Offense Leaves Mark on Holiday Bowl : History: High scores have been common in the past 12 games. BYU has contributed to the damage.

This is a synopsis of the first 12 Holiday Bowl games:

1978

Navy 23, Brigham Young 16--Navy rallied, trailing 16-3, and scored 13 fourth-quarter points to beat favored BYU. The play that turned the game around was a 65-yard, fourth-quarter scoring pass from Bob Leszczynski to Phil McConkey with a little more than 11 minutes to go and BYU leading 16-13. McConkey, who was voted the most valuable player, made a leaping catch in the end zone for the score that put the Middies ahead for good, 20-16. “That long pass play was the game,” BYU Coach LaVell Edwards said. “That completely turned the momentum.” McConkey caught four passes for 88 yards and rushed twice for 42 yards.

1979

Indiana 38, Brigham Young 37--Ninth-ranked BYU saw its chance for an undefeated season sail wide as Brent Johnson missed a 27-yard field goal with seven seconds remaining. Johnson had made field goals of 46, 29 and 28 yards. The teams combined for 874 yards in total offense, 520 by BYU. The Cougars took a 37-31 fourth-quarter lead on a 15-yard touchdown pass from Marc Wilson to Eric Lane. Indiana scored the eventual winning points when cornerback Tim Wilbur picked up a muffed punt and returned it 62 yards for a touchdown. Kevin Kellogg’s PAT provided the winning margin.

1980

Brigham Young 46, Southern Methodist 45-- Clay Brown caught a 41-yard “Hail Mary” touchdown pass from Jim McMahon with no time on the clock and Kurt Gunther kicked the extra point as BYU completed a 21-point rally. SMU running back Craig James ran 42 yards for a touchdown that gave SMU a 45-25 lead with 3:57 left in the game. McMahon passed 15 yards to Matt Braga for a touchdown that made it 45-31. After BYU recovered an onside kick, McMahon passed to Bill Davis to the SMU one. Scott Phillips ran in on the next play and McMahon passed to him for the two-point conversion to cut the SMU advantage to 45-39 with 1:58 remaining. After the BYU defense held, Cougar cornerback Bill Schoepflin blocked a punt and BYU had the ball at the SMU 41 with 18 seconds remaining. After two incompletions, three seconds remained. McMahon, who set 27 NCAA passing records during the regular season, lofted his last pass into the end zone. Despite three SMU defenders, Brown caught the pass. “It was a Hail Mary,” Brown said. “That’s all right, Jim and I are both Catholics.” McMahon completed 32 of 49 passes for 446 yards and four touchdowns. The SMU Pony Express backfield consisted of Craig James (225 yards and two touchdowns) and Eric Dickerson (110 yards, two touchdowns).

1981

Brigham Young 38, Washington State 36--Brigham Young took a 31-7 lead and held off Washington State, which had consecutive third-quarter scoring drives of 69, 50 and 39 yards to make the score 31-28. BYU countered with an 11-yard touchdown pass from Jim McMahon to Scott Pettis on the first play of the fourth quarter to gave BYU a 10 point cushion. WSU got its final touchdown with 59 seconds remaining on Mike Martin’s one-yard run. BYU recovered the ensuing onside kick and ran out the clock. McMahon, the game’s offensive most valuable player, completed 27 of 43 passes for 342 yards and three touchdowns. It was WSU’s first bowl appearance in 51 years.

1982

Ohio State 47, Brigham Young 17--Tim Spencer, the game’s offensive most valuable player, scored two touchdowns and gained 167 yards in 21 carries in little more than three quarters of work to lead the Big 10 runner-up. Spencer scored on runs of 61 and 18 yards and Ohio State rushed 66 times for 329 yards. Steve Young passed for 347 yards for BYU.

1983

Brigham Young 21, Missouri 17--Trailing 17-14 with 23 seconds to play, BYU turned quarterback Steve Young into a receiver in a desperate bid for a victory. Young, who completed 24 of 36 passes for 314 yards, handed to Eddie Stinnett, who swept right, stopped and passed across his body to Young, who was running free in the left flat. The 14-yard touchdown pass culminated a 93-yard drive that began with 3:57 to play. “I was shocked when I heard the call,” Stinnett said. “I just hoped I could get the ball to Steve.” Said Young: “We ran the play last week in practice and I dropped the ball.”

1984

Brigham Young 24, Michigan 17--BYU entered the game unbeaten and ranked No. 1 in the nation. Quarterback Robbie Bosco, hobbled for most of the game by an injured ankle, passed 13 yards to Kelly Smith with 1:23 left for the touchdown that broke a 17-17 tie. Bosco, the game’s offensive most valuable player, completed 30 passes for 343 yards. The BYU defense held Michigan (6-6) to a Holiday Bowl record 202 total yards and a 2.4 yards-per-carry average on 49 rushing attempts. BYU won despite six turnovers.

1985

Arkansas 18, Arizona State 17--Freshman Kendall Trainor kicked a 37-yard field goal with 21 seconds remaining as Arkansas came from behind twice in the fourth quarter. ASU led 14-7 in the fourth quarter, but Bobby Joe Edmonds ran 17 yards for an Arkansas touchdown and quarterback Mark Calcagni ran up the middle for the two-point conversion and a 15-14 lead. Quarterback Jeff Van Raaphorst drove the Sun Devils to the Arkansas one before they settled for a Kent Bostrom field goal with 5:23 remaining. It was Bostrom’s third field goal of the game and gave ASU a 17-15 lead. Arkansas came right back as Calcagni drove the Razorbacks to the Sun Devil 19 to set up Trainor’s game-winning kick. ASU had one last chance but Bostrom was short on a 59-yard field goal attempt with three seconds to go.

1986

Iowa 39, San Diego State 38--Rob Houghtlin kicked a 41-yard field goal with no time on the clock as Iowa grabbed a victory that seconds earlier appeared to be San Diego State’s. The favored Hawkeyes trailed, 21-13 at half time and were still behind, 35-21, with eight minutes remaining. Iowa quarterback Mark Vlasic threw touchdown passes of 29 yards to Marv Cook and three yards to Mike Flagg and Chuck Hartlieb passed to Flagg for a two-point conversion and Iowa had a 36-35 lead with 4:26 remaining. SDSU quarterback Todd Santos passed 45 yards to Alfred Jackson to set up a 21-yard Kevin Rahill field goal with 47 seconds remaining to give the Aztecs a 38-36 lead. However, Kevin Harmon returned the kickoff to the Aztec 37 and Iowa moved the ball to the 24 with four seconds left. Santos completed 21 of 33 passes for 298 yards and 3 touchdowns. Vlasic completed 15 of 28 for 222 yards and 2 touchdowns.

1987

Iowa 20, Wyoming 19--Iowa overcame a 12-point deficit in the fourth quarter as cornerback Anthony Wright returned an interception 33 yards for one touchdown and fullback David Hudson ended a 10-play, 86-yard drive with a one-yard run for the winning points. The key play in the drive was a 48-yard pass play from quarterback Chuck Hartlieb to split end Travis Watkins, who fooled defenders with a hook-and-go pattern. “The pass to Watkins was the turning point,” Hartlieb said. “They were gambling all night, and we finally took advantage of it.” To that point, the Iowa offense had been stymied, having drives stopped first on downs at the Wyoming five, later when tailback Kevin Harmon fumbled out of the end zone for a touchback and finally when Rob Houghtlin missed a 30-yard field goal attempt wide right late in the first half. “That was the most frustrating offensive game I’ve ever been associated with,” Hartlieb said. “We never really got going until the end.” Trailing 20-19, Wyoming had a shot with 46 seconds left, but Greg Worker’s 52-yard field goal attempt was blocked by Iowa’s Merton Hanks, who had earlier blocked a punt to set up Iowa’s first touchdown. Wyoming quarterback Craig Burnett completed 28 of a Holiday Bowl game record 51 pass attempts for 332 yards and one touchdown.

1988

Oklahoma State 62, Wyoming 14--It was the Barry Sanders show in a battle of Cowboys. The Oklahoma State Cowboys, behind Sanders’ 222 yards and Holiday Bowl-record five touchdowns, easily disposed of the Wyoming Cowboys. And Sanders sat out the fourth quarter. It was a big day in general for Oklahoma State. Quarterback Mike Gundy completed 20 of 24 passes for 315 yards and two touchdowns. Wide receiver Hart Lee Dykes caught 10 passes for a Holiday-Bowl record 163 yards and one touchdown. The Oklahoma State offense set records for points (62), touchdowns (eight), total offense (698 yards), most first downs (33) and fewest punts (none). The defense limited Wyoming to 204 total yards and the fewest points in Holiday Bowl history.

1989

Penn State 50, Brigham Young 39--After the blowout in 1988, the Holiday Bowl returned to form. Penn State led in the final minute, 43-39, but BYU was driving and had the ball at the Nittany Lion 38. BYU quarterback Ty Detmer faded back to pass and was stripped of the ball by Gary Brown, a junior defensive back. Brown raced 53 yards for the clinching touchdown. The teams combined for 1,115 yards of total offense, with BYU gaining 651. Penn State yielded a school-record 576 yards passing to Detmer, but Penn State scored its most points since a 56-18 victory over William & Mary in 1984 and its most points ever in a bowl game. Detmer and Blair Thomas (186 yards) were named co-offensive players of the game and there was no defensive player of the game. Detmer completed 42 of 59 passes for 576 yards, all Holiday Bowl records. Thomas’ 35 carries surpassed Barry Sanders’ old mark of 29. “This was the screwiest game I’ve ever been involved in,” BYU Coach LaVell Edwards said.

HOLIDAY BOWL ’90

TODAY’S ROSTERS

BRIGHAM YOUNG COUGARS

No. Name Pos. 1 James Harvey DB 2 Norman Dixon DB 3 Nati Valdez WR 4 Joe Herrik K 5 Derwin Gray DB 6 Ribakd Simpson DB 7 Joe Evans QB 8 Matt Bellini HB 9 Ervin Lee DB 10 David Henderson DB 12 Brock Spencer QB 14 Ty Detmer QB 15 Brent Smith QB 16 Ryan Hancock QB 17 Andy Boyce WR 18 Eric Drage WR 19 Keith Lever K 20 Josh Arnold DB 21 Stacey Corley HB 22 Mike Salido FB 24 Tony Crutchfield DB 25 Sim Tiatia RB 26 Mark Small RB 27 Eric Mortensen HB 28 David Kinard DB 29 Brent Nyberg WR 30 Brian Mitchell DB 31 Brad Clark FB 32 Peter Tuipulotu HB 33 Mike Hoggan LB 34 John Christensen DB 37 Alema Fitisemanu LB 38 Tau Harrington DB 39 Dave Porter LB 41 Drayton Martin DB 42 Joe Richardson LB 43 Scott Charlton FB 44 Bill Bryant LB 45 Rocky Biegel LB 46 Kevin Nicoll LB 47 Scott Giles LB 48 Kendall Purcell LB 49 Eddie Green DT 50 Shad Hansen LB 52 Bruce Jenne C 54 Kyle Harris OT 55 Pete Harston DT 56 Jared Leavitt LB 57 John Ashman C 58 Robert Stephens C 59 Rich Kaufusi DE 61 Mike Keim OT 63 Kent Griffith C 64 Stephen DeSantis C 66 Scott VanWoerkom OG 67 Garry Pay OT 68 Mao Pili OL 69 Jon Garber OG 70 Jim Baimforth OG 71 Scott Brumfield OT 72 Brian May OT 74 Garrett Tujague OT 75 Tom Ladd OT 76 Neal Fort OT 77 Rick Wilson NG 79 Mike Jenkins OG 82 Micah Matsuzaki WR 83 Erik Hughes WR 84 Kirk Holle WR 86 Earl Kauffman K/P 89 Matt Zundel TE 90 Lenny Gomes NG 91 Mark Smith NG 92 Chris Conners DL 94 Chris Smith TE 95 Bryon Rex TE 96 Scott Moberly DT 98 Brad Hunter DT

TEXAS A&M; AGGIES

No. Name Pos. 1 Terry Venetoulias P/K 2 Marlin Haynes DB 3 Derrick Frazier DB 4 Layne Talbot P/K 5 Keith McAfee RB 6 Chris Crooms DB 7 Bucky Richardson QB 8 Ramsey Bradberry DB 9 Marcus Buckley LB 10 Jeff Granger QB 11 William Thomas LB 12 Lance Pavlas QB 13 Marcus Batts DB 14 Cornelius Patterson WR 15 Kent Petty QB 16 Steve Emerson QB 16 Sean Wilson P 18 Felton Ransby WR 19 Kary Vincent DB 20 Robert Wilson RB 21 Brian Mitchell WR 22 Billy Mitchell RB 23 Tony Harrison WR 24 Kevin Ellis P 25 Darren Lewis RB 26 Kevin Smith DB 27 Greg Hill RB 28 Charles Burrell LB 30 David Drapela RB 31 Eric Moore DB 32 Doug Carter RB 33 Randy Simmons RB 35 Brian Payne HOL 36 Steve Kenney DB 37 Larry Jackson LB 38 Reggie Graham LB 39 Larry Horton DB 40 Gary Oliver WR 41 Seth Dockery LB 43 Jason Atkinson LB 44 Quentin Coryatt LB 45 Jesse Cox LB 47 Louis Rose TE 48 Anthony Williams LB 50 Craig Jeffries OL 51 John Ellisor OL 52 Mike Arthur OL 53 Trent Lewis LB 54 Brad McGonagle OL 55 Tyler Harrison DL 56 Otis Nealy LB 57 Alton Gillis OL 58 Lance Teichelman DL 59 Jason Rockhold OL 60 Darrell Red OL 61 Clarke Flowers OL 62 Lyle Eastham OL 63 Troy Whitmore DL 64 Larry Wallace DL 65 James Webb LB 66 Mike Pappas OL 67 Keith Alex OL 68 Chris Dausin OL 69 Lowell Hutchens OL 70 Greg Lakin OL 71 Tim Vordenbaumen DL 72 Jayson Black DL 73 Todd Mathison OL 74 Brad Cooper DL 75 Dexter Wesley OL 76 Greg Cook OL 77 Matt McCall OL 78 Mark Barry OL 79 John Richard OL 80 Shane Garrett WR 81 Ryan Matthews WR 82 Derek Ware TE 83 Steve Sagraves TE 86 Greg Schorp TE 87 Shane Krahl TE 88 Jason Medlock LB 89 Dennis Ransom TE 90 Kevin Tucker DL 91 Jeff Jones DL 92 Eric England DL 93 Tyronne Malone LB 94 Jody Adamek DL 95 Albert Jones DL 96 John Miller DL 97 Mark Wheeler DL 98 Pat Henry DL 99 Kefa Chatham DL