," he says. "We don't become national champions without Gary Sheide, Gifford Nielsen, Marc Wilson, Jim McMahon, Steve Young and the great players that played on those teams."
By the time Bosco took the reins in 1984, the system was firmly in place. A dozen years had already passed since the launching of the most significant offensive revolution in college football since — maybe ever.
Like most revolutions, this one began quietly enough. It all started when a football coach nearly ran his car into the Snake River outside Rexburg, Idaho.
The man's name was Don Rydalch, coach at what was then known as Ricks College and is now BYU-Idaho. The newly hired head coach at Brigham Young University, LaVell Edwards, had talked Rydalch into joining the staff he was putting together over the winter of 1971-72. He wanted Rydalch to come to Provo and set up his offense.
Rydalch, a former University of Utah quarterback whose Ricks teams threw the football as much as a third of the time, had barely left Rexburg when a northbound car skidded on ice on the Lorenzo Bridge, hitting his Ford sedan head-on and sending him to the hospital. He took it as a sign he wasn't supposed to leave.
Left without a key offensive coach and spring practice looming, Edwards hired an unproven 27-year-old former All-American quarterback who was coaching the freshman team at the University of Tennessee named Dewey "The Swamp Rat" Warren to handle the BYU offense. Warren, who had played one season for a pass-oriented coach in the NFL named Bill Walsh, didn't want to pass some of the time — he wanted to pass all the time. The basic idea was being able to turn every running play into a passing play. The Swamp Rat, as it turned out, was the first in a chain of quarterback whisperers who would pass through Provo over the next decade, dramatically changing the way college football looked at the forward pass, and at BYU.
Dewey Warren gave way to Doug Scovil who gave way to Ted Tolllner who gave way to Mike Holmgren who gave way to Norm Chow. These coaches were the architects of the modern college passing game born and raised in Provo, Utah — outside-the-box tacticians willing to depart from 100 years of major college tradition by using the pass, not the run, as a team's primary offensive weapon. Edwards was the constant in the experiment, the coach with the vision and the sense to keep his mad scientists happy and stay out of their way. (Two other assistant coaches, Dwain Painter and Wally English, worked with the QBs at BYU during this time frame, although neither enthusiastically embraced the pass and didn't stay long.)
Placed on a traditional line chart, a graph of BYU football success from 1973 through the 1984 national championship season looks like a snapshot of Apple stock. The growth was exponential, the trend relentlessly upward. For the first time in history, people started complaining about BYU, a school that had just 16 winning seasons in its first 47 years playing football, running up the score instead of the other way around.
To fuel the experiment, quarterbacks largely uncoveted by others kept arriving as if via conveyor belt — players who embraced the system and who the system embraced right back. Gary Sheide came first. He was the guinea pig, the first to see if this pass-first approach might actually work.
Sheide arrived in Provo a largely unknown quantity (due to injuries, he'd started just six games in two seasons at Diablo Valley Community College in California, but all six were wins). After some fits and starts, by the time his two seasons were finished, he and the forward pass had taken BYU to its longest winning streak in school history (seven straight to close out the 1974 regular season), its first-ever appearance in the AP rankings (No. 20 on Nov. 25, 1974) and, after 48 years of trying, its first bowl game when the Cougars were invited to play in the Fiesta Bowl. Sheide was awarded the Sammy Baugh Trophy given to the nation's top quarterback, finished eighth in Heisman Trophy balloting and was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals .
Next came Gifford Nielsen, a hometown kid who dreamed all his life of one day playing for the Cougars — on the basketball team. Nielsen played varsity basketball for two seasons before joining the football team as a third-string quarterback in 1975, the year after Sheide graduated. Three losses to open that season threatened to bury the pass-first movement then and there, until Nielsen came off the bench in the fourth game and completed 10 of 12 second-half passes to engineer a 16-15 comeback win over New Mexico.
With Nielsen passing, BYU would win 18 of its next 23 games. In his junior year, Nielsen threw 29 touchdown passes (eight more than anyone else in the nation), led the Cougars to their first nine-win season (9-3) and their highest ranking yet (No. 17). He finished sixth in Heisman voting. When the Cougars outscored their first three opponents at the beginning of Nielsen's senior year by a combined 158-25 and climbed to a No. 13 national ranking, "Giff Nielsen" and "Pass U" were the trending topics in the college sports world heading into a nationally televised game at Oregon State — until Nielsen blew out his knee. The Cougars lost, 24-19.
That set the stage for Nielsen's understudy, Marc Wilson, who in his first start the following week at Colorado State threw a school-record seven touchdown passes and ran for an eighth. A Latter-day Saint kid from Seattle , Wilson broke his jaw early in his last season of high school and, like his predecessors, wasn't heavily recruited. The ease with which he stepped into Nielsen's shoes added considerable credibility to BYU's unconventional passing approach that kept getting revved up higher and higher by Scovil (who had arrived on the coaching staff a year earlier).
By Wilson's senior year in 1979, the Cougars were throwing the football 60% of the time en route to an 11-0 regular-season record and a No. 9 national ranking (BYU's first time in the top 10). Only a last-second loss to Indiana in the Holiday Bowl marred what would have been a perfect year. Among several NCAA records Wilson set was the all-time high for most yards total offense. He finished third in Heisman voting, won the Sammy Baugh Award, was a consensus first-team All-American and was taken 15th overall in the first round of the NFL draft by the Raiders.
BYU quarterback Marc Wilson looks for an open receiver during game Dec. 8, 1979. | Deseret News Archives
If that appeared unsurpassable, look at what Jim McMahon did in 1980 and 1981. A competitive junkie who once begged his coaches to pop his separated shoulder back into place so he could keep playing, McMahon moved from California to Utah to play his final two years of high school football just up the road from the BYU campus in Roy. McMahon came to BYU expressly because he wanted to throw the football, and because he didn't get an offer from Notre Dame, the school he really wanted to play for.
He was the team punter as he bided his time, impatiently, until Wilson's eligibility was up. (In 1978, with Wally English calling plays in his lone season coaching at BYU, Wilson and McMahon split QB duties, resulting in one of BYU's least productive, and most tumultuous, seasons of the Edwards era. The next year McMahon redshirted.) After losing the first game in 1980, McMahon took the Cougars on a 17-game winning streak that included one of the greatest comebacks in college football history in the 1980 Holiday Bowl.
In McMahon's two seasons, BYU's record was 22-3. In his senior year, he passed for more yards and touchdowns than anyone in major college history, setting and resetting 18 NCAA records (he surpassed Marc Wilson's two-year-old total offense record by 1,127 yards — almost 100 yards a game). When the dust had settled, NCAA statistician Jim Van Valkenburg declared, "What Jim McMahon did is comparable to what Babe Ruth did in baseball. No quarterback in the history of college football has had a season like it. Ever."
BYU quarterback Jim McMahon plays against the University of Utah in November 1981 in Salt Lake City. | Tom Smart
McMahon was a consensus All-American, won the Sammy Baugh Award and the newly instituted Davey O'Brien Award, also given to the nation's top quarterback; finished third in Heisman balloting and was the fifth player taken in the NFL draft, by the Chicago Bears .
Watching all this was McMahon's backup, Steve Young, a quarterback from Connecticut who ran the wishbone in high school, barely got a scholarship to BYU, and started out so far down the QB depth chart the coaches tried to talk him into playing defensive back. BYU finished 20-5 in Young's two seasons, his career ending on an 11-game winning streak. He set 13 NCAA records during his 11-1 senior season as the Cougars finished No. 7 in the polls, the program's highest ranking ever.
The 1983 BYU team was the most prolific offense in NCAA history, averaging a record 584.2 yards per game while outscoring opponents by a combined 505-244. Young won the Baugh and O'Brien trophies, by now a rite of fall for a Cougar quarterback, was a consensus first-team All-American, finished second in Heisman voting and signed a $40 million dollar contract with the Los Angeles Express of the upstart (and short-lived) United States Football League.
BYU quarterback Steve Young delivers a pass during game against Air Force in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
All that was what Robbie Bosco was replacing when he emerged as the starting BYU quarterback in 1984: five All-American quarterbacks in 11 years, 10 conference championships, a 75% winning percentage, a constant presence in the national polls and, perhaps most flattering of all, other schools were starting to play like BYU. (Penn State and Miami , the national champions in 1982 and 1983, averaged 31 and 35 passes a game, the first time in 114 years a national champion threw the ball more than 30 times — although still below BYU's per-game averages in the high 40s.)
Bosco came with high expectations. A known quantity after winning national punt-pass-and-kick competitions as a youth, he was nicknamed the Roseville Rocket in high school — because he came from Roseville, California, and had a reputation for throwing the ball hard. With a multitude of scholarship offers to consider, he had the luxury to wait and see where a prized Latter-day Saint quarterback recruit, Sean Salisbury, decided to go to college before he made his decision. When Salisbury chose USC, Bosco, who was not of the faith, chose BYU.
How did he feel taking over from five consecutive All-Americans who had turned BYU into a perennial offensive juggernaut in college football?
In a word: petrified.
Before his first start, against third-ranked Pittsburgh on the road, "I didn't even want to get out of bed," Bosco confesses. "It almost felt overwhelming, following those All-Americans. I didn't want to be the one who broke the string."
Ironically, it was BYU's defense that got him over his first-game jitters.
"I hadn't realized our defense was that good," remembers Bosco. "We'd been going up against them every day during fall camp. When I realized Pitt's defense wasn't as good as ours I thought, OK, this just got a bit easier."
After upsetting Pitt, the Cougars, unranked to start the season, made their poll debut at No. 13 and the race was on. The next week, following a convincing win over Baylor in Provo, they moved into the top 10 and never left.
"We'd learned from the teams that came before us," says Bosco. "We'd seen how hard it was to go undefeated. Those great McMahon teams, the year Marc Wilson's team came within a field goal of doing it (not to mention Steve Young's nearly unblemished season the year before). That could have happened to us. There were three or four games we could have just as easily lost. But we knew we had a chance to do something that hadn't been done."
For all the amazing things his predecessors had accomplished, they hadn't accomplished this.
"It's something that will never change, never go away," says Bosco of "a really magical season" that 40 years ago took the BYU Cougars to college football's highest rung.
"I'll never get tired of talking about it," he says, "I'll never get tired of having people bring up the national championship. It's an amazing piece of history that I got to be a part of. I get to take credit for something a lot of people and a lot of years went into building."
BYU quarterback Robbie Bosco celebrates with his team after winning the Holiday Bowl in San Diego on Dec. 21, 1984. | Ravell Call
At left, Vai Sikahema of BYU makes a run during the Holiday Bowl in San Diego, California, December 21, 1984. | Deseret News
Glen Kozlowski joins the crowd for "high fives" following a touchdown against UTEP. November 3, 1984, Provo, Utah. | Ravell Call
BYU football players and coaches react to the announcement of BYU's number 1 ranking on November 19, 1984 in Provo, Utah. | Ravell Call
l-r: BYU's Glen Kozlowski and Mark Bellini celebrate a TD reception by Bellini during the football game against Air Force in Colorado Springs, Colorado. October 20, 1984. | Ravell Call
Robbie Bosco of BYU, at left, evades a tackler during a football game against UTEP, November 3, 1984 in Provo, Utah. | Ravell Call
BYU's Mark Allen (22) goes up against a UTEP player for the ball. November 3, 1984, Provo, Utah. | Ravell Call
BYU's Louis Wong, left, and Mark Bellini celebrate during a football game against UTEP, November 3, 1984 in Provo, Utah. | Ravell Call
Left to right; Tim Herrmann, Robbie Bosco, Kyle Morrell (seated) and Marv Allen, four members of the BYU 1984 National Championship football team. Thursday, July 2, 2009. | Stuart Johnson
BYU's Kelly Smith and teammates celebrate the win over Wyoming in NCAA football, October 13, 1984. | Ravell Call
Robbie Bosco of Brigham Young University throws a left-handed pass against Wyoming. Provo, Utah, October 13, 1984. | Ravell Call
BYU football players react to the anouncement of BYU's number 1 ranking on November 19, 1984 in Provo, Utah. l-r: Kelly Smith, Sam Oramas, Adam Haysbert, Scott Robinson, Mark Allen and Larry Hamilton. | Ravell Call
BYU quarterback Robbie Bosco throws a pass during the Holiday Bowl in San Diego, California, December 21, 1984. | Ravell Call
BYU quarterback Robbie Bosco celebrates after his team won the Holiday Bowl in San Diego, California, December 21, 1984. | Ravell Call
BYU Coach LaVell Edwards walks the sidelines during the football game against Air Force in Colorado Springs, Colorado. October 20, 1984. | Ravell Call
BYU quarterback Robbie Bosco, left, tries to evade an Air Force tackler during the football game against Air Force in Colorado Springs, Colorado. October 20, 1984. | Ravell Call
BYU's Blaine Fowler makes a run during the Holiday Bowl. December 21, 1984, San Diego, California. | Ravell Call
BYU quarterback Robbie Bosco celebrates after his team won the Holiday Bowl in San Diego, California, December 21, 1984. | Ravell Call
BYU coach LaVell Edwards watches from the sidelines during the Holiday Bowl. December 21, 1984, San Diego, California. | Ravell Call
l-r: BYU's Glen Kozlowski and Mark Bellini celebrate a TD reception by Bellini during the football game against Air Force in Colorado Springs, Colorado. October 20, 1984. | Ravell Call
BYU Coach LaVell Edwards walks the sidelines during the football game against Air Force in Colorado Springs, Colorado. October 20, 1984. | Ravell Call
Robbie Bosco evades a tackler from Air Force. October 20, 1984, Colorado Springs, Colorado. | Ravell Call
l-r: BYU players Rodney Thomas and David Neff celebrate during the Holiday Bowl in San Diego, California, December 21, 1984. | Ravell Call
BYU quarterback Robbie Bosco, right, throws a pass in the snow during the football game against Air Force in Colorado Springs, Colorado. October 20, 1984. | Ravell Call
The Y on the mountain east of Provo has a number 1 on it on November 19, 1984. | Ravell Call
BYU's Glen Kozlowski reacts to the announcement of BYU's number 1 ranking on November 19, 1984 in Provo, Utah. | Ravell Call
BYU coach LaVell Edwards watches from the sidelines during the Holiday Bowl. December 21, 1984, San Diego, California. | Ravell Call
BYU quarterback Robbie Bosco is injured during the Holiday Bowl in San Diego, California, December 21, 1984. | Ravell Call
BYU Coach LaVell Edwards reacts to the announcement of BYU's number 1 ranking on November 19, 1984 in Provo, Utah. | Ravell Call
Assistant BYU coach Norm Chow looks on during Saturday's game against Washington at Cougar Stadium, Sept. 6, 1997. | CHUCK WING
BYU quarterback Robbie Bosco, left, tries to evade an Air Force tackler during the football game against Air Force in Colorado Springs, Colorado. October 20, 1984. | Ravell Call
BYU's Blaine Fowler makes a run during the Holiday Bowl. December 21, 1984, San Diego, California. | Ravell Call
Norm Chow a BYU football coach explains and answers questions about BYU football during a class at Education Week. | STUART JOHNSON
BYU's Lakei Heimuli pushes for extra yardage against Wyoming. | Tom Smart
Leon White celebrates BYU's 24-17 victory over Michigan post-game in the Holiday Bowl on Dec. 21, 1984. | Mark Philbrick/BYU
BYU quarterback Robbie Bosco hands off to running back Lakei Heimuli in the Holiday Bowl on Dec. 21, 1984. | Mark Philbrick/BYU
BYU wide receiver Glen Kozlowski goes up for a catch in the Holiday Bowl on Dec. 21, 1984. | Mark Philbrick/BYU
LaVell Edwards holds the trophy in a post-game celebration with the team after BYU beat Michigan in the Holiday Bowl on Dec. 21, 1984. | Mark Philbrick/BYU
BYU quarterback Robbie Bosco goes back to pass in the Holiday Bowl on Dec. 21, 1984. | Mark Philbrick/BYU
The scoreboard shows the final score in BYU's 24-17 win over Michigan in the Holiday Bowl on Dec. 21, 1984. | Mark Philbrick/BYU
The BYU football team celebrates along with coach LaVell Edwards, center, after beating Michigan 24-17 in the Holiday Bowl on Dec. 21, 1984. | Mark Philbrick
BYU quarterback Robbie Bosco walks off the field after the Holiday Bowl on Dec. 21, 1984. | Mark Philbrick
Craig Garrick was the captain of the 1984 BYU national championship team. | Johanna Workman
BYU linebackers Kurt Gouveia (34) and Leon White (41) celebrate after the Cougars' 24-17 win over Michigan in the Holiday Bowl on Dec. 21, 1984. | Mark Philbrick/BYU
BYU quarterback Robbie Bosco sets to pass in the Holiday Bowl on Dec. 21, 1984. | Mark Philbrick/BYU
Coach LaVell Edwards interviews with KSL News Radio 1160 in the post-game celebration after the Cougars defeated Michigan 24-17 in the Holiday Bowl on Dec. 21, 1984. | Mark Philbrick/BYU
Craig Garrick was the captain of the 1984 BYU national championship team. | Johanna Workman
BYU wide receiver Glen Kozlowski signals touchdown during the Cougars' 24-17 victory over Michigan in the Holiday Bowl on Dec. 21, 1984. | Mark Phibrick
Brigham Young University football players celebrate their dramatic victory over Michigan in the Holiday Bowl in San Diego, on Friday, night, Dec. 22, 1984. The 24-17 victory completed an unbeaten season and untied season and a probable national championship. | Reed Saxon
BYU players celebrate after beating Michigan 24-17 in the Holiday Bowl on Dec. 21, 1984. | Mark Philbrick/BYU
Brigham Young University backup quarterback Blaine Fowler escapes an entanglement while trying to get a pass off during the first quarter of their Holiday Bowl game with the University of Michigan, Dec. 21, 1984 in San Diego. Fowler replaced starter Robbie Bosco who was injured in the first quarter. | Lenny Ignelzi
Robbie Bosco gets off a pass over the University of Utah during the 1984 NCAA championship season. | tom smart
Steve Young -BYU
Brigham Young University football coach LaVell Edwards carries the trophy as he is carried off the field following BYU's 24-17 victory over University of Michigan in the Holiday Bowl, Dec. 22, 1984 in San Diego. | Phillip Davies
BYU's Jim McMahon is ready to fire a pass against the University of Utah. | Deseret News Archive
BYU's Gary Sheide prepares to throw against Arizona State on Nov. 9, 1974. | Mark A. Philbrick
BYU's Jim McMahon is one of several Cougar QBs who got injured during their college career. | Mark A. Phibrick/BYU
BYU's Blaine Fowler tries to evade Michigan's Mike Hammerstein during the Holiday Bowl. December 21, 1984, San Diego, California. | Ravell Call
Jim McMahon was one of the top quarterbacks in BYU's history. | Kent Condon
BYU quarterback Robbie Bosco celebrates after his team won the Holiday Bowl in San Diego, California, December 21, 1984. | Ravell Call
Brigham Young University quarterback Jim McMahon plays against the University of Utah in November 1981 in Salt Lake City. | Tom Smart
BYU Quarterbacks online photo gallery: Deseret News publisher Wendell Ashton presents BYU quarterback Marc Wilson with the Deseret News Athlete of the Year Award at halftime of a BYU-Wyoming basketball game on Jan. 19, 1980. Wilson received a five-minute standing ovation from the crowd of 22,218. | Paul Barker, Deseret News
BYU-Arizona State (Arizona State University). 12 Gary Sheide, November 9, 1974 | Mark A. Philbrick
BYU assistant coach Norm Chow, right, offers advice to quarterback Robbie Bosco. | Don Grayston
A wounded left knee forced All-American quarterback Gifford Nielsen from game on Oct. 10, 1977. | Deseret News Archives
In 1984, Robbie Bosco had more pass attempts, completions, yards and touchdowns than any quarterback in the country, a far cry from the offense employed by the Army Black Knights in 2017. | Don Grayston
Brigham Young University quarterback Gary Sheide. He is likely walking off the field after being injured during the Fiesta Bowl in Tempe, Arizona, December 28, 1974. | Don Grayston
While healthy, BYU quarterback Gifford Nielsen was a solid Heisman Trophy bet. | Paul C. Fletcher
Gifford Nielsen was the leading passer in the nation before his injury. Nov. 19, 1977. | Deseret News Archives
BYU quarterback Marc Wilson in action during an East-West game played in Salt Lake City on Jan. 5, 1980. | Deseret News Archives
BYU quarterback Gifford Nielsen. | Paul C. Fletcher
BYU's Marc Wilson scrambles for yards as Indiana linebacker Craig Walls zeros in. | Deseret News Archives
Gifford Nielsen gives advice in passing to an upcoming Japanese signal-caller. Dec. 29.1977. | Lee Benson
BYU vs Arizona. 14 Gifford Nielsen Quarterback hand-off to 33 Todd Christensen. October 29, 1977 | Photography by: Mark Philbrick/B
Gifford Nielsen talks strategy with receiver John VanDerWouden during a game against Utah State. Sept. 27, 1977. | Gerald W. Silver
Gary Sheide, probably about 1974. | Deseret News Archives
BYU quarterback Gifford Nielsen finished the regular season in style, completing 24 passes for 415 yard to rank No. 4 nationally in passing and No. 2 in total offense. Nov. 22, 1976. | Paul Fletcher
Teachers quorum gives rapt attention to their adviser and noted quarterback Gifford Nielsen. Dec. 11, 1976. | Deseret News Archives
Marc Wilson studies his receivers Dec. 8, 1979. | Deseret News Archives
BYU's Jim McMahon is ready to fire a pass to one of his many receivers as University of Utah player tries to maneuver past a defender for a sack. | BYU
BYU quarterback Jim McMahon was honored by the Deseret News during halftime of the BYU-Wyoming basketball game. McMahon was named Utah Athlete of the Year and was presented his award by Deseret News editor and general manager William B. Smart. The crowd of 22,983 eighth largest in Marriott Center history, gave McMahon a rousing standing ovation for his role in leading BYU to a 12-1 football record and Holiday Bowl victory. McMahon set or tied 27 NCAA individual records during the season.Search words: Brigham Young University | Mark Philbrick, BYU
Marc Wilson was honored as Utah Athlete of the year. | Gerald W. Silver
BYU's Gifford Nielsen, rated number 2 in the nation in total offense. Nov. 27, 1976. | Paul C. Fletcher
Gifford Nielsen, the nation's leading college passer, is shown in a game against Utah State in Logan. Oct. 4, 1977. | Associated Press
Jim McMahon says he's fully healthy and ready to play five more years. | AP Photo
All-American quarterback Marc Wilson is BYU's big weapon. | Don Grayston
Joe Montana (16) and Steve Bono, left, talk with offensive coordinator and QB coach mike Holmgren during a work out at training camp. | Associated Press
BYU's Marc Wilson scrambles for yards as Indiana linebacker Craig Walls zeros in.
Marc Wilson third-place finish in Heisman Trophy balloting announced Dec. 3, 1979, made him the biggest vote-getter in the history of Utah college football. | Deseret News Archives
Decked out on the sidelines before the BYU-Utah State game, Jim McMahon looked like he'd just walked out of either Gilly's Tavern or a rodeo. He had on straight-legged jeans, a big sheepskin coat and a brown felt, wide-rimmed cowboy hat.Search words: Brigham Young University | Gerald W. Silver
BYU quarterback Gifford Nielsen. | Deseret News Archives
Darrin Nelson, Left of Stanford University and Jim McMahon, from BYU hold the program of the 1981 NCAA-ABC football Promotional Tour at New York's Plaza Hotel. | AP Photo
Quarterback Robbie Bosco got BYU off and running to a national championship with a 20-14 victory over Pittsburgh in 1984. | Tom Smart
Jim McMahon Sr is all smiles, as his son, Jim McMahon, threw the game winning touchdown. | Deseret News Archive
BYU's Lakei Heimuli (center) is pulled down by a Michigan player during the Holiday Bowl. | O. Wallace Kasteler
Brigham Young University players celebrate after recovering a Michigan fumble in the second quarter of Holiday Bowl in San Diego, on Friday, Dec. 21, 1984. BYU players Kurt Gouveia (34), Kyle Morrell (5), and Larry Hamilton (79). | Associated Press
BYU vs Michigan - Holiday Bowl and National Championship, San Diego, California (CA). 6 Robbie Bosco. 50 Trevor Matich. 57 Robert Anae. | Mark Philbrick, BYU
BYU at Hawaii. 5 Kyle Morrell. | Mark Philbrick, BYU
BYU 1984 Football team | BYU
BYU at Hawaii. 7 Glen Kozlowski. | Mark Philbrick/BYU
Coach Mike Holmgren. Quarterback Coach (QB). August 11, 1984 | Mark Philbrick
BYU's Jim McMahon is ready to fire a pass against the University of Utah. | Deseret News Archive
Jim Mcmahon celebrates with his dad Jim Mcmahon Sr. at the Holiday bowl in 1980. | Deseret News Archive
BYU quarter back Steve Young responds to BYU fans as he departs the field after leading his team to a 37-35 victory over UCLA at the Pasadena Rose Bowl. (1983) | Photo by Doug Pizac
From left, BYU's Jim Herrmann, Robbie Boscoe and Kyle Morrell spend some time on the bench during the fourth quarter against Colorado State. | Tom Smart
Former BYU quarterback Gifford Nielsen is seen in this photo from the Deseret News archives. | Deseret News Archives
Kyle Morrell of BYU (left) breaks up a pass to Ronnie Kelley of Tulsa. | Gerald W. Silver
BYU fans at the Utah State game respond to comments that were made about their chances for a No. 1 ranking. | Tom Smart
Adam Haysbert and Glen Kozlowski mob Kelly Smith after he caught the game winning touchdown pass in the Holiday Bowl. | Tom Smart
With about 30 seconds to play, BYU's Steve Young takes a pass and heads for the goal line in the 1983 Holiday Bowl against Missouri. | Deseret Morning News Archives
BYU football coach LaVell Edwards walks off the field with the 1984 Holiday Bowl trophy. | O Wallace Kasteler
BYU head coach LaVell Edwards holds the 1984 Holiday Bowl trophy high. | Tom Smart
BYU defensive back Mark Allen sees no controversy in the No. 1 issue after the Holiday Bowl. Dec. 25, 1984. | Ravell Call
Steve Young and Great-great Grandfather Brigham Young ham it up on Steve's graduation from BYU law school. | Photo By Deseret News Archive
Dr. Brent Pratley, trainer Marv Robertson, and Dr. Marc Udall carry injured QB Robbie Boscoe off the field during the Holiday Bowl. | Tom Smart
BYU's Adam Haysbert – BYU vs Pitt - 1984 | Photo by Mark A. Philbrick/BYU
BYU's second TD came via this acrobatic grab by Glen Kozlowski. Dec. 22, 1984. Holiday Bowl. BYU 24, Michigan 17. | Deseret Morning News Archives
Kelly Smith of BYU walks off the field after scoring the winning touchdown against Michigan during the Holiday Bowl. | Tom Smart
BYU's Kelly Smith runs against Utah in the 1984 season game. | Tom Smart
Robbie Bosco, plays in the 1984 Holiday Bowl. The Brigham Young University Cougars won the bowl and later, the National Championship. | Ravell Call
1984 BYU National Championship commemorative coin. | ERIC DROTTER
BYU offensive coordinator Norm Chow (left) instructs players during a time-out during their game against Washington. | GARY MCKELLAR
Jim McMahon BYU | Don Grayston
BYU quarterback Kevin Feterik celebrates the touchdown which put them ahead of Washington as Offensive coordinator Norm Chow signals that they will go for two. | GARY MCKELLAR
