1985

BYU’s Margin Is Smallest In History

By HERSCHEL NISSENSON

AP Sports Writer

Washington will have to wait until Sept. 14 before they can do something about Brigham Young, which outpolled the Huskies for the national football championship in the closest race since post-bowl voting started in 1968.

On the second Saturday of the 1985 season, the two teams that finished a controversial 1-2 Wednesday in the Associated Press college football poll meet in Provo, Utah.

"It makes a good buildup," BYU Coach LaVell Edwards said after learning that his No. 1-ranked Cougars had overcome more than a month of almost constant criticism about the difficulty of his team's schedule and captured the first national championship in the history of the country's largest privately owned university.

"I'm sure both teams will be fired up," said Washington's Don James, who will have absolutely no trouble getting his players ready for that one. "I'd assume there'll be some sparks flying."

In the meantime, words of criticism continued to fly after BYU, the only unbeaten major-college team, received 38 of 60 first-place votes and 1,160 of a possible 1,200 points from the AP's nationwide panel of sports writers and sportscasters. The Cougars were ranked No. 1 for the final three weeks of the regular season.

"The relative merits and strengths of the leagues (Pac-10 and Western Athletic Conference) had been discussed for six straight weeks- that was the only hope we had," James said. "Week in and week out our players had to go against better athletes than BYU, not necessarily better teams. And, Oklahoma played a tougher schedule than we did. We'll put up two fingers (instead of one) if we have to. In my opinion, we went through the season with the most difficult schedule with the best record. I'm disappointed we can't claim the national championship, but I'm not going to jump off the roof."

Washington, which ended the regular season ranked No. 4, defeated No. 2 Oklahoma 28-17 in the Orange Bowl for an 11-1 record- the most victories in its history- and finished behind BYU with 16 first place votes and 1,140 points. On Dec. 21, Brigham Young defeated Michigan 24-17 and became only the second major-college team in the last 80 years- Nebraska's 1971 national champs was the other- to go 13-0.

BYU's margin of victory was the smallest since The AP went to a post-bowl poll in 1968. Alabama won the 1979 national championship by 28 points over Southern California. The closest finish since The AP poll began in 1936 was Alabama's 16-point triumph over Ohio State in 1961 when the national championship was decided on the basis of regular-season play.

"That’s incredible," was Edwards' reaction when informed in Palo Alto, Calif., where he will coach in Saturday's East-West Shrine Game, that BYU had convinced enough skeptics. "The way the whole thing is structured, it doesn't make sense that something like that could happen, but it did.

"No one in our part of the country has ever won it before. The fact that it requires a vote from people all over the country and an awareness of BYU is just really satisfying. There's no question that all the controversy added to our identity. I don't think we'll have a problem with that any more.

"When you figure all the great teams and all the great coaches and one way or another it (the national championship) has eluded them... it hasn't really sunk in, but it's starting to now a little bit."

Edwards, who was raised in Orem, Utah, just a few miles from the BYU campus, said that "even by local standards BYU was not very much for so many years. Even as a kid growing up five or 10 minutes from the stadium, BYU was never anything in football."

There are those who say BYU still isn't very much. Even after Oklahoma was beaten, Coach Barry Switzer refused to acknowledge that BYU might have a legitimate claim to be No. 1.

"Washington is the best team we played and they deserve to be No. 1," he said. "They're a better football team than Brigham Young, I guarantee you."

In addition to its 38 first-place ballots, BYU received 11 seconds, six thirds, three fourths and two fifths. Washington had 16 firsts, 29 seconds, 14 thirds and one fourth. The Huskies had been No. 1 four times during the regular season before suffering their only loss, 16-7, to Southern Cal on Nov. 10.

The other six first-place votes went to Florida, which held onto third place with 1,092 points. The Gators, 9-1-1, won the Southeastern Conference championship but were barred from playing in a bowl game because of an NCAA and conference sanctions.

Nebraska, which defeated LSU 28-10 in the Sugar Bowl, moved up from fifth place to fourth with 1,017 points. The Cornhuskers finished third in 1982 and second a year ago.

Boston College jumped from eighth to fifth with 932 points after downing Houston 45-28 in the Cotton Bowl. Oklahoma slipped from second to sixth with 883 points, while Ohio State, sixth in the final regular season poll, fell to 13th after losing to Southern Cal 20-17 in the Rose Bowl.

Oklahoma State, a 21-14 winner over South Carolina in the Gator Bowl, climbed from ninth and replaced the Gamecocks in seventh place with 864 points. Southern Methodist defeated Notre Dame 27-20 in the Aloha Bowl and rose from 10th to eighth with 761 points. UCLA, which managed a 39-37 victory over defending national champion Miami in the Fiesta Bowl, shot from 14th to ninth with 613 points while Miami skidded from 13th to 18th. Rounding out the Top Ten is Southern Cal with 596 points.

The Second Ten consists of South Carolina, Maryland, Ohio State, Auburn- the preseason No. 1 pick- LSU, Iowa, Florida State, Miami, Kentucky and Virginia.

Brigham Young began the season unranked. The Cougars jumped to No. 13 after opening with a 20-14 upset of third-rated Pitt and cracked the Top Ten the following week by routing Baylor, 47-13. The Cougars remained anywhere from sixth to third until reaching the No. 1 position with a 24-14 triumph over Utah on Nov. 17.

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