It’s hard to believe it’s been 40 years since BYU won the college football national championship. As a long-suffering Cougar fan who saw other teams on the brink of an undefeated season go up in flames, (remember Indiana’s 1979 Holiday Bowl win when the Cougs botched a

field goal to give the Hoosiers a 38-37 win and ruin BYU’s perfect season), even the miracle comeback the next year over SMU didn’t take away much of the “what if” pain. 

BYU played well in those years under Lavell Edwards, earned its share of upset wins and suffered devastating losses. Still, no one knew how the 1984 season would unfold as quarterback Robbie Bosco and the Cougars took the field.

The first game that year was at Pitt, a team ranked third when they met on Sept. 1. I was driving back to Utah from San Diego and was just outside Las Vegas when I turned on KSL to hear the game. BYU was leading and when I reached Vegas, I parked at Caesar’s Palace, walked into the air-conditioned sports book and watched BYU upset Pitt 20-14. 

My memory of that game was watching gamblers, many with drinks in hand and some with cigarettes dangling from their mouths, rooting for BYU. After all, bettors love upsets. I found it amusing that many of them had no idea what BYU was or what it stood for – but they didn’t care. They were winning. Go Cougars! 

That season had peaks and valleys, but always victories. The Cougs smashed Baylor 47-13 and then Tulsa 38-15. That moved BYU to fourth in the AP poll, after entering the season unranked. Then they traveled to Honolulu to play Hawaii. 

The Rainbows always gave BYU fits at Aloha Stadium and this game was no different. The Cougars led 12-10 at halftime, but Hawaii fought back, driving late in the game to the BYU 1-foot line with a third-and-goal opportunity. The Cougars’ Kyle Morrell, a Viewmont High graduate, catapulted over both lines to grab Hawaii QB Raphel Cherry for a loss. Hawaii settled for a field goal to take a 13-12 lead. BYU responded with an 80-yard TD drive to give the Cougs an 18-13 victory to keep them unbeaten.

BYU routed Colorado State 52-9, edged Wyoming 41-38, then ran the table with six more wins including over Utah in Salt Lake and over Utah State in Provo. BYU was 12-0 headed into Bowl season, and thanks to Navy upsetting second-ranked South Carolina and Oklahoma beating top-ranked Nebraska that same week, BYU topped the AP poll for the first time in school history.

Former NBC Today show host Bryant Gumbel challenged the ranking for BYU, saying “Who did they play? Bo Diddley Tech?” 

In the Holiday Bowl, BYU was matched up against Michigan, a powerhouse but a team with just a 7-4 record. The Cougars weren’t at their best, turning the ball over five times. But an injured Bosco rallied the team from a 17-10 deficit with two fourth-quarter scores, to give BYU its 13th victory, 24-17. 

With the New Year’s Day Bowls still to be played, there were lots of voices saying, “So what? BYU had a light schedule.” One of the most vocal was Oklahoma coach Barry Switzer, who said that if the Sooners beat fourth-ranked Washington in the Orange Bowl that year, they should be crowned champs. But the Sooner Schooner got derailed by the Huskies in a 28-17 loss. Oklahoma finished 9-2-1. 

When the final AP votes came in, BYU was crowned National Champions. That moment began the change in college football that we see 40 years down the road. 

Coaches and administrators from the “big” conferences such as the SEC, ACC, Pac-12, Big 10 and Big 12 vowed to never let something like that happen again. It eventually led to the College Football Playoffs we’ve had since 2014. BYU’s upset of the apple cart in 1984 started the consolidation of big-money schools and conferences. 

Those schools can thank the 1984 BYU Cougars in large measure for the millions of dollars they now earn thanks to high-priced TV network contracts, affluent donors and corporate sponsors working to ensure little room remains at the top. 

BYU did for NCAA football what Michael Jordan did to elevate the popularity of the NBA to record revenues and the way Tiger Woods’ success helped increase prize money. Caitlin Clark will do the same thing for WNBA players as well. I’m rooting for her.

In looking back on those memories from 40 years ago, was BYU the best college football team in 1984? Possibly not. But in the words of longtime CBS Sports’ broadcaster Brent Musberger in his college football report after that Holiday Bowl, “No one has beaten anyone who has beaten BYU.”

The defense rests.