1984 McMNC: BYU Cougars

AP Top 10: Final Record -- Key Bowl Results

1. BYU: 13-0-0 -- W, Holiday, 24-17
2. Washington: 11-1-0 -- W, Orange, 28-17
3. Florida: 9-1-1 -- NONE (probation)
4. Nebraska: 10-2-0 -- W, Sugar, 28-10
5. Boston College: 10-2-0 -- W, Cotton, 45-28
6. Oklahoma: 9-2-1 -- L, Orange, 17-28
7. Oklahoma State: 10-2-0 -- W, Gator, 21-14
8. SMU: 10-2-0 -- W, Aloha, 27-20
9. UCLA: 9-3-0 -- W, Fiesta, 39-37
10. USC: 9-3-0 -- W, Rose, 20-17

Well, this is a weird season (aren't they all?). It's really a simple matter of BYU and Washington here. We've tracked BYU's ascent up the AP poll recently, and they finally reached the summit here in 1984.

The problem is this: Washington didn't win its conference in 1984. The Huskies finished second to USC, losing the head-to-head matchup by nine points on the road on November 10 -- thus losing the Pac-10 crown to the Trojans and eliminating themselves from McMNC contention. Same with Nebraska (lost the Big 8 crown to Oklahoma the same way). Florida? Cheatenous. Too bad, because their 56% SOS rating would have been enough (perhaps) to dethrone the Cougars (assuming the Gators would have won a bowl game to go 10-1-1). Oklahoma State falls the same way Nebraska did; SMU didn't win the SWC (losing the head-to-head tiebreak to Houston). As the Pac-10 champ, USC has three losses.

Boston College, even with its two losses, is really the only team we can consider, even partially, as an alternative to BYU. Why? A 60% SOS rating, coupled with a one-point road loss to UPI #18 West Virginia (8-4) and a seven-point road loss to 6-5 Penn State. At least those are decent losses (although hardly "good" losses). The Eagles did beat 6-5 Temple at home by 14 points, as well as 7-3 Rutgers at home by 12 points. Not exactly "good" wins, though, eh? They beat 8-3-1 Army by 14 points at home, they beat 6-5 Syracuse at home by eight points, and they beat AP #18 Miami-FL on the road by two points (you might remember that game -- http://youtube.com/watch?v=r-qkpsygNYo). Finally, they beat 8-3 Holy Cross on the road by 35 points, and they beat 7-5 Houston, the SWC "champ", in the Cotton Bowl. Not exactly a barn-burning schedule: they beat one ranked team, and even that was a friggin' miracle. This is perhaps the softest "good" schedule we've seen yet in an McMNC analysis.

But consider the other option here is BYU. Surely, their schedule probably was just as squishy: the Cougars' SOS rating was a mere 42% in 1984. They did try, however, to schedule good teams. They traveled to Pittsburgh, but the Panthers were only 3-7-1 in 1984. BYU beat by six points. The Cougars beat 6-5 Tulsa by 23 points at home, they beat 7-4 Hawaii by five points on the road, they beat 8-4 Air Force by five points on the road, and they beat 6-5-1 Utah on the road by ten points. Those were the only four winning teams BYU faced all year; none of them were from a major conference, and even the Cougars' Holiday Bowl opponent finished a mere 6-6 (Michigan). In addition to the Wolverines, the only major-conference opponent BYU faced all season was 5-6 Baylor: the Cougars beat them 47-13 in Provo.

The reality is this: Boston College didn't play a good enough schedule or beat enough good teams to overcome their two losses. And BYU didn't play a very good schedule, either, but the chips fell just right for the Cougars in 1984: no major-conference team won its conference, won its bowl game AND finished with less than three losses.

BYU wins the 1984 McMNC by default, basically.

McMNC Revisions
1. BYU
2. Washington
3. Boston College
4. Nebraska
5. Oklahoma State

RUNNING SCORECARD:
USC: -1962, =1967, +1969, =1972, +1978, +1979
Pittsburgh: +1936, -1937, =1976, +1980
Tennessee: +1938, +1942, +1950, -1951
Penn State: +1977, +1981, =1982
UCLA: +1965
Arkansas: +1964
Mississippi: +1962
Washington: +1960
Iowa: +1956
Georgia Tech: +1952
Illinois: +1951
Michigan: +1947, =1948
Purdue: +1943
Stanford: +1940
California: +1937
Nebraska: =1970, =1971
BYU: =1984
Syracuse: =1959
LSU: =1958
Texas A&M: =1939
Auburn: -1957, +1983
Georgia: +1946, -1980
Michigan State: -1952, +1953
Ohio State: -1942, +1944, =1954, =1968
Oklahoma: +1949, -1950, =1955, -1956, +1957, =1975
TCU: -1938
Maryland: -1953
Clemson: -1981
Miami-FL: -1983
Texas: =1963, -1969
Army: -1944, -1945
Minnesota: -1936, -1940, =1941, -1960
Alabama: +1945, =1961, -1964, -1965, -1978, -1979
Notre Dame: -1943, -1946, -1947, -1949, =1966, =1973, -1977