By Jeremy Twitchell
Heading into Saturday”s game as 21 1/2-point underdogs, it”s hard to imagine BYU in a more difficult position. But a quick glance at history shows other Cougar teams have won in Salt Lake City in more difficult circumstances, and in fact, some of the Holy War”s greatest games have been played out in the unfriendly confines of Rice-Eccles and its predecessors. Here”s a quick look:
5. 1942 – The Cougars” first win over the by-then-hated Utes, 12-7, was momentous enough on its own, but it took place under amazing circumstances that make it a feat of legendary proportions.
With World War II looming larger every day, team members knew the cry “Just wait ”til next year” was meaningless, as most of them would be fighting for their country the next year. In fact, head coach Eddie Kimball had already left to fight, and basketball coach Floyd Millet took over for the 1942 season on an interim basis. At the end of the year, 75 percent of the team had been drafted and the program was cancelled until 1946.
After the win, BYU players beat the fans to the goalposts and promptly removed them, a celebration that would be unthinkable today. To add insult to injury, fans brought the goalposts back to Provo, cut them into pieces and passed them out to players and students to commemorate the victory.
4. 1996 – Long before Utah threatened the gentleman”s club that is the Bowl Championship Series, the Cougars were making a run at the Bowl Alliance, the BCS” equally evil father.
BYU came into the game at 11-1, boasting an impressive win in its opener against Texas A&M (sound familiar?) and a close loss on the road to Pac-10 powerhouse Washington. There were no bowl rankings at the time, but there was a growing consensus that wins against Utah and in the WAC Championship Game would land the Cougars in the Fiesta Bowl (again, sound familiar?).
The Cougars were up to the challenge, blasting the Utes for a 20-3 halftime lead and coasting to a 37-17 victory. While the scoring margin may not have been surprising, the way in which BYU achieved it was downright shocking: 366 rush yards and just 70 pass yards.
Alas, the win over the Utes and another over Wyoming in the WAC Championship Game was not enough to impress the Alliance, and the Cougars had to settle for a lesser bowl (hopefully, this one will soon sound familiar as well).
3. 1998 – In the catechism of the Holy War, this one will be forever know as “The Clanker.”
With five seconds left and his team trailing 26-24, Ute kicker Ryan Kaneshiro sent the potential game-winning 32-yard kick directly into the right upright, creating an audible “clank” sound on television that simultaneously broke the hearts of Ute faithful and gave new life to worried Cougar fans.
The other kicker in the game, BYU”s Owen Pochman, was stellar, hitting four kicks from beyond 40 yards to secure the win for his team.
2. 1984 – In the year of the national championship, the wins just kept piling up for the Cougars, to the point that winning was almost routine. But in a rivalry game records don”t count for much and the Holy War was no exception, not even this year.
But the defense came up huge for BYU, holding the Utes to just seven points off five BYU turnovers. Quarterback Robbie Bosco overcame three turnovers to throw three touchdowns and lead his team to the 24-14 victory.
This was possibly the biggest win in the team”s history to that point, as it moved BYU to the No. 1 position in the UPI and AP polls, a spot they would defend in the Holiday Bowl against Michigan en route to the school”s lone national title.
1. 2000 – The last ride of LaVell Edwards had been, to this point, disappointingly bumpy. The Cougars came into the game at 5-6, needing a win against the Utes just to break even and avoid sending Edwards off with his first losing season in 27 years.
The game got off to a foreboding start when Andre Dyson picked off Brandon Doman and returned it 24 yards for a touchdown and a 7-0 lead. But the Cougars quickly responded, scoring 26 of the game”s next 29 points and taking a 26-10 lead into the fourth quarter.
However, the Utes scored 17 unanswered points in the final quarter to take a one-point lead with two minutes left.
Enter Doman, the quarterback who was short on arm strength but immeasurable on heart. When the Cougars” final drive appeared to stall, leaving Doman facing fourth-and-13 at his own 17, it looked like the game was over. But under the pressure, Doman responded with the biggest pass of his career, 34 yards to Jonathan Pittman.
From there, Doman led his team downfield with ruthless efficiency and capped the drive with a four-yard touchdown up the middle. The Cougars tacked on a two-point conversion for a seven-point lead as insurance, but as it turned out, Doman had already done enough.
