Simply put, Utah has dominated BYU since 1922. The Utes have compiled a 53-32-4 record during that period. It wasn’t until 1970 that things started looking up for the Cougars. Before then, Utah owned a 37-5 lead overall.
Utah is also the only school of the two that can boast a Bowl Championship Series appearance, which came in 2004 when it clobbered Pittsburgh in the Fiesta Bowl.
But the Cougars still have 1984.
When it comes to ultimate bragging rights, BYU fans love to point to the year that brought them national acclaim and an outright NCAA championship.
The 90-plus athletes on BYU’s 1984 championship roster need only to flash the bling on their fingers to prove who’s best. Sweet victory is glaring, isn’t it?
Ute fans might contend that BYU’s run was the easiest route to a national title in college football history. It faced a weak Western Athletic Conference schedule and beat out a 6-5 Michigan squad in the Holiday Bowl. They may even complain that Oklahoma or Washington was the better team despite their losses.
Even coach Lavell Edwards admitted his 1984 team wasn’t the most talented group he’d coached. But that team had some serious moxie.
Linemen purposely staged fights in practices to get everyone else fired up. BYU players tried to out-bench press, out-hit and out-run each other. Even their 11 p.m. jogs were fair game for competition.
Defensive back Kyle Morrell once described his near-disturbing passion for hitting other people. “I remember hitting a guy so hard that he felt like he just collapsed in my arms,” he said.
From Morrell’s unbelievable leap over the line to sack Hawaii quarterback Raphael Cherry to Robbie Bosco’s heroic return to the sidelines against Michigan after injuring his leg, every Cougar stepped up when needed. That year was the stuff of movies.
What’s more, BYU had to climb higher than anyone else to get to the top. With the departure of Steve Young and nearly the rest of the offense the previous summer, no one gave BYU a spitting chance. The Cougars began the season unranked.
Interestingly, this year’s race to the top isn’t so different from 1984’s. The No. 1 spot in the polls seems to change every week, just as it did in 1984, when seven different schools claimed the top spot until BYU reigned over the final six weeks.
When the final BCS poll reveals this year’s champions, will fans question the legitimacy of the winner’s No. 1 spot? Of course. Same thing happens every year.
The point is that BYU wanted it more than anyone in 1984. It was the only team to run the table, including a shocker in the season-opener at third-ranked Pittsburgh. Granted, if the BCS system were in place that year, BYU wouldn’t have sniffed the top five. But the polls are meant to be unbiased and each team was subjected to the same criteria.
No fewer than 15 Cougars from the 1984 Championship team went on to the NFL. Ute fans can argue until they turn blue, but let it be known: BYU fans can point to the scoreboard and players can point to their ’84 rings, and there’s nothing anyone can do about it.