# 1977 BYU Cougars football team

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

| Date | Time | Opponent | Rank | Site | Result | Attendance |
| September 10 | 7:30 pm | Kansas State* | | Cougar StadiumProvo, UT | W 39–0 | 35,196 |
| September 24 | 12:50 pm | at Utah State* | No. 20 | Romney StadiumLogan, UT (rivalry) | W 65–6 | 20,103 |
| September 30 | 7:30 pm | New Mexico | No. 15 | Cougar StadiumProvo, UT | W 54–19 | 33,352 |
| October 8 | 2:30 pm | at Oregon State* | No. 13 | Parker StadiumCorvallis, OR | L 19–24 | 33,965 |
| October 15 | 1:30 pm | Colorado State | | Hughes StadiumFort Collins, CO | W 63–17 | 29,110 |
| October 22 | 1:30 pm | at Wyoming | No. 17 | War Memorial StadiumLaramie, WY | W 10–7 | 25,398 |
| October 29 | 1:30 pm | Arizona | No. 17 | Cougar StadiumProvo, UT | W 34–14 | 33,621 |
| November 5 | 1:30 pm | Utah | No. 14 | Cougar StadiumProvo, UT (Holy War) | W 38–8 | 34,208 |
| November 12 | 7:30 pm | at No. 17 Arizona State | No. 13 | Sun Devil StadiumTempe, AZ | L 13–24 | 58,295 |
| November 19 | 1:30 pm | Long Beach State* | No. 17 | Cougar StadiumProvo, UT | W 30–27 | 21,322 |
| November 26 | 7:30 pm | at UTEP | No. 18 | Sun BowlEl Paso, TX | W 68–19 | 7,800 |
| *Non-conference gameHomecomingRankings from AP Poll released prior to the gameAll times are in Mountain time ||||||||

## 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

| Quarter | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Utah | 0 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 8 |
| BYU | 17 | 0 | 0 | 21 | 38 |
at Cougar Stadium • Provo, Utah
* Date: November 5
* Game time: 1:30 p.m. MST
* Game weather: Overcast • 60 °F (16 °C)
* Game attendance: 33,828
* CougarStats
Game information :
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.
Scoring summary :
| Quarter | Time | Drive | Drive | Drive | Team | Scoring information | Score | Score |
| Quarter | Time | Plays | Yards | TOP | Team | Scoring information | UTAH | BYU |
| 1 | | | | | BYU | 23-yard field goal by Duke | 0 | 3 |
| 1 | | | | | BYU | Christensen 11-yard touchdown reception from Wilson, Duke kick good | 0 | 10 |
| 1 | | | | | BYU | Chronister 72-yard touchdown reception from Wilson, Duke kick good | 0 | 17 |
| 2 | | | | | Utah | Safety, international grounding penalty by Wilson in end zone | 2 | 17 |
| 3 | | | | | Utah | Liapis 12-yard touchdown run, 2-point pass failed | 8 | 17 |
| 4 | | | | | BYU | VanDerWouden 14-yard touchdown reception from Wilson, Duke kick good | 8 | 24 |
| 4 | | | | | BYU | Thompson 26-yard touchdown reception from Wilson, Duke kick good | 8 | 31 |
| 4 | | | | | BYU | VanDerWouden 8-yard touchdown reception from Wilson, Duke kick good | 8 | 38 |
| "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. | "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. | "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. | "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. | "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. | "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. | "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. | 8 | 38 |

## 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

| Player | Position | Round | Pick | NFL club |
| Todd Christensen | Tight end | 2 | 56 | Dallas Cowboys |
| Gifford Nielsen | Quarterback | 3 | 73 | Houston Oilers |
| Mekeli Ieremia | Defensive end | 6 | 158 | Chicago Bears |
| Lance Reynolds | Tackle | 9 | 241 | Pittsburgh Steelers |