1984 Holiday Bowl The 1984 Holiday Bowl was one of the games that determined the national championship in college football for the 1984 season . Played on December 21 , 1984 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego , California , it pitted the BYU Cougars against the Michigan Wolverines ; BYU won the game , 24 - 17 . The attendance of 61 , 248 was a record for Jack Murphy Stadium at that time . National championship . At the conclusion of the 1984 college football season , BYU was the only undefeated team in Division I - A . As such , BYU was the leading candidate to win the national championship if it were to win its bowl game . However , BYU , as champion of the Western Athletic Conference ( WAC ) , was obligated to play in the Holiday Bowl which was not one of the top - tier bowls . As such , the young bowl would not automatically draw a high - caliber opponent for the WAC champion . Many of the poll voters were reluctant to crown a WAC team as national champion , because of the unconventional style of football being played at that time in the WAC , relying more heavily on the pass than was prevalent among the more traditional teams in larger conferences , and the perception that the difficulty of the WAC schedule was weak compared to those of the major powers with losses to highly ranked opponents . The Holiday Bowl settled on Michigan after some other schools passed on the bowl because of its early time period , citing interference with final exams . Eventually , the Holiday Bowl picked the 6 - 5 Michigan Wolverines to play BYU with the national title possibly on the line for Brigham Young University . The Wolverines managed to give BYU a tough game , but BYU won the game by a score of 24 - 17 and would later be awarded the consensus national championship after all of the other bowl games had been completed . Game summary . First quarter . BYU ’ s first drive ended when Robbie Bosco threw an interception . On the second drive , Bosco was carried off the field after a roughing - the - passer penalty led to a knee ligament strain ; this injury would plague him throughout his Pro career . He was replaced by Blaine Fowler , who came in with the game still scoreless . Fowler ’ s first pass was deflected at the line of scrimmage . On his second play , Fowler threw a short pass for a first down on 3rd and 2 . The Cougars eventually punted . Second quarter . Robbie Bosco returned on BYU ’ s next possession . Bosco led the Cougars to their first touchdown of the game , a TD run by Kelly Smith with 8 : 33 remaining in the second quarter . Besides throwing several passes , Bosco also made a gutsy scramble for a first down . Michigan ’ s next possession ended in an attempted punt . The BYU defenders however penetrated too quickly and the punter had no time to punt and tackled out of bounds on the 5 yard line . On the ensuing possession , Bosco fumbled the ball into the endzone on 3rd and goal from the 3 and Michigan recovered for a touchback . Michigan responded by driving down for a touchdown . They were aided by an unsportsmanlike conduct call against BYU , and later a running into the kicker penalty after Michigan had kicked a field goal . Rodgers scored for Michigan on a 5 yard run to tie the game at 7 - 7 . BYU took the ball deep in their own territory , ran the 2 minute drill , and kicked a field goal with 4 seconds left in the half to take a 10 - 7 lead into halftime . Third quarter . On BYU ’ s opening possession of the second half , Bosco ’ s pass went off the fingertips of Lakei Hemilu , and Michigan ’ s Mike Mallory intercepted it . After a Michigan punt , BYU committed another turnover when Bosco was stripped by Jim Scarcelli . Michigan recovered the fumble . With 3 : 20 to play in the third , a field goal attempt by Lee Johnson was blocked . After the block , Michigan drove down and scored on a TD pass from Chris Zurbrugg to Bob Perryman , giving them a 14 - 10 lead . The ensuing kickoff was bobbled by Vai Sikahema who was then tackled on the 5 yard line . BYU then fumbled again a few plays later and Michigan recovered with 6 seconds remaining in the third quarter . This was BYU ’ s fifth turnover of the game . Fourth quarter . BYU ’ s Defense held , forcing Michigan to settle for a field goal despite advancing the ball to the 10 - yard line . This gave the Wolverines a 17 - 10 lead and thus setting up another BYU epic Holiday Bowl comeback as in the 1980 and 1983 game . BYU drove the length of the field and scored with 10 : 51 remaining on a 7 - yard Bosco to Glenn Kozlowski TD pass to tie the game 17 - 17 . After a Michigan punt , BYU took possession but another Bosco pass was intercepted after it went off the hand of Glenn Kozlowski and into the hands of Jim Scarcelli . BYU then forced yet another Michigan punt . Finally , BYU drove the length of the field and scored on a pass from an injured Bosco to Kelly Smith with 1 : 23 remaining . Marv Allen , who also played in the very first Holiday Bowl as a redshirt freshman in 1978 , sealed the victory with an interception . Aftermath . Michigan finished the 1984 season with a mediocre 6 - 6 overall record following their Holiday Bowl loss . However , Brigham Young ' s 2 - year spanning win - streak , their position as the lone undefeated team in the nation that year , and their ability to defeat a traditional powerhouse in a bowl game was enough to sway the voters . The Cougars were at the top of both the AP and UPI / Coaches ' polls , though they had to wait nearly a week for the final results . The reason for the wait was because the 1984 Holiday Bowl marked the only time in college football history that the eventual national champion played its bowl game in December . Controversy continued after the bowl season among supporters of the Washington Huskies who believed that they had been deprived of a national championship . As a result BYU would be pitted against a formidable opponent in the Kickoff Classic to open the 1985 season . They would face the , who had finished the previous season ranked 4th and 5th in the UPI and AP polls , respectively . Brigham Young won the Kickoff Classic over Boston College , who had lost their QB Doug Flutie and finished with a 5 - 8 record that season , by a score of 28 - 14 . Two weeks later they would also face the Washington Huskies , who had finished the previous season ranked immediately behind Brigham Young at # 2 in both major polls , and had been one of the more vocal detractors of the previous years official outcome . Brigham Young would also go on to win that match - up by a lop - sided score of 31 - 3 . The Brigham Young Cougars 25 - game winning streak which had begun on September 17 , 1983 came to an end against UCLA on September 7 , 1985 , when they lost 27 - 24 to the Bruins .