1977 BYU Cougars football team explained

Year:1977
Team:BYU Cougars
Sport:football
Conference:Western Athletic Conference
Short Conf:WAC
Coachrank:16
Aprank:20
Record:9–2
Conf Record:6–1
Head Coach:LaVell Edwards
Hc Year:6th
Off Coach:Doug Scovil
Oc Year:2nd
Off Scheme:West Coast
Def Coach:Dick Felt
Dc Year:6th
Def Scheme:3–4
Stadium:Cougar Stadium
Champion:WAC co-champion

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.

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

[3]

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

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

Player Comp Att Yards TD INT
164 277 2,418 24 18
98 156 1,167 16 3
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

[14]

Awards

NFL Draft

See main article: 1978 NFL draft.

Player Position Round Pick NFL club
Tight end 2 56 Dallas Cowboys
Quarterback 3 73 Houston Oilers
Mekeli Ieremia Defensive end 6 158 Chicago Bears
Lance Reynolds Tackle 9 241 Pittsburgh Steelers

Notes and References

  1. News: It might not add up, but Irish are clearly No. 1 . Eugene Register-Guard . (Oregon). AP, UPI . January 4, 1978 . 3C.
  2. News: Notre Dame gets No. 1 tag . Deseret News . (Salt Lake City, Utah) . UPI . January 4, 1978 . F1.
  3. https://byucougars.com/dl/sites/default/files/files/media_guides/m-football/pdf/MG_FB_1977.pdf 1977 BYU Cougars football media guide
  4. News: Cougars' air attack keeps Ags grounded . Deseret News . (Salt Lake City, Utah) . Miller . Hack . September 26, 1977 . 4B.
  5. News: Beavers put BYU down, and Nielsen out . Eugene Register-Guard . (Oregon) . Conrad . John . October 9, 1977 . 1C.
  6. News: Beavers end BYU win skein . Spokesman-Review . (Spokane, Washington) . Associated Press . October 9, 1977 . D3.
  7. News: Nielsen out as breaks stun Y. . Deseret News . (Salt Lake City, Utah) . Benson . Lee . October 10, 1977 . 4B .
  8. Web site: Gifford Nielsen - Football.
  9. News: Can the Beavers ground Brigham Young's pilot? . Eugene Register-Guard . (Oregon) . Conrad . John . October 8, 1977 . 2B.
  10. News: BYU reputation arrives at OSU ahead of Cougars . Deseret News . (Salt Lake City, Utah) . Benson . Lee . October 8, 1977 . 2D.
  11. News: BYU's Wilson sets pass record . Eugene Register-Guard . (Oregon) . wire service reports . November 6, 1977 . 10C.
  12. News: Adams sparkles . Eugene Register-Guard . (Oregon) . Associated Press . November 12, 1972 . 6C.
  13. News: Adams' hot hand buries Utah . Deseret News . (Salt Lake City, Utah) . Ferguson . George . November 13, 1972 . 8B.
  14. 1977 football season – CougarStats