1977 BYU Cougars football team

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 LaVell Edwards (6th season)
Offensive coordinator Doug Scovil
Defensive coordinator Dick Felt
Home stadium Cougar Stadium
1977 WAC 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 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. BYU was invited to the 1976 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.


Schedule

Date Opponent# Rank# Site Result Attendance
September 10 Kansas State* Cougar Stadium • Provo, Utah W 39–0   35,196
September 24 at Utah State* No. 20 Romney Stadium • Logan, Utah (Old Wagon Wheel) W 65–6   20,103
September 30 New Mexico No. 15 Cougar Stadium • Provo, Utah W 54–19   33,352
October 8 at Oregon State* No. 13 Parker Stadium • Corvallis, Oregon L 19–24   33,965
October 15 Colorado State Hughes Stadium • Fort Collins, Colorado W 63–17   29,110
October 22 at Wyoming No. 17 War Memorial Stadium • Laramie, Wyoming W 10–7   25,398
October 29 Arizonadagger No. 17 Cougar Stadium • Provo, Utah W 34–14   33,621
November 5 Utah No. 14 Cougar Stadium • Provo, Utah (Holy War) W 38–8   34,208
November 12 at No. 17 Arizona State No. 13 Sun Devil Stadium • Tempe, Arizona L 13–24   58,295
November 19 Long Beach State* No. 17 Cougar Stadium • Provo, Utah W 30–27   21,322
November 26 at UTEP No. 18 Sun Bowl • El Paso, Texas W 68–19   7,800
*Non-conference game. daggerHomecoming. #Rankings from AP Poll.

[1]

Roster

1977 BYU Cougars football team roster
Players Coaches
Offense
Pos.#NameClass
TE 85 Clay Brown Fr
FB 33 Todd Christensen Sr
T 72 Nick Eyre Fr
RB 36 Eric Lane Fr
QB 9 Jim McMahon Fr
QB 14 Gifford Nielsen Sr
QB 6 Marc Wilson So
 Defense
Pos.#NameClass
DE 83 Mat Mendenhall So
LB 41 Glen Redd Fr
 Special teams
Pos.#NameClass
Head coach
Coordinators/assistant coaches
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  • Injured
  • Redshirt

Roster

Staff

Head Coach: LaVell Edwards

Assistants: Norm Chow (WR), Dick Felt (DC/DB), Garth Hall (RB), Dave Kragthorpe (Ast HC/OL), Mel Olsen (JV Coordinator), Tom Ramage (DL), Doug Scovil (OC/QB), Fred Whittingham (LB)

[1]

Game summaries

Utah State

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. The BYU players were actually cheered by the Utah State fans as they left field.[2]

Oregon State

Starting quarterback Gifford Nielsen injured his knee, ending his collegiate career. He was replaced by Marc Wilson.[3]

Utah

Utah at #13 BYU
1 234Total
Utah 0 260 8
• BYU 17 0021 38

BYU's Marc Wilson threw for 571 yards, breaking the single-game NCAA record set by Utah State's Tony Adams in 1972. Wilson was pulled with two minutes left but put back in and completed three passes, including a touchdown to John VanDerWouden, to set the record, 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

[1]

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

[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 1977 football season – CougarStats
  2. ↑ "Cougars' Air Attack Keeps Ags Grounded." Miller, Hack. Deseret News. 1977 Sept 26.
  3. ↑ https://byucougars.com/athlete/football/13752/Gifford-Nielsen
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