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 | ||||||||||||||||||||
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]
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.
Favored 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.
First quarter
Second quarter
Third quarter
Fourth quarter
Statistics | WSU | BYU |
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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 |