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1984 college football season

1984 Notre Dame Football: Gerry Faust’s Make-Or-Break Season

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The pressure was on for head coach Gerry Faust in his fourth year. His first three years in South Bend had failed to produce a major bowl bid. 1982 and 1983 were marked by November collapses. The 1984 Notre Dame football team had 17 starters coming back and expectations were that they could save the Faust era. But it was not to be.

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Notre Dame was mediocre on defense in 1984. There were a couple good players on the defensive front, from future second-round NFL draft pick to Mike Gann to future NFL starter and ESPN radio personality Mike Golic. But there wasn’t enough around them and the Irish ranked 50th nationally in points allowed.

The offense was better, but the key players still slipped from their 1983 levels. Steve Beuerlein was at quarterback. While his 60% completion rate was excellent by the standards of the time and the 8.3 yards-per-attempt very good, Beuerlein made too many mistakes. The TD-INT ratio was a poor 7/18.

That was partly because the running game did not perform as well as expected. Junior running back Allen Pinkett was still good and ran for over 1,100 yards. But that was nearly 300 yards below his ’83 output. More alarming was that Pinkett’s yards-per-carry dipped from 5.5 to 4.0. An offensive line that had guard Larry Williams and center Mike Kelley both get some notice in the All-American voting just didn’t control the line of scrimmage the way observers expected.

Notre Dame did have a talented group of receives—a future legend in Tim Brown was a freshman and caught 28 passes for 340 yards. Milt Jackson also snagged 28 balls and could stretch the field. Mark Bavaro, a future mainstay with the New York Giants, was the best tight end in the country. Bavaro caught 32 passes for 395 yards and was named 1st-team All-American. But in the end, the Irish offense still ranked only 36th in points scored.

The core of returning starters kept the pollsters high on Notre Dame and the Irish were ranked #8 to start the season. But it didn’t take long for things to come undone and for the voters to cut their losses.

Notre Dame played Purdue to open the season in Indianapolis. The Hoosier Dome had just opened up, with the Colts moving in from Baltimore for their first season in the Midwest. The Irish and Boilermakers put over 60,000 people in the seats and with ND a 19 ½ point favorite, no one was expecting any surprises.

Instead, the Irish turned the ball over five times and lost 23-21. They fell out of the rankings entirely. The make-or-break year was off to a bad start.

Notre Dame bounced back with a win over mediocre Michigan State, 24-20 in East Lansing. The Irish blasted lowly Colorado 55-14 and climbed back into the polls at #19. A 16-14 escape at a poor Missouri team was alarming, but the Irish were still 3-1 and up to #16 nationally.

But the tough portion of the schedule was ahead. It started with a visit from Miami, the defending national champion. Notre Dame lost 31-13. Air Force came to South Bend next. The Falcons would give Faust fits throughout his tenure. Even though head coach Ken Hatfield had left for Arkansas and was replaced by Fisher DeBerry, the results were the same. Air Force won 21-7.

Never before had a Notre Dame team lost three consecutive home games. South Carolina was ranked #11 and they came in next. The Irish led 26-14 into the second half before the defense collapsed. A 36-32 loss to a team on its way to a 10-1 season gave the ’84 Notre Dame team a dubious place in the history books.

The previous two years had seen Notre Dame wait until November to have their three-game losing streaks. If the pattern continued, this 1984 season was set to get really ugly. Instead, as happened so often during Faust’s tenure, his teams kept fighting at a time when others might have quit.

A road trip to seventh-ranked LSU had the sharks in the water, circling the Notre Dame head coach. To the consternation of the Bayou crowd, Pinkett ran for 162 yards on 40 carries and the offensive line played its best game of the year. The Irish won 30-22 and Faust got on the cover of Sports Illustrated with the quote “I’m Gonna Make It!”

And his kids kept battling. They avoided a letdown in a trip to the Meadowlands to play a subpar Navy team. Notre Dame won 18-17. Penn State, having an uncharacteristically down year came to South Bend and the Irish delivered a 44-7 blasting. The regular season ended with a road trip to play Rose Bowl-bound USC. Notre Dame won that one too, 19-17.

It was enough to put the Irish in the rankings at #17 and get an Aloha Bowl bid to play 10th-ranked SMU. In a good football game. Notre Dame trailed 27-20 and then drove to the Mustang 17-yard line in the final minute. But Beuerlein was having an erratic game, going 11/23 for 144 yards. On fourth down he overthrew a wide open Jackson in the end zone. The season ended with a loss.

The strong November push was heartening, but this was still Notre Dame and four years in a row without a major bowl invite was not going to cut it. Faust was pressured by the athletic department to resign, but university higher-ups were committed to honoring his full five-year contract. Faust chose to come back for 1985. But things only got worse in that final season and the era came to an end

1984 Ohio State Football: A Return To The Rose Bowl

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Ohio State had missed the New Year’s stage for three straight years after their meeting with USC following Earle Bruce’s electric first season of 1979. The Buckeye program restored a little momentum in 1983 when they reached the Fiesta Bowl and won it. The 1984 Ohio State football edition got back to the Rose Bowl.

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Bruce returned an excellent running back in Keith Byars to build the offense around. Byars rushed for 1,764 yards and did so with a 5.2 yards-per-carry average. He had the most carries of any back in the Big Ten, the most yards and his YPA was still third. Byars’ 22 touchdowns were twice as many as the next man on the list.

He finished second in the Heisman Trophy voting to Boston College quarterback Doug Flutie. It was a distant second, as Flutie had a dominant regular season and then a magical finish with his legendary desperation pass to beat Miami in the finale. But it’s worth noting that Byars was the runner-up by a landslide as well, easily outpacing candidates like Miami quarterback Bernie Kosar, and BYU signal-caller Robbie Bosco, who posted huge numbers for the eventual national champion.

The offensive line was anchored by Jim Lachey, an All-American and future NFL mainstay with the Washington Redskins. Lachey would become one of the last of the “Hogs” and be an integral part of the franchise’s 1991 team that won the Super Bowl. As a diehard Redskins fan myself, I wore Lachey’s #79 in my Wednesday Night men’s basketball league over twenty years later, making me perhaps the only basketball player in the history of civilization to wear #79. But I digress.

Another future NFL legend in Cris Carter was at wide receiver, and he finished with 41 catches for 648 yards, the latter good for sixth among Big Ten receivers. Mike Lanese wasn’t far behind at 41/618 respectively. John Woolridge had 633 receiving yards of his own, as quarterback Mike Tomczak spread the ball around.

Tomczak would go on to a long NFL career, and he had a solid season in 1984. The completion percentage was a sharp 59%, he threw for nearly 2,000 yards and his 8.6 yards-per-pass was second in the conference.

Ohio State opened the season ranked #7, but they didn’t play well in a 22-14 home win over lowly Oregon State and slipped to #9. A bounce back win over Washington State—led by quarterback Mark Rypien, the man whose blind side Lachey would protect in the NFL—was a 44-0 rout and upsets elsewhere had the Buckeyes up to #5.

A home showdown with #14 Iowa was next and Ohio State was dominant. Byars ran for two touchdowns and even threw a 35-yard scoring pass. The Buckeyes had a 31-14 lead by the second quarter and they won 45-26. When they followed it up with a 35-22 win at Minnesota, in their first year under Lou Holtz, Ohio State was up to #2 in the nation.

But a trip to Purdue quickly undid the national title push. The Boilermakers had a future NFL quarterback of their own in strong-armed Jim Everett and they upset the Buckeyes 28-23. Ohio State was down to #8 in the polls.

They rallied with a 45-38 win over defending conference champion Illinois, and then won at Michigan State 23-20. But a 16-14 loss at Wisconsin closed October and seemed to dim the Rose Bowl hopes. All three opponents, the Illini, Spartans and Badgers were good teams, but this wasn’t what the Ohio State faithful had in mind.

When November began, Iowa was in first place with a 5-1 record, while Ohio State, Illinois and Purdue were all chasing at 4-2. Michigan, on a disappointing season was 3-3, as was Wisconsin.

Ohio State crushed winless Indiana 50-7 and then started to get some breaks, mainly thanks to the very Wisconsin team that had beaten them. The Badgers played Iowa to a tie and the conference lead was cut to a half-game. Ohio State then smoked two-win Northwestern 52-3 and Wisconsin did an even bigger favor by knocking off Purdue. Iowa was upset by Minnesota and suddenly the Buckeyes were in control.

Coming into the season finale with Michigan, Ohio State and Illinois were tied for first at 6-2. But the Illini were on probation and ineligible for the Rose Bowl. In either case, the Buckeyes owned the tiebreaker, so the stakes for them were the same—beat the Wolverines and go to Pasadena. The Illinois probation only meant that it would be Iowa as the beneficiary if Ohio State should lose.

Michigan, predictably, came out with one of their best efforts of a lackluster 6-5 season. Byars couldn’t find any running room in the first half and even going into the fourth quarter, Ohio State led just 7-6.

The great running back was able to get loosened up after halftime though, rushing for 71 yards after intermission and by the fourth quarter that took its tool. Tomczak converted a big 3rd-and-12 to key one touchdown drive, the Buckeyes added another score and won 21-6. They were going to the Rose Bowl.

A vintage opponent in USC was waiting. But this anything but a vintage Trojan team. They had four losses, including their final two regular season games to UCLA and Notre Dame. The Buckeyes were ranked #6 and smelling the top five national finish that would surely be theirs if they won the game.

Except it didn’t work out that way. Even though Ohio State kicker Rich Spangler set a Rose Bowl record in the first half with a  52-yard field goal, those were their only points of the first half. The Buckeyes dug themselves a 17-3 hole. They kept fighting and when Tomczak hit Carter on an 18-yard touchdown pass midway through the fourth quarter, the deficit was cut to 20-17. But the comeback bid ended there.

Little did anyone know that Bruce had only three years left in Columbus. He won the Cotton Bowl two years later, but the angst of the faithful, fueled by losses like this one in Pasadena where his team was a favorite, pushed him out the door in 1987. Ohio State did not make it back to the Big Ten’s most prestigious stage until 1996.

The Magical Major Bowl Run Of 1984 Boston College Football

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The 1984 Boston College football season was a magical ride, one whose biggest moment lives on as perhaps the most famous sports play of the modern era. It was also the best team the program has produced since their undefeated season under Frank Leahy in 1940.

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Doug Flutie was coming into his senior year at quarterback and in 1984 he was outstanding in every way for BC. Flutie completed 58 percent of his passes, an extremely good number in this era, especially considering how often the offense threw the ball. He finished with over 3,600 passing yards and a dazzling 30/13 TD-INT ratio. He was fully deserving of his landslide Heisman Trophy selection.

Gerald Phelan would catch Flutie’s most famous pass and Phelan caught a lot more, leading the team with 71 catches and 1,065 receiving yards. Troy Stradford was a solid threat running the football with 862 yard and 5.2 yards a pop. Stradford was also skilled coming out of the backfield as a receiver with 41 catches for over 400 yards.

The Eagle defense was led by All-American defensive back Tony Thurman. They weren’t an overwhelmingly talented team, but this was a program with momentum under head coach Jack Bicknell. He’d gotten them to bowl games in 1982-83, the first time in over forty years and now was aiming for a return to New Year’s Day. BC was ranked #19 coming into the season.

BC opened with a 44-24 tuneup win over Western Carolina and then traveled to play Alabama in a prime-time battle. The Crimson Tide were now two years removed from the leadership of the legendary Bear Bryant, but expectations were still high and ‘Bama was ranked #9.

Boston College dug themselves a 31-14 hole in the third quarter, including giving up a 99-yard kickoff return. Then Flutie started his Heisman campaign in earnest. He ran for one touchdown and threw for another. He completed 19/38 passes for 254 yards. The Eagles won the turnover battle 6-2 and eventually pulled even 31-31. Stradford won the game with 42-yard touchdown jaunt with 3:26 left.

The 38-31 win vaulted BC to #10. This wouldn’t be a very good Tide team by the time all was said and done, as they finished 5-6. But it was a huge marquee win for the Eagles and with top teams falling left and right in the early part of 1984, Boston College was up to #4 by the time they played another game two weeks later.

BC then started a run of games against teams that would win between five and seven games. The Eagles blew out North Carolina 52-20 and got by Temple 24-10. But a road trip to West Virginia resulted in the first loss, a 21-20 nailbiter that pushed Boston College down to #11 in the rankings.

A 35-23 win over Rutgers followed, but BC gave it right back when they went to Penn State, where Joe Paterno was struggling with one of his worst teams to date, and lost 37-30. Beating Army 45-31 and then knocking off Syracuse 24-16, in a game played in Foxboro, got Boston College back on track and had them ranked #10 with the season finale in Miami.

It was the Friday after Thanksgiving and from the BC standpoint, there wasn’t a lot on the line. Heisman ballots were usually turned in by this time and it’s impossible to suggest that Flutie’s hold on the trophy would be impacted by this game. Boston College had already accepted a bid to the Cotton Bowl. For a game that was meaningless, it proved to be as meaningful as you could imagine.

Flutie and Miami counterpart Bernie Kosar put on a passing display for the ages. Flutie threw for 472 yards, while Kosar threw for 447. Over the last quarter-plus there were six lead changes. The fifth of those changes came on a Hurricane touchdown with 28 seconds left that put them on top 45-41. BC got the ball back on their own 20, pushed to midfield and had time for one play.

What happened next became one of the most popular highlights of all-time. Flutie dropped back, launched the ball towards the end zone. Amidst a sea of bodies in the end zone, Phelan caught the pass. It was “The Magic Flutie” and it resulted in a 47-45 win and a lasting legend for both Flutie and Phelan.

The Cotton Bowl was the “home” bowl to the old Southwest Conference. A strange year in the SWC produced a mediocre representative, in four-loss Houston. Combine that with blustery weather in Dallas on New Year’s Day and attendance was the lowest for the Cotton Bowl since 1948. Flutie did not play well, completing just 13/37 passes for 180 yards.

Flutie’s teammates had his back though, with Stradford and #2 running back Steve Strachan muscling for almost 300 yards between them.

Boston College built up a 31-14 lead, but a Pick-6 thrown by Flutie got momentum moving in the other direction and the lead was cut to 31-28. In recent years, BC fans had already seen their basketball team lose a big game to Houston—a regional final in the 1982 NCAA Tournament. Now it seemed like a major bowl win might be slipping away.

But the Eagles went back to Stradford and Strachan and pounded their way to an insurance touchdown and then tacked on one more for icing on the cake. Boston College had shown their versatility, winning a big game when their star quarterback was struggling. The 45-28 win gave them a Top 5 national finish.

The program has had special moments since—giving a Super Bowl-winning head coach in Tom Coughlin his start, along with a good NFL quarterback with Matt Ryan. But BC has not been on the major bowl stage since Doug Flutie and the magic of 1984.

1984 Oklahoma Football: A Return To National Prominence

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After being one of the nation’s top three programs in the 1970s (along with USC and Alabama), the Oklahoma Sooners had slid backward the past three years. They lost four games each year from 1981-83. 1984 Oklahoma football wasn’t seen as likely to reverse the trend, ranking #16 in the preseason polls and behind conference rival Nebraska in national esteem. But the Sooners got an Orange Bowl bid and ended up squarely in the middle of the national championship conversation.

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The talent base wasn’t as dazzling as previous OU editions had been. The only All-American was defensive tackle Tony Casillas. Lydell Carr’s 694 yards led the team and the passing game was as inept as one would expect from a traditional option-first offense.

Danny Bradley only completed 48 percent of his passes, though he did get a decent 7.3 yards-per-pass, thanks to a big-play threat in future NFL tight end Keith Jackson.

Oklahoma beat Stanford 19-7 to start the year and then trounced Pitt 42-10. The Panthers had been ranked #3 in the preseason polls, but an opening home loss to BYU had Pitt down to #17 by the time they hosted OU, and the Panthers would end up a 3-7-1 train wreck. For now, the OU win was seen as impressive enough to boost them to #11.

A 24-6 win over Kansas State came as top teams were starting to fall left and right, and the Sooners rose to #3. It wastime for the annual showdown with Texas and the Longhorns were ranked #1. The game ended in a 15-15 tie, but the tie worked in Oklahoma’s favor—they moved to #2.

OU played poorly in a 12-10 win over a bad Iowa State team and that presaged a 28-11 loss at Kansas, who finished the year 5-6. Oklahoma was now down to 10th in the polls and a national title seemed a longshot. But they picked themselves up, rolled over two lousy teams in Missouri and Colorado by a combined 91-24 and were ranked sixth in the nation as they headed to Nebraska.

The Cornhuskers were atop both the Big Eight and the national polls, and had a 27-game conference winning streak. Nebraska and Oklahoma traded touchdowns in the first half, with the Sooners getting an easy score off a turnover. A field goal early in the fourth quarter helped OU nudge ahead 10-7.

Oklahoma was being outplayed in the general flow of the game. The running game for both teams was basically a wash, neither good nor bad. Bradley was no passing threat at all, throwing for just 58 yards, while the Cornhuskers at least got some movement through the air.

But OU would win the turnover battle 4-3 and they made big defensive stops. Nebraska drove inside the 10-yard line, but was forced to settle for a field goal attempt they missed. And when the Cornhuskers had 4th-and-goal on the 1-yard line with 5:32 left, Oklahoma made one more stop. They tacked on a clinching touchdown and had a 17-7 win.

There was still the matter of playing a home game with Oklahoma State and this one wasn’t exactly a game to overlook. The Cowboys had one of their best teams and were ranked #3 in the country, while Oklahoma was now #2. The winner would have a chance at the national championship.

The rivalry game called Bedlam was tied 14-14 in the third quarter, when two big turnovers made the difference. One set up a Sooner field goal and the other, a muffed punt, produced a clinching touchdown. Oklahoma had a 24-14 win and after a three-year hiatus were back on top of the Big Eight, its accompanying trip to the Orange Bowl.

OU’s opponent was fourth-ranked Washington, but you could be forgiven if you thought it was BYU. The Cougars were ranked #1, but played a weak schedule and then played in the Holiday Bowl (as they were contractually obligated to do) on December 21, barely escaping  6-5 Michigan, 24-17.

While BYU was expected to win the final vote regardless of what happened in the Orange Bowl, Oklahoma still had the sympathies of a large national contingent that thought them a worthier national champ. Switzer openly campaigned for his team as the rightful #1. Perhaps that resulted in the Sooners not being ready at the kickoff.

Washington jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter, before Oklahoma answered with a pair of TDs of their own and kicked a field goal for a 17-14 lead they took into the fourth quarter. But the Huskies ended the game as they had begun—with two touchdown drives. Oklahoma lost 28-17.  

It was still a comeback year for the proud Oklahoma football program. They still finished #6 in the final polls. And they set the stage for what would be a national championship season in 1985.

1984 Washington Huskies: Staking Their Claim For #1

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Don James had turned the Washington program into one of significance, earning three Rose Bowl bids (1977, 1980, 1981) in a Pac-10 long dominated by USC and UCLA. The last couple years had seen Washington come up short of New Year’s Day, settling for Aloha Bowl trips both times. The 1984 Washington Huskies opened the season as an unlikely candidate to return to the New Year’s stage, much less stake a credible claim for the national championship. But that’s exactly what they did.

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Hugh Millen was fairly mediocre at quarterback. The 52% completion rate and 6.1 yards-per-attempt weren’t bad by the standards of the time, but he only threw for 1,051 yards and the TD-INT ratio was 5-9. No receiver put up any notable numbers. Jacque Robinson was a good running back, and his 901 yards were fourth in the conference, but the Huskies weren’t going to win a scoring race with anybody.

Nor were they bursting at the seams with defensive talent. Vestee Jackson, who would eventually have an eight-year run with the Chicago Bears, was a talented cornerback, but other than that, Washington had to win with coaching, discipline and execution.

They opened the season ranked #18 and shutout Northwestern 26-0 to get the year started. The Huskies then paid a visit to Ann Arbor, where Michigan was ranked #3. Washington’s opportunistic style made the difference. They intercepted Wolverine quarterback Jim Harbaugh three times and got five turnovers in all. Leading 10-3 in the third quarter, Millen hit Mark Pattison on a 73-yard touchdown pass to break the game open.

Washington won 20-11 and even though this would prove to be a disappointing Michigan team, one that would go 6-5, the glow of this win had the Huskies zooming up to #9 in the polls.

A 35-7 victory over eventual SWC co-champ Houston followed. Washington then beat Miami-Ohio 53-7 and got by lowly Oregon State 19-7. Washington’s perfect record, combined with chaos at the top of the polls had them suddenly sitting at #2 in the country. On October 13, the Huskies blew out mediocre Stanford 37-15 while Texas and Oklahoma—the teams directly ahead and behind them in the rankings—played to a tie. Washington was now ranked #1.

James’ team won a pedestrian 17-10 decision over an average Oregon team and they beat a pretty good Arizona club 28-12. The Huskies concluded their three-game homestand by beating up two-win Cal 44-14. The stage was set for November 10 at Southern Cal.

USC was ranked #14, thanks to an early loss to LSU, but the Trojans were undefeated in league play. No one else was close enough to catch either Washington or USC, so the winner of this game would clinch the Rose Bowl spot. Washington couldn’t get anything going offensively the entire day, fell behind and their passing game problems were exposed in a 16-7 loss. They slipped to #8.

The Huskies were still in the mix for a major bowl bid even if it wouldn’t be Pasadena. The traditional season finale with Washington State wouldn’t be easy. The Cougars had six wins, they had the Pac-10 MVP in running back Reuben Mayes and quarterback Mark Rypien would one day star at the Washington on the other side of the country—with the Redskins, where he was a Super Bowl MVP.

James had his team ready to go though and they played a good offensive game, winning 38-29 and nudging their way back to #4. The Orange Bowl, needing an opponent for #2 Oklahoma came calling.

The Orange Bowl was at the center of a raging national debate. BYU was ranked #1, but played a weak schedule and then played in the Holiday Bowl (as they were contractually obligated to do) on December 21, barely escaping Michigan 24-17.  Third-ranked Florida had a loss and a tie and was on probation. While BYU was expected to win the final vote, their critics were pointing to the Orange Bowl as the place where the national title should be settled.

The Huskies jumped down the throats of the Sooners with two first-quarter touchdowns. The Sooners answered with a pair of TDs of their own and kicked a field goal for a 17-14 lead. But Millen found Pattison on a 29-yard touchdown pass with a little less than nine minutes to play, putting Washington back on top and they tacked on one more touchdown to seal the 28-17 win.

BYU would win the vote. There are some of us who believe that Washington, with a tougher schedule and more impressive win over the common foe of Michigan, would have been a better choice. But if nothing else, Washington was back into the national conversation. And with the benefit of history we know that James eventually got that elusive national title, sharing the crown with Miami in 1991.

1984 College Football: The Road To The National Championship

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The 1984 college football season was a year of chaos and it started early. Every one of the preseason Top 5 teams had lost a game by the time September was out, and three of those teams—Auburn, Pitt and Clemson would go on to be disappointments. It opened the door for not only a Cinderella national championship. In this blog compilation you’ll read about the following…

*How BYU capitalized on the chaos to ride an undefeated season to the national title and managed to do so while playing a 6-5 Michigan team in the Holiday Bowl on December 21.

*Washington and Oklahoma met in the Orange Bowl and had the backing of the anti-BYU coalition among college football fans. The Huskies won the game, but not the vote.

*No play from this season—nor any other—has stood the test of time like Doug Flutie’s desperation pass to Gerald Phelan that gave Boston College an improbable 47-45 win over Miami on Black Friday. The Eagles were playing some pretty good football before that and already had a Cotton Bowl bid wrapped up. The Hurricanes did okay for themselves as well and went to the Fiesta Bowl.

*Miami lost the Fiesta Bowl to UCLA, was one part of a Pac-10 Power Trio that owned New Year’s Day. Washington was another part of it. And we haven’t gotten to the team that won the conference title. USC finished with three losses due to a tough non-conference slate, but got their first bid to Pasadena in five years.

*Another proud program had been absent the Rose Bowl for five years and that was Ohio State. The Big Ten race itself was a little wild and woolly, with several teams going into November with a shot at Pasadena. The Buckeyes ultimately survived a race with Iowa.

Nebraska had come within one agonizing play of winning the national title in 1983. The Cornhuskers had a chance at redemption in 1984, before losing to Oklahoma. Nebraska went to the Sugar Bowl as a consolation prize. The opponent there was LSU, who was SEC runner-up, but with champion Florida on probation, the Tigers got the nod for New Orleans.

Finally, we come to the unpredictable SWC. It looked like Texas was going to roll to the now-defunct conference’s Cotton Bowl bid before they fell apart in November. It resulted in a packed race that was ultimately won by Houston. It completed a great year for Cougar athletics, as they made their third straight Final Four in basketball in March and went to the Cotton Bowl the following January.

This blog compilation consists of six articles that are posted individual on TheSportsNotebook.com and pulled together and edited. The first article is about BYU. The ensuing five pieces are divided by each major bowl game and look at the path each team took to New Year’s Day. Taken together, the six articles tell the story of the 1984 college football season through the eyes of its best teams.

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The Road To The 1985 Cotton Bowl: Boston College & Houston

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Boston College had a magical year in the 1984 college football season, one whose biggest moment lives on as perhaps the most famous sports play of the modern era. It would be a stretch to call Houston’s year magical, but the Cougars had a lot break right for them on the way to a Southwest Conference title. BC and Houston came together on January 1 at the 1985 Cotton Bowl. Here’s a look back on the paths each team took to Dallas…

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Doug Flutie was coming into his senior year at quarterback and in 1984 he was outstanding in every way for BC. Flutie completed 58 percent of his passes, an extremely good number in this era, especially considering how often the offense threw the ball. He finished with over 3,600 passing yards and a dazzling 30/13 TD-INT ratio. He was fully deserving of his landslide Heisman Trophy selection.

Gerald Phelan would catch Flutie’s most famous pass and Phelan caught a lot more, leading the team with 71 catches and 1,065 receiving yards. Troy Stradford was a solid threat running the football with 862 yard and 5.2 yards a pop. Stradford was also skilled coming out of the backfield as a receiver with 41 catches for over 400 yards.

The Eagle defense was led by All-American defensive back Tony Thurman. They weren’t an overwhelmingly talented team, but this was a program with momentum under head coach Jack Bicknell. He’d gotten them to bowl games in 1982-83, the first time in over forty years and now was aiming for a return to New Year’s Day. BC was ranked #19 coming into the season.

BC opened with a 44-24 tuneup win over Western Carolina and then traveled to play Alabama in a prime-time battle. The Crimson Tide were now two years removed from the leadership of the legendary Bear Bryant, but expectations were still high and ‘Bama was ranked #9.

Boston College dug themselves a 31-14 hole in the third quarter, including giving up a 99-yard kickoff return. Then Flutie started his Heisman campaign in earnest. He ran for one touchdown and threw for another. He completed 19/38 passes for 254 yards. The Eagles won the turnover battle 6-2 and eventually pulled even 31-31. Stradford won the game with 42-yard touchdown jaunt with 3:26 left.

The 38-31 win vaulted BC to #10. This wouldn’t be a very good Tide team by the time all was said and done, as they finished 5-6. But it was a huge marquee win for the Eagles and with top teams falling left and right in the early part of 1984, Boston College was up to #4 by the time they played another game two weeks later.

BC then started a run of games against teams that would win between five and seven games. The Eagles blew out North Carolina 52-20 and got by Temple 24-10. But a road trip to West Virginia resulted in the first loss, a 21-20 nailbiter that pushed Boston College down to #11 in the rankings.

A 35-23 win over Rutgers followed, but BC gave it right back when they went to Penn State, where Joe Paterno was struggling with one of his worst teams to date, and lost 37-30. Bearing Army 45-31 and then knocking off Syracuse 24-16, in a game played in Foxboro, got Boston College back on track and had them ranked #10 with the season finale in Miami.

It was the Friday after Thanksgiving and from the BC standpoint, there wasn’t a lot on the line. Heisman ballots were usually turned in by this time and it’s impossible to suggest that Flutie’s hold on the trophy would be impacted by this game. Boston College had already accepted a bid to the Cotton Bowl. For a game that was meaningless, it proved to be as meaningful as you could imagine.

Flutie and Miami counterpart Bernie Kosar put on a passing display for the ages. Flutie threw for 472 yards, while Kosar threw for 447. Over the last quarter-plus there were six lead changes. The fifth of those changes came on a Hurricane touchdown with 28 seconds left that put them on top 45-41. BC got the ball back on their own 20, pushed to midfield and had time for one play.

What happened next became one of the most popular highlights of all-time. Flutie dropped back, launched the ball towards the end zone. Amidst a sea of bodies in the end zone, Phelan caught the pass. It was “The Magic Flutie” and it resulted in a 47-45 win, a lasting legend for both Flutie and Phelan.

Houston had joined the Southwest Conference prior to the 1976 season and under the direction of head coach Bill Yeoman, won the league’s Cotton Bowl bid three times in the next four years and went 2-1 in those games. The previous four years had seen a slippage—the Cougars only reached two bowl games from 1980-83 and coming off a 4-7 season, there was no reason to think 1984 would mark a turnaround.

The team’s best player was All-American tight end Carl Hilton, who caught 38 passes for 517 yards, but otherwise the personnel was fairly pedestrian. Quarterback Gerald Landry completed 48 percent of his passes for 6.4 yards-per-attempt, both numbers around the middle of an SWC that few quarterbacks that could throw the ball effectively.

Wide receiver Larry Sheppard also caught 38 passes, and running back Raymond Tate rushed for 864 yards, third-best in the SWC. Defensive back DeWayne Bowden intercepted six passes. On balance though, it wasn’t a great roster and Houston would never be ranked at any point in the 1984 college football season.

The season began with a 30-17 win over Miami-Ohio, but the Cougars quickly lost to another set of Cougars—those from Washington State, led by future NFL quarterback Mark Rypien, in a 35-7 rout. When Houston dropped a 30-28 decision to woeful Louisville, it looked like another long year was ahead for Yeoman.

Victories over mediocre teams in Baylor (27-17) and Texas A&M (9-7) got the conference schedule off to a good start and then came October 20.

Houston was playing SMU on the road. The Mustangs were ranked #6 in the country, had won the conference in 1982 and finished second in 1983. Houston stunned everyone by blowing the game open, with a 68-yard touchdown pass from Landry to Hilton opening up a 19-point lead. An SMU rally made the score respectable, but the 29-20 win was never in doubt.

The Cougars lost their next two games, falling to Arkansas 17-13 and TCU 21-14, both solid teams that would be in title contention in what was a jam-packed race for Dallas.

As Houston prepared to go to Texas, the Longhorns were leading the way with a 4-0 league mark and a #3 national ranking. TCU was 4-1 in SWC play, while Houston, SMU and Arkansas were all 3-2.

It was fully expected the Cougars would play their way out of the race in Austin on November 10. Instead, the opposite happened. After spotting the Longhorns a 7-0 lead, the Cougars got a field goal back, Landry threw a 79-yard touchdown pass to Anthony Ketchum and Houston built up a 20-17 lead by the fourth quarter.

The Cougars were hawking the ball in the secondary and intercepted five passes on the day. The big one came with the 20-17 lead and Texas driving. Bowden picked one off and took it 62 yards to the house. It was the dagger in a 29-15 win.

Houston had the next week off and watched Texas knock off TCU. It was now the Longhorns still holding the league lead, but a battalion of four two-loss teams (Houston, TCU, Arkansas and SMU) giving chase.

On November 24, Houston didn’t play an impressive game against a subpar Texas Tech team, but they won 24-17. Meanwhile, everything the Cougars could have wished for in the other games broke their way. Texas lost at Baylor. TCU lost at Texas A&M. Even the head-to-head SMU-Arkansas game when Houston’s way—SMU, whom the Cougars held the tiebreaker on, got the win.

It left Houston in a win-and-you’re-in spot for the season finale, and they had the perfect opponent—one of the worst teams in the country in Rice. The Cougars again didn’t dazzle anyone, but they won 38-26. Yeoman had his fourth Cotton Bowl bid and easily his most improbable.

The weather in Dallas on New Year’s Day was blustery and attendance was the lowest for the Cotton Bowl since 1948. Flutie did not play well, completing just 13/37 passes for 180 yards. His teammates had his back though, with Stradford and #2 running back Steve Strachan muscling for almost 300 yards between them.

Boston College built up a 31-14 lead, but a Pick-6 thrown by Flutie got momentum moving in the other direction and the lead was cut to 31-28. In recent years, BC fans had already seen their basketball team lose a big game to Houston—a regional final in the 1982 NCAA Tournament. Now it seemed like a major bowl win might be slipping away.

But the Eagles went back to Stradford and Strachan and pounded their way to an insurance touchdown and then tacked on one more for icing on the cake. Boston College had shown their versatility, winning a big game when their star quarterback was struggling. The 45-28 win gave them to a Top 5 national finish.

Both of these programs have had some special moments since—Houston produced a Heisman Trophy winner in Andre Ware in 1989. Boston College has produced a Super Bowl-winning head coach in Tom Coughlin, several notable national wins and a good NFL quarterback in Matt Ryan. But neither BC, nor Houston, has been on the major bowl stage since their meeting at the 1985 Cotton Bowl.

The Road To The 1985 Rose Bowl: USC & Ohio State

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USC and Ohio State had both been away from Pasadena for what was, by their lofty standards, far too long.  After playing each other following the 1979 season, neither program had been back. Here’s a look back at the paths the Trojans and Buckeyes traveled through the 1984 college football season to a January 1 battle at the 1985 Rose Bowl.

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The Trojans had made one major bowl game in the four years since their last Rose Bowl, a Fiesta Bowl loss to Penn State following the 1981 season. But with Ted Tollner having taken over for John Robinson prior to 1983, the program seemed to be heading in the wrong direction, having gone 4-6-1 in Tollner’s first year.

Consequently, USC opened a season unranked for the first time in twenty years. There was still no shortage of talent though. The linebacking corps was led by Duane Bickett, who went on to win Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year. Future NFL linebacker, defensive coordinator and head coach Jack Del Rio was at another LB spot and he made All-American. Talented sophomore defensive back Tim McDonald would eventually be an All-American himself.

The offense didn’t have the feared running back that the great USC teams of recent lore had offered. Fred Crutcher ran for over 1,100 yards and was certainly a solid runner. But he only averaged 3.8 yards-per-attempt and was more of a workhorse than a true dominant back.

Tim Green was mediocre at quarterback, completing 52% of his passes and getting 6.5 yards-per-attempt. The receiving corps was respectable, with Hank Norman and Joe Cormier each ranking in the top six of the Pac-10 in receiving yards, but on balance, the passing game wasn’t going to frighten anyone.

USC opened the season on September 8 with a tuneup win over Utah State and then had a couple weeks off. With a lot of early upsets in the polls, idle was the right place to be, and by the time the Trojans went to Arizona State on September 22 they had moved to #15 in the polls.

After beating the Sun Devils, USC suffered what looked to be a terrible 23-3 home loss to unranked LSU. While a loss of this magnitude, especially at home, could never be acceptable, LSU did prove to be much better than anyone anticipated, earning a Sugar Bowl berth. Regardless, the Trojans moved back into the land of the unranked.

USC won road games at Washington State and Oregon, both average teams and neither win particularly impressive. A hard-fought 17-14 home win over Arizona and future Trojan coach Larry Smith was more impressive, as the Wildcats were on their way to a seven-win season. USC nudged back into the national rankings at #20.

An easy win over lowly Cal and a pedestrian 20-11 win at Stanford pushed USC back to #14, but more important was the fact they were undefeated in Pac-10 play. It might not have been pretty, but a November 10 home game with #1 Washington had turned into a battle to clinch both a share of the conference title and a Rose Bowl bid.

Trojan placekicker Steve Jordan had a good pedigree—his brother Frank had been a hero for the 1978 team, delivering several clutch kicks, including a game-winner over Notre Dame. Steve didn’t have to come up with those kind of heroics, but he was clutch on this day in the Los Angeles Coliseum.

Jordan nailed a 51-yard field goal to start the scoring and later added another. USC still trailed 7-6 at the half, but a short touchdown run by Crutcher and another Jordan field goal made it 16-7 and the defense took over. They intercepted two passes in the fourth quarter and secured the win that locked up a Rose Bowl return.

USC would still go to Pasadena on a low note. They were trounced by UCLA 29-10, and then lost at home to Notre Dame 19-7. A Trojan head coach had three jobs—beat UCLA, beat Notre Dame and win the Rose Bowl. Tollner had whiffed on the first two, but would still get a chance at the biggest of the three prizes.

Ohio State had missed the New Year’s stage for three straight years after their meeting with USC following the 1979 season. The Buckeye program restored a little momentum in 1983 when they reached the Fiesta Bowl and won it. The returned an excellent running back in Keith Byars to build the offense around.

Byars rushed for 1,764 yards and did so with a 5.2 yards-per-carry average. He had the most carries of any back in the Big Ten, the most yards and his YPA was still third. Byars’ 22 touchdowns were twice as many as the next man on the list.

He finished second in the Heisman Trophy voting to Boston College quarterback Doug Flutie. It was a distant second, as Flutie had a dominant regular season and then a magical finish with his legendary desperation pass to beat Miami in the finale. But it’s worth noting that Byars was the runner-up by a landslide as well, easily outpacing candidates like Miami quarterback Bernie Kosar, and BYU signal-caller Robbie Bosco, who posted huge numbers for the eventual national champion.

The offensive line was anchored by Jim Lachey, an All-American and future NFL mainstay with the Washington Redskins. Lachey would become one of the last of the “Hogs” and be an integral part of the franchise’s 1991 team that won the Super Bowl. As a diehard Redskins fan myself, I continue to wear Lachey’s #79 in my Wednesday Night men’s basketball league, making me perhaps the only basketball player in the history of civilization to wear #79. But I digress.

Another future NFL legend in Cris Carter was at wide receiver, and he finished with 41 catches for 648 yards, the latter good for sixth among Big Ten receivers. Mike Lanese wasn’t far behind at 41/618 respectively. John Woolridge had 633 receiving yards of his own, as quarterback Mike Tomczak spread the ball around.

Tomczak would go on to a long NFL career, ad he had a solid season in 1984. The completion percentage was a sharp 59%, he threw for nearly 2,000 yards and his 8.6 yards-per-pass was second in the conference.

Ohio State opened the season ranked #7, but they didn’t play well in a 22-14 home win over lowly Oregon State and slipped to #9. A bounceback win over Washington State—led by quarterback Mark Rypien, the man whose blind side Lachey would protect in the NFL—was a 44-0 rout and upsets elsewhere had the Buckeyes up to #5.

A home showdown with #14 Iowa was next and Ohio State was dominant. Byars ran for two touchdowns and even threw a 35-yard scoring pass. The Buckeyes had a 31-14 lead by the second quarter and they won 45-26. When they followed it up with a 35-22 win at Minnesota, in their first year under Lou Holtz, Ohio State was up to #2 in the nation.

But a trip to Purdue quickly undid the national title push. The Boilermakers had a future NFL quarterback of their own in strong-armed Jim Everett and they upset the Buckeyes 28-23. Ohio State was down to #8 in the polls.

They rallied with a 45-38 win over defending conference champion Illinois, and then won at Michigan State 23-20. But a 16-14 loss at Wisconsin closed October and seemed to dim the Rose Bowl hopes. All three opponents, the Illini, Spartans and Badgers were good teams, but this wasn’t what the Ohio State faithful had in mind.

When November began, Iowa was in first place with a 5-1 record, while Ohio State, Illinois and Purdue were all chasing at 4-2. Michigan, on a disappointing season was 3-3, as was Wisconsin.

Ohio State crushed winless Indiana 50-7 and then started to get some breaks, mainly thanks to the very Wisconsin team that had beaten them. The Badgers played Iowa to a tie and the conference lead was cut to a half-game. Ohio State then smoked two-win Northwestern 52-3 and Wisconsin did an even bigger favor by knocking off Purdue. Iowa was upset by Minnesota and suddenly the Buckeyes were in control.

Coming into the season finale with Michigan, Ohio State and Illinois were tied for first at 6-2. But the Illini were on probation and ineligible for the Rose Bowl. In either case, the Buckeyes owned the tiebreaker, so the stakes for them were the same—beat the Wolverines and go to Pasadena. The Illinois probation only meant that it would be Iowa as the beneficiary if Ohio State should lose.

Michigan, predictably, came out with one of its best efforts of a lackluster 6-5 season. Byars couldn’t find any running room in the first half and even going into the fourth quarter, Ohio State led just 7-6.

The great running back was able to get loosened up after halftime though, rushing for 71 yards after intermission and by the fourth quarter that took its tool. Tomczak converted a big 3rd-and-12 to key one touchdown drive, the Buckeyes added another score and won 21-6. They were up to #6 in the polls and would go to Pasadena playing for a top five national finish.

The Rose Bowl itself would produce a kicking display. Jordan set a bowl-game record with a 51-yard field goal in the first quarter. That record lasted exactly two quarters—Ohio State counterpart Rich Spangler booted a 52-yard field goal in the third quarter.

USC got a pair of first-half touchdown passes from Green to take control with a 17-3 lead. Ohio Stat crawled their way back and when Tomczak hit Carter on an 18-yard touchdown pass with 7:34 to play, the lead was down to 20-17. But the Trojan defense, with Del Rio winning game MVP honors, held on.

It would be the final Rose Bowl for both head coaches. Tollner reverted to struggling for a couple more years before being fired. Bruce only had three years left in Columbus, including a Cotton Bowl win a couple years down the line, but the angst of the faithful, fueled by losses like this one in Pasadena where his team was a favorite, pushed him out the door in 1987.

The Road To The 1985 Sugar Bowl: Nebraska & LSU

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Nebraska arrived at the 1985 Sugar Bowl on a down note. LSU was thrilled to be there. Here’s a look back at the paths the Cornhuskers and Tigers took through the 1984 college football season to a New Year’s Day meeting that marked the second time in three years they played each other on January 1.

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Tom Osborne’s Nebraska program was coming off the heartbreak to end all heartbreaks, when they came within one play of winning a national title in 1983 before an upset loss to Miami in the Orange Bowl, a game where Osborne eschewed playing for a tie and a sure national title to try and two-point play and go for the win.

Even with the crushing 31-30 loss ending the dream, the Cornhuskers were still riding high. After futilely chasing Oklahoma from 1974-80, Nebraska had won three straight Big Eight titles and had a 27-game conference winning streak. They were the team to beat in their own backyard and they were ranked #2 in the nation to start the 1984 season.

Nebraska had its trademark powerhouse offensive line, led by consensus All-American center Mark Traynowicz. Guard Harry Grimmings also got some All-American mention. The Cornhuskers had a 1,000-yard back in Doug DuBose, and Jeff Smith almost got there with 935 yards.

DuBose and Smith were 1-2 in the Big Eight in rushing, and their path was paved by fullback Tom Rathman, who would have a better NFL career than anyone, going to the San Francisco 49ers and playing with Joe Montana.

Osborne alternated quarterbacks, with Craig Sundberg and Travis Turner splitting duty. Sundberg was the more effective of the two, with a superior completion percentage (65-49) and yards-per-attempt (8.8 to 7.2), but Turner would step up at some key moments in the 1984 season. Defensively, Bret Clark got All-American mention in the secondary, but otherwise no one stood out.

Nebraska pounded mediocre Wyoming 42-7 to start the season and when top-ranked Miami lost at Michigan, the Cornhuskers moved to the top of the polls. They blew out subpar Minnesota 38-7, and then traveled to play eighth-ranked UCLA.

The Bruins had won the previous two Rose Bowls and would make the January 1 Fiesta Bowl this season. The Cornhuskers simply leveled them. Smith and DuBose each cleared the 100-yard threshold, the defense held UCLA to 41 rush yards, got eight quarterback sacks and the final was 42-3. It looked like another steamroller was coming out of Lincoln this season.

But the next week a letdown came and Nebraska dumped a 17-9 decision to a Syracuse team that would only win six games. The Cornhuskers were down to #8 and a coming home date with Oklahoma State to start conference play would be anything but easy.

Oklahoma State was ranked #9 and they would get into the top five and contend for the national title themselves before the season was over. Nebraska couldn’t get its offense in gear, as Sundberg threw three interceptions and was lifted for Turner. The Cornhuskers trailed 3-0 in the fourth quarter.

After a tying field goal early in the final period, punt returner Shane Swanson stepped up with a 49-yard return for a touchdown. With Nebraska playing great defense, they got the ball back and Turner threw a clinching touchdown pass. Nebraska had escaped 17-3. The following week’s 33-23 win over a poor Missouri team wasn’t impressive, but it had the Cornhuskers back in the top five.

Nebraska then rolled through three straight bad teams, Colorado, Kansas State and Iowa State, by a combined score of 130-21. The Cornhuskers then rolled an average team in Kansas—one that had already beaten Oklahoma—by a 41-7 count on November 10. The same day, top-ranked Washington lost to USC and Nebraska had returned to the #1 spot.

Only one game remained and it was with Oklahoma, ranked #6, and it would be in Lincoln. Nebraska simply did not play well on this day, missing three field goals, committing four turnovers and being stopped on 4th-and-goal from the one-yard line with 5:32 left when they trailed 10-7. Once again, the Cornhuskers went for the win and came up short, although in this case, a tie would have been fatal to their national title hopes.

Nebraska slipped to #7 in the polls and when Oklahoma beat Oklahoma State in a 2 vs. 3 battle the following week, the Sooners got the Big Eight’s Orange Bowl bid. The Cornhuskers accepted the nod for the Sugar Bowl.

LSU’s 1983 season couldn’t have gone much different from Nebraska’s. The Tigers had fallen to 4-7, crushing the optimism that had come from their run to the Orange Bowl against the Cornhuskers following the 1982 season. The result was a new head coach.

Bill Arnsparger had been the defensive coordinator for the 1972 Miami Dolphins team that went undefeated. Arnsparger’s defenses helped the Dolphins win another Super Bowl the following year and a brief, but failed try as an NFL head coach, he had returned to the Fish as defensive coordinator and helped them win an AFC title in 1982. Now he was ready to try again as his own boss.

LSU’s offense was led by shifty Dalton Hilliard, whose 1,268 rush yards were second-most in the SEC. Wideout Eric Martin was fourth in the conference in both catches (47) and yards (668). Offensive guard Lance Smith was an All-American and there was a rising star on defense in sophomore linebacker Michael Brooks.

Jeff Wickersham was at quarterback and he threw the ball a lot—more than any other SEC team outside of Vanderbilt—but he didn’t necessarily throw it well. While the 57% completion rate was good, and the 6.9 yards-per-attempt at least decent, Wickersham’s 13 interceptions were the most among SEC quarterbacks.

LSU opened the season, as expected, unranked and started the year at Florida. The Gators were on their way to a big year and quarterback Kerwin Bell ended up as conference MVP. The fact LSU played Florida to a 21-21 tie in Gainesville was a good sign and it would loom large as the year rolled on.

After blowing out Wichita, the Tigers got ready for a Pac-10 parlay against Arizona at home and USC on the road. The Wildcats were a pretty good team that would win seven games. LSU led 3-0 early and was driving for more when an interception inside the 10-yard line got returned the other way and suddenly the Tigers were in a hole. They eventually reclaimed the lead and were hanging on 27-26 when the defense stopped a fourth-down quarterback sneak to preserve the win.

The trip to USC was even more impressive. This was a Trojan team on its way to a Rose Bowl victory and after spotting the home team an early field goal, LSU simply took over and won 23-3. They got onto the national radar, ranked #12 when the next polls came out.

A predictably high-scoring affair with Vandy followed, as LSU won 34-27 at home and nudged up to #10. The Tigers then blew out a good bowl-bound Kentucky team on the road 36-10 and moved up three spots to #7. LSU was undefeated, top teams were falling left and right in 1984 and a national title was a real possibility.

Then Notre Dame came to Baton Rouge. The Irish would end up a seven-win team and this was in the middle of the Gerry Faust era, when the program never reached a major bowl game. Faust was under constant fire, and his team responded for him at LSU’s expense. The Tigers lost 30-22 and then saw the victorious head coach end up on the cover of Sports Illustrated. They slipped to #15.

LSU bounced back with narrow road wins over Ole Miss (32-29) and Alabama (16-14). The Tide were slipping from their lofty perch of the Bear Bryant era and suffered a losing season in 1984. Even so, LSU trailed ‘Bama 14-10 when Brooks blocked a punt and set up an easy touchdown run from Hilliard. The Tigers went for two, knowing a tie would have been as damaging to their SEC title hopes as a loss.

The SEC race was tied at the top, with LSU and Florida both 4-0-1. But the Gators had been through chaos since the season-opener. NCAA violations resulted in head coach Charley Pell being fired in September and Florida would not be allowed to get the SEC’s Sugar Bowl bid. That meant the race for New Orleans was between LSU, and Auburn, who was 4-1 in conference games.

There were only six conference games on the schedule, so LSU needed only defeat a four-win Mississippi State team to secure the coveted bowl spot. They lost 16-14 and fell to #16. The Tigers closed the regular season on November 24 with a blowout win over Tulane, but their Sugar Bowl hopes were out of their hands.

Auburn and Alabama would play on December 1, and if the Tide won, LSU could still go to the Sugar Bowl, even if Florida had finished atop the league standings. Auburn trailed 17-15 in the fourth quarter and faced 4th-and-goal from the 2-yard line.

For some reason, the Tigers went for the touchdown. Bo Jackson took the handoff, but ran the wrong way. The play was blown up and Arnsparger was taking his team to the New Year’s Day stage in his first season.

The way each team finished the season meant that Nebraska saw the Sugar Bowl as a consolation prize, while LSU was grateful to be here. That showed in the first half, as the Tigers stunned the Cornhuskers with 291 yards worth of total offense. But that only translated into ten points and when DuBose ripped caught a 31-yard touchdown pass from Sundberg, the score was a manageable 10-7 at the half.

Nebraska found its bearings defensively in the second half, and got rolling on offense. Sundberg threw two more touchdown passes, the ground game finished with 280 yards on the night and the Cornhuskers won 28-10, securing their third straight Top 5 finish in the final polls.

The Road To The 1985 Orange Bowl: Washington & Oklahoma

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Washington and Oklahoma each came to the 1985 Orange Bowl with hopes of getting a national championship if they won impressively and got some help. Even though that’s not how it turned out, the Huskies and Sooners gave the country a good game on New Year’s Night. Here’s a look back on the road they each traveled through the 1984 college football season.

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Don James had turned the Washington program into one of significance, earning three Rose Bowl bids (1977, 1980, 1981) in a Pac-10 long dominated by USC and UCLA. The Huskies had come up short of New Year’s Day each of the last two years, settling for Aloha Bowl trips both years. It didn’t seem like 1984 would be the year they returned to the New Year’s stage.

Hugh Millen was fairly mediocre at quarterback. The 52% completion rate and 6.1 yards-per-attempt weren’t bad by the standards of the time, but he only threw for 1,051 yards and the TD-INT ratio was 5-9. No receiver put up any notable numbers. Jacque Robinson was a good running back, and his 901 yards were fourth in the conference, but the Huskies weren’t going to win a scoring race with anybody.

Nor were they bursting at the seams with defensive talent. Vestee Jackson, who would eventually have an eight-year run with the Chicago Bears, was a talented cornerback, but other than that, Washington had to win with coaching, discipline and execution.

They opened the season ranked #18 and shutout Northwestern 26-0 to get the year started. The Huskies then paid a visit to Ann Arbor, where Michigan was ranked #3. Washington’s opportunistic style made the difference. They intercepted Wolverine quarterback Jim Harbaugh three times and got five turnovers in all. Leading 10-3 in the third quarter, Millen hit Mark Pattison on a 73-yard touchdown pass to break the game open.

Washington won 20-11 and even though this would prove to be a disappointing Michigan team, one that would go 6-5, the glow of this win had the Huskies zooming up to #9 in the polls.

A 35-7 victory over soon-to-be SWC co-champ Houston followed and Washington then beat Miami-Ohio 53-7 and got by lowly Oregon State 19-7. Washington’s perfect record, combined with chaos at the top of the polls had them suddenly sitting at #2 in the country. On October 13, the Huskies blew out mediocre Stanford 37-15 while Texas and Oklahoma—the teams directly ahead and behind them in the rankings—played to a tie. Washington was now ranked #1.

James’ team won a pedestrian 17-10 decision over an average Oregon team and they beat a pretty good Arizona club 28-12. The Huskies concluded their three-game homestand by beating up two-win Cal 44-14. The stage was set for November 10 at Southern Cal.

USC was ranked #14, thanks to an early loss to LSU, but the Trojans were undefeated in league play. No one else was close enough to catch either Washington or USC, so the winner of this game would clinch the Rose Bowl spot. Washington couldn’t get anything going offensively the entire day, fell behind and their passing game problems were exposed in a 16-7 loss. They slipped to #8.

The Huskies were still in the mix for a major bowl bid even if it wouldn’t be Pasadena. The traditional season finale with Washington State wouldn’t be easy. The Cougars had six wins, they had the Pac-10 MVP in running back Reuben Mayes and quarterback Mark Rypien would one day star at the Washington on the other side of the country—with the Redskins, where he was a Super Bowl MVP.

James had his team ready to go though and they played a good offensive game, winning 38-29 and nudging their way back to #4 for the Orange Bowl.

Oklahoma, after being one of the nation’s top three programs in the 1970s (along with USC and Alabama), had slid backward the past three years. The Sooners lost four games each year from 1981-93 and were only ranked #16 to begin 1984.

The talent base wasn’t as dazzling as previous OU editions had been. The only All-American was defensive tackle Tony Casillas. Lydell Carr’s 694 yards led the team and the passing game was as inept as one would expect from a traditional option-first offense.

Danny Bradley only completed 48 percent of his passes, though he did get a decent 7.3 yards-per-pass, thanks to a big-play threat in future NFL tight end Keith Jackson.

Oklahoma beat Stanford 19-7 to start the year and then trounced Pitt 42-10. The Panthers had been ranked #3 in the preseason polls, but an opening home loss to BYU had Pitt down to #17 by the time they hosted OU, and the Panthers would end up a 3-7-1 train wreck. For now, the OU win was seen as impressive enough to boost them to #11.

A 24-6 win over Kansas State came as top teams were starting to fall left and right, and the Sooners rose to #3. It was then the aforementioned 15-15 tie with top-ranked Texas came, but the tie worked in Oklahoma’s favor—they moved to #2.

OU played poorly in a 12-10 win over a bad Iowa State team and that presaged a 28-11 loss at Kansas, who finished the year 5-6. Oklahoma was now down to 10th in the polls and a national title seemed a longshot. But they picked themselves up, rolled over two lousy teams in Missouri and Colorado by a combined 91-24 and were ranked sixth in the nation as they headed to Nebraska.

The Cornhuskers were atop both the Big Eight and the national polls, and had a 27-game conference winning streak. Nebraska and Oklahoma traded touchdowns in the first half, with the Sooners getting an easy score off a turnover. A field goal early in the fourth quarter helped OU nudge ahead 10-7.

Oklahoma was being outplayed in the general flow of the game. The running game for both teams was basically a wash, neither good nor bad. Bradley was no passing threat at all, throwing for just 58 yards, while the Cornhuskers at least got some movement through the air.

But OU would win the turnover battle 4-3 and they made big defensive stops. Nebraska drove inside the 10-yard line, but forced to settle for a field goal, they missed. And when the Cornhuskers had 4th-and-goal on the 1-yard line with 5:32 left, Oklahoma made one more stop. They tacked on a clinching touchdown and had a 17-7 win.

There was still the matter of playing a home game with Oklahoma State and this one wasn’t exactly a game to overlook. The Cowboys had one of their best teams and they were ranked #3 in the country, while Oklahoma was now #2. The winner would have a chance at the national championship.

The rivalry game called Bedlam was tied 14-14 in the third quarter, when two big turnovers made the difference. One set up a Sooner field goal and the other, a muffed punt, produced a clinching touchdown. Oklahoma had a 24-14 win and after a three-year hiatus were back on top of the Big Eight and had its bowl tie-in reward with the trip to Miami.

Washington and Oklahoma arrived at the Orange Bowl at the center of a raging national debate. BYU was ranked #1, but played a weak schedule and then played in the Holiday Bowl (as they were contractually obligated to do) on December 21, barely escaping Michigan 24-17.  Third-ranked Florida had a loss and a tie and was on probation. While BYU was expected to win the final vote, their critics were pointing to the Orange Bowl as the place where the national title should be settled.

Most of the debate centered on Oklahoma, as the second-ranked team and Switzer openly campaigned for his team as #1. Perhaps that resulted in his team not being ready at the kickoff.

The Huskies jumped down the throats of the Sooners with two first-quarter touchdowns. The Sooners answered with a pair of TDs of their own and kicked a field goal for a 17-14 lead. But Millen found Pattison on a 29-yard touchdown pass with a little less than nine minutes to play, putting Washington back on top and they tacked on one more touchdown to seal the 28-17 win.

BYU would win the vote, while some of us believe that Washington, with a tougher schedule and more impressive win over the common foe of Michigan, would have been a better choice. In any case, the debate surrounding the 1985 Orange Bowl kept things interesting in a year when the national championship debate was otherwise quiet for New Year’s.

1984 BYU Football Completes The Ascent To A National Title

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In 1972, Lavell Edwards became head coach of a BYU football program that had never been to a bowl game. Over the next four years he averaged 6-plus wins per season. From 1976-78 it jumped to nine wins. In the five-year period of 1979-83, Edwards won 11 games four times. The 1984 BYU football team took the final step and won the national championship.

GREAT 1980s SPORTS MOMENTS
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BYU was renowned for its cutting edge pass attack, one that had already produced Jim McMahon and Steve Young. The latest heir was Robbie Bosco. While he never had the NFL success that other two Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks had, Bosco was a worthy successor at the college level.

In 1984, he threw for 3,875 yards, averaged 8.5 yards-per-pass and did so without compromising efficiency, posting a 61.5% completion rate. And the TD-INT ratio? Can I interest you in a dazzling 33-11? All of these numbers would be good in 21st-century football and by the more defensive-friendly culture of 1984, they were dynamic. Bosco finished third in the Heisman Trophy voting.

BYU made good use of the tight end in their passing scheme, and David Mills led the team in both catches and yards, with 60 & 1,023 respectively. Bosco also spread the ball around to receivers like Glen Kozlowski, who caught 55 balls, along with Mark Bellini and Adam Haysbert.

The running game was led by Lakei Heimuli, who ran for nearly 800 yards, and—as you would expect in this system—was adept at catching the football out of the backfield, with 31 receptions. Kelly Smith was a good change-of-pace in running the ball and even better as a receiver.

The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) that BYU competed in and dominated, wasn’t known for a lot of defense in those days—it was mockingly said that WAC stood for “We Ain’t Covering.” But the Cougars did have some quality defensive players.

Junior linebacker Kurt Gouveia would go on to the NFL and be a part of two Super Bowl champions with the Washington Redskins, in both 1987 and 1991—as a ‘Skins fan myself, whenever I hear Gouveia’s name I immediately think of his Super Bowl interception against Buffalo in ’91 that set up an easy touchdown and all but sealed the game just after halftime.

An even better college player was defensive back Kyle Morrell. He was Defensive Player of the Year in the WAC and also got some All-American mention.

In spite of their strong recent track record, BYU opened the 1984 college football season unranked. Their first game was at #3 Pitt on September 3. The game didn’t unfold like a typical Cougars shootout—BYU led 3-0 at halftime and while driving in the third quarter, Bosco threw an interception that went 78 yards the other way. Pitt built a 14-3 lead.

Heimuli got the Cougars back into it with a 12-yard touchdown run, but the two-point conversion was missed, keeping the margin at five points. BYU drove inside the 10-yard line in the fourth quarter, but had to settle for a field goal that cut the lead to 14-12.

Neither team could run the ball though, and for Pitt that was keeping them from salting this game away and giving Bosco more chances. It was asking for trouble and when the quarterback found Haysbert on a 50-yard post pattern off a 3rd-and-4 for a touchdown, BYU escaped with a 20-14 win.

Over the course of the season, the quality of this win would diminish dramatically—Pitt, after nearly a decade as a national contender, collapsed to 3-7-1. For now though, BYU rode the victory to a #13 ranking in the next polls.

The Cougars then below out mediocre Baylor and Tulsa, and with a chaotic year unfolding in college football, BYU was suddenly all the way to #6 in the polls. But a trip to Hawaii nearly undid everything.

The Rainbows had a respectable seven-win team in 1984, and their defense slowed BYU down. The Cougars led just 18-13 when Hawaii drove to the one-yard line and looked ready to spring the upset. On the game’s decisive play, Morrell delivered. He came running to the line of scrimmage, timed his leap precisely with the snap and in one fell swoop pulled the quarterback down before a play could get going. The Cougars had survived.

A shootout at home with Wyoming followed. The Cowboys had Jay Novacek, the tight end who would become one of Troy Aikman’s favorite targets on Super Bowl championship teams with another set of Cowboys, those in Dallas in the early 1990s.

The BYU-Wyoming game was a crisp display of offensive excellence. There were no turnovers either way. BYU led 14-0 and 21-7 early on, but a Wyoming punt return for a touchdown changed the momentum, and by the time the fourth quarter started, the Cougars were in a 38-33 hole.

Defenses finally started to step up in the final period. Morrell would finish with 15 tackles and Wyoming did not score again. Mills didn’t have the pro career that Novacek did, but the BYU tight end was outstanding on this day, with seven catches for 136 yards, including the 14-yard TD reception that won it 41-38.

A missed PAT in the first half was costly for Wyoming, as they went chasing points and missed a pair of two-pointers, creating the three lost points that spelled defeat. As for BYU, they had to turn around and go to Colorado Springs to play a pretty good Air Force team. Bosco lit up the Falcons for 484 yards passing and four touchdowns in a 30-25 win. The Cougars were now ranked #5 in the country.

The difficult part of BYU’s conference schedule was past, and they rolled past New Mexico, UTEP and San Diego State and nudged up to #3. On November 17, the Cougars turned in a pedestrian 24-14 win on the road at mediocre Utah. It was what happened elsewhere that shook up the nation.

Top-ranked Nebraska lost at Oklahoma. That wasn’t shocking, but second-ranked South Carolina losing to Navy was. The path was cleared for BYU to reach the top of the polls.  They closed the year with a perfunctory 38-13 win over Utah State, but the debate was just beginning.

BYU was contractually obligated to go the Holiday Bowl. The game was played on December 21 and would never attract a high-profile opponent. BYU would end up playing Michigan, who had struggled to 6-5 with a team head coach Bo Schembecler freely called one of his worst. Coming on top of a soft regular season schedule, the outcry against the Cougars was strong.

But on the flip side, they were the country’s only unbeaten team. Oklahoma, ranked #2, had both a loss and a tie. Washington, ranked fourth and the Sooner opponent in the Orange Bowl, had lost to USC with the Pac-10’s Rose Bowl spot on the line in November. Florida was #3, but on probation and also had a loss and a tie.

If BYU could have impressively dismantled Michigan it would have changed the dynamic. But that didn’t happen. Bosco’s first-quarter interception and subsequent strained knee ligament set the tone for what would be a sluggish night in San Diego.

BYU was able to take a 10-7 lead by halftime, as Bosco came back from his knee strain. But the quarterback committed another turnover, fumbling into the end zone and costing his team points. In the third quarter, he threw another interception, lost another fumble, BYU had a field goal blocked and Michigan finally took advantage with a touchdown to go up 14-10.

The Cougars had more turnovers left in them, fumbling deep in their own end late in the third quarter. The defense came up with a big stop to force a field goal and keep the score at 17-10. With about eleven minutes to go in the game, Bosco found Kozlowksi for the touchdown that tied it 17-17.

It’s surprising that Edwards didn’t go for two in this spot here—a tie would amount to a loss and almost surely turn the Oklahoma-Washington Orange Bowl into a de facto national title game. There was already strong sentiment for that to begin with, and the sluggish nature of this Holiday Bowl was undoubtedly adding to it. There was no way BYU would win the national championship if the game ended in a tie.

What’s more, Bosco managed to throw one more interception. Michigan once again didn’t do anything with it—and give the BYU defense loads of credit here. They could easily have let the Wolverines pull away. But given one more chance, Bosco led a touchdown drive that was capped with a pass to Kelly Smith for a 24-17 lead with 1:23 left. The defense closed it out and the undefeated season was complete.

The debate raged on over the next twelve days. Oklahoma head coach Barry Switzer pushed so hard for his team to win the national title that he forgot to prepare them for the football game—Washington won 28-17. The fact the Huskies were ranked fourth all but assured that BYU would win the vote. And they did.

In all candor, I would have voted for Washington. BYU’s poor schedule was not their fault—no one saw Pitt’s demise coming and the Cougars didn’t create the contract situation that bound them to the Holiday Bowl. But if you’re going to win a title on a schedule like this, it needs to be validated with a win over a big-time opponent in a major bowl.

And again, while it’s not the fault of the current players and coaches that they didn’t get the chance, we have to deal with the resume as it is. Washington only had one close loss, on the road, to the eventual Rose Bowl champions, and they had also beaten Michigan—on the road.

But regardless of whether you would have voted them #1 or #2, the 1984 BYU football team had taken the final step in the ascent of the Lavell Edwards era and gone undefeated. And they are remembered in college football history as national champions.

1984 Sports: Great Basketball Battles Highlight The Year

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The year of 1984 sports was marked by two great basketball battles, ones that started in college and carried over into the NBA. We saw the extension of one of the sport’s great individual rivalries into the realm of the pros, and at the college level, another one established its foundation.

GREAT 1980s SPORTS MOMENTS
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Larry Bird and Magic Johnson defined basketball for the 1980s, and it began with their collegiate meeting at the 1979 Final Four. It took five years in the pros, but they finally got together in the Finals, with Bird’s Celtics winning a seven-game tilt against Magic’s Lakers. Finals.
The two best centers in college basketball where Georgetown’s Patrick Ewing and Houston’s Akeem Olajuwon. Ten years down the line they would meet in a seven-game NBA Finals of their own, with the Knicks and Rockets respectively. In 1984, they went toe-to-toe for the NCAA championship. It was Ewing’s Hoyas who won the national title.
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Read more about the 1984 Georgetown Hoyas
Wayne Gretzky was another great player who would define his sport in the decade of the 1980s. In his fifth year in the league, he won his fifth MVP award. What he needed was a Stanley Cup and in 1984 he got it, as the Oilers knocked off the four-time defending champion New York Islanders in the Stanley Cup Finals.
Read more about the 1984 Edmonton Oilers
The 1984 baseball season was marked, first and foremost, by the complete domination of the Detroit Tigers, who won 35 of their first 40 games, led wire-to-wire and then blew through the postseason with just one loss, en route to their first World Series title since 1968.
It was the National League that produced the drama, with the long-suffering Chicago Cubs getting to the brink of their first National League pennant since 1945, but coughed it up with three straight losses to the San Diego Padres. It takes nothing away from the greatness of Detroit to say that from a marquee standpoint, the loss of a Tigers-Cubs World Series matchup was a considerable disappointment.
The 1984 NFL season had a similar phenomena, of promising drama, only to rip the rug out from underneath the fans. In this case, it was that for the second straight year you had two teams—in this case, the San Francisco 49ers and Miami Dolphins—point all year at each other for a Super Bowl showdown. And they got it.
In the case of the Dolphins, it was be careful what you wish for, because a hyped quarterback battle between Dan Marino and Joe Montana crashed hard, with a 49ers rout. It was the second Super Bowl win in four years for San Francisco.
There were still some interesting sidebar stories, as Mike Ditka and John Elway began to make their mark on the NFL scene. Ditka made the playoffs for the first time with the Chicago Bears. Elway had been in the playoffs in his rookie year of 1983, but splitting time with veteran Steve DeBerg. In 1984, Elway was the undisputed starting quarterback and led his team to an AFC West title. Both Ditka and Elway had bigger wins ahead of them, but they got their start in 1984.
Read more about the 1984 baseball season
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Read more about the 1984 Chicago Bears
Read more about the 1984 Denver Broncos
1984 was a strange year in college football. There was a lot of drama throughout, with #1 teams falling at a rate that would be interesting today and was virtually unheard of in the world of 1984. It ended with BYU winning the national championship, and doing it outside the realm of the New Year’s Day major bowls.
Read more about 1984 college football