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1977 BYU Cougars football team

American college football season

Field	Value
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	[4–3](4-3-defense)
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.

Schedule

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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.

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. The struggling Oregon State Beavers were seven-point underdogs, and went winless in the Pac-10 Conference.

Utah

;Utah

Randy Gomez 15/41, 131 Yds, 2 INT
Jeffrey Parker 24 Rush, 98 Yds 3 Rec, 28 Yds ;BYU
Marc Wilson 26/41, 571 Yds, 5 TD, 3 INT
Todd Christensen 9 Rush, 32 Yds
Mike Chronister 4 Rec, 176 Yds, TD BYU's Marc Wilson threw for 571 yards, breaking the single-game NCAA record set by Utah State's Tony Adams in 1972, also against Utah. 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, which drew the ire of Utah head coach Wayne Howard.

Roster

https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/players/jim-mcmahon-1.html--

Norm Chow Wide receivers
Dick Felt Defensive coordinator/defensive backs
Garth Hall Running backs
Dave Kragthorpe Assistant head coach/offensive line
Mel Olson Junior Varsity
Tom Ramage Defensive line
Doug Scovil Offensive coordinator/quarterbacks
Fred Whittingham Linebackers

Statistics

Passing

Player	Comp	Att	Yards	TD	INT
Marc Wilson	164	277	2,418	24	18
Gifford Nielsen	98	156	1,167	16	3
Jim McMahon	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

Starting quarterback Nielsen was lost for the season late in the fourth game.

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

NFL draft

Main article: 1978 NFL draft

Lance Reynolds	Tackle	9	241	[Pittsburgh Steelers](1978-pittsburgh-steelers-season)

References

(January 4, 1978). "It might not add up, but Irish are clearly No. 1". Eugene Register-Guard.
(January 4, 1978). "Notre Dame gets No. 1 tag". Deseret News.
(September 11, 1977). "B.Y.U. batters K-State". The Kansas City Star.
(September 25, 1977). "Nielsen, Cougars bomb Aggies by 65–6". The Salt Lake Tribune.
(October 1, 1977). "BYU bombs Lobos". Tucson Citizen.
(October 9, 1977). "Cougars beaten by Oregon State". Casper Star-Tribune.
(October 16, 1977). "BYU's Wilson climbs in 'Nielsen ratings'". Colorado Springs Gazette-Telegraph.
Chuck Harkins. (October 23, 1977). "Cougars top fumbling Pokes, 10–7". Casper Star-Tribune.
(October 30, 1977). "Cougars take easy win over Arizona". The Ogden Standard-Examiner.
(November 6, 1977). "BYU's Wilson passes record 571 yards". The Los Angeles Times.
(November 13, 1977). "Devils stop Cougar offensive machine". The Daily Herald.
(November 20, 1977). "BYU rallies for 30–27 win over Long Beach". The Fresno Bee.
(November 27, 1977). "BYU passes ambush El Paso". The Sunday Oregonian.
"1977 Brigham Young Cougars Schedule and Results". Sports Reference LLC.
Miller, Hack. (September 26, 1977). "Cougars' air attack keeps Ags grounded". Deseret News.
Conrad, John. (October 9, 1977). "Beavers put BYU down, and Nielsen out". Eugene Register-Guard.
(October 9, 1977). "Beavers end BYU win skein". Spokesman-Review.
Benson, Lee. (October 10, 1977). "Nielsen out as breaks stun Y.". Deseret News.
"Gifford Nielsen - Football".
Conrad, John. (October 8, 1977). "Can the Beavers ground Brigham Young's pilot?". Eugene Register-Guard.
Benson, Lee. (October 8, 1977). "BYU reputation arrives at OSU ahead of Cougars". Deseret News.
(November 6, 1977). "BYU's Wilson sets pass record". Eugene Register-Guard.
(November 12, 1972). "Adams sparkles". Eugene Register-Guard.
Ferguson, George. (November 13, 1972). "Adams' hot hand buries Utah". Deseret News.
1977 football season – CougarStats

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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