The 1981 Holiday Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 18 in San Diego, California. It was part of the 1981 NCAA Division I-A football season, and was the fourth edition of the Holiday Bowl.[3] The Friday night game was the third of sixteen games in this bowl season and featured the #20 Washington State Cougars of the Pac-10 Conference, and the 14th-ranked BYU Cougars, champions of the Western Athletic Conference.[4][5][6][7][8]
| 1981 Holiday Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date | December 18, 1981 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Season | 1981 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Jack Murphy Stadium | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Location | San Diego, California | ||||||||||||||||||||
| MVP | Jim McMahon (QB, BYU) Kyle Whittingham (LB, BYU) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Favorite | BYU by 3 points [1] | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Referee | Jack Gatto (PCAA) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Halftime show | Marching bands | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 52,419[2] | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Payout | US$286,179 per team[2] | ||||||||||||||||||||
| United States TV coverage | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Network | ESPN, Mizlou | ||||||||||||||||||||
It was the first bowl appearance in 51 years for Washington State,[9] who used a two-quarterback system: junior Clete Casper was the passer and sophomore Ricky Turner the runner.[10] Meanwhile, it was the fourth straight year in the Holiday Bowl for BYU. BYU's quarterback was consensus All-American and future Super Bowl champion Jim McMahon, the fifth overall pick of the 1982 NFL draft. He was backed up by sophomore Steve Young, a future member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and also a Super Bowl champion.
Game summary
editFavored BYU scored first on a 35-yard pass from McMahon to Dan Plater, the only scoring of the first quarter. McMahon threw a 7-yard pass to Gordon Hudson to increase BYU's lead to 14–0. Washington State got on the board after quarterback Turner scored on a two-yard run. BYU's Kurt Gunther kicked a 20-yard field goal and Waymon Hamilton ran in from a yard out to give BYU a 24–7 lead at halftime.[5][6][7]
Early in the third quarter, BYU cornerback Tom Holmoe intercepted a Casper pass and returned it 35 yards for a touchdown, but WSU scored three unanswered touchdowns. Running back Matt LaBonne scored on an 18-yard run, Robert Williams scored on a 5-yard run, and Turner scored again on a 13-yard run to close the BYU lead to three points (31–28) at the end of the third quarter.[5][6][7]
McMahon fired an 11-yard touchdown pass to Scott Pettis to take the lead back to ten points at 38–28. WSU fullback Mike Martin scored from a yard out and Turner added a 2-point conversion to close the gap to two points (38–36) with five minutes remaining. Late in the game, McMahon fumbled a third-down snap but picked up the ball and ran for a first down that helped to clinch the victory for BYU.[11]
The players of the game, both from BYU, were McMahon and middle linebacker Kyle Whittingham,[6] the future head coach at Utah. BYU evened its record in the bowl at 2–2,[3][8] and played in the next three.
BYU moved up one spot to thirteenth in the final AP poll, and Washington State slipped out of the top twenty;[12] their next bowl appearance was seven years later.
Scoring
editFirst quarter
- BYU – Dan Plater 35 pass from Jim McMahon (Kurt Gunther kick)
Second quarter
- BYU – Gordon Hudson 4 pass from McMahon (Gunther kick)
- WSU – Ricky Turner 4 run (Ward Leland kick)
- BYU – Field goal, Gunther 20
- BYU – Waymon Hamilton 1 run (Gunther kick)
Third quarter
- BYU – Tom Holmoe 35 interception return (Gunther kick)
- WSU – Matt LaBomme 18 run (Pat Beach pass from Clete Casper)
- WSU – Robert Williams 5 run (pass failed)
- WSU – Turner 13 run (Leland kick)
Fourth quarter
- BYU – Scott Pettis 11 pass from McMahon (Gunther kick)
- WSU – Mike Martin 1 run (Turner run)
Statistics
editStatistics WSU BYU First Downs 23 22 Rushes–yards 53-245 32-69 Passing yards 106 368 Passes 8-25-2 28–44–0 Total yards 351 437 Punts–average 8–41 8–37 Fumbles–lost 0–0 5–0 Turnovers by 2 0 Penalties-yards 5-45 9-86
References
edit- ^ "The latest line". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. December 18, 1981. p. 17.
- ^ a b "Holiday Bowl Game History". Archived from the original on May 17, 2008. Retrieved May 23, 2008.
- ^ a b Van Sickel, Gary (December 18, 1981). "Holiday's history short, wild". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). p. 22.
- ^ "McMahon passes for 342 yards". Reading Eagle. (Pennsylvania). UPI. December 19, 1981. p. 6.
- ^ a b c d e Barrows, Bob (December 19, 1981). "Washington State almost has a curtain call". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). p. 1C.
- ^ a b c d e f Van Sickel, Gary (December 19, 1981). "Happy Holidays – for BYU". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). p. 21.
- ^ a b c d e "McMahon makes Holiday happy one for BYU, 38-36". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. December 19, 1981. p. 2B.
- ^ a b Robinson, Doug (December 19, 1981). "Y. wins another Holiday heartstopper". Deseret News. (Salt Lake City, Utah). p. A3.
- ^ "WSU, BYU go 'bowling' tonight". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). December 18, 1981. p. 21.
- ^ "WSU got here via the 1-2 punch". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. December 18, 1981. p. 22.
- ^ "1981 Holiday Bowl – Bowl Games – Tradition - BYU Football Guide". Archived from the original on November 20, 2015. Retrieved January 6, 2017.
- ^ "Polls agree that Tigers are No. 1". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). wire services. January 3, 1982. p. 3E.