Originally published November 27, 2019.
The total and complete lack of competition exhibited by UMass against the BYU starters on Saturday got me thinking about the most lopsided, laughable games the Cougars have played over the years. It just so happens, conveniently for ranking purposes, that in the history of BYU football, the Cougars have won exactly five games by 60+ points, so I figured it might be fun to take a look at each one ranked least to most lopsided. While most of these games were pretty insignificant, there is a special sort of appeal to blowouts (for the winning team, anyway) that makes them entertaining in spite of their apparent pointlessness. While the team-versus-team competition might not be exactly enthralling, there are other forms of excitement to be had—which young players will get into the game? How many points will the winning team score? The losing team? How lopsided will the total yardage get? I could go on. We all love double-OT wins over good opponents, but sometimes, a nice blowout can be very cathartic.
5. 1951 vs. Western State (67-7): I was unable to find a box score for this game, but it is somewhat unusual in that it came at a dark period in BYU football history—a time when losing a 60-point blowout would be far more common for the Cougars than winning one. 1951, though, wasn’t a terrible year for BYU—a 6-3-1 record was a big deal for the Cougars when taken in context of the four-win seasons that bookended it.
4. 1973 @ UTEP (63-0): Ironically, this game was the season finale to LaVell Edwards’ worst season as BYU head coach. The Cougars were 4-6 coming in, but had a promising young Gary Sheide at quarterback and were more formidable offensively than their record indicated. The game looked on paper like it might be somewhat competitive…but it wasn’t. Leading 6-0 after the first quarter, the Cougars scored 30 second quarter points and took a 36-0 halftime lead that would only get more lopsided from there. The yardage differential wasn’t as pronounced as for some of the games on this list, with BYU outgaining UTEP 541-213, but the Cougars picked up 28 first downs while limiting the Miners to six. This game was a portent of things to come—Sheide would be an All-American the following year, and the Cougars would appear in the first bowl game in team history.
3. 2015 vs. Wagner (70-6): The two games tied for second-most lopsided in BYU football history happened in back-to-back seasons against comically overmatched FCS bottom feeders. This one only ends up below the Savannah State game because the Cougars allowed the Seahawks to score a touchdown, while they shut out the Tigers. This game was won decisively in the trenches—the BYU offensive and defensive lines were consistently able to blast their Wagner counterparts off the line, resulting in a red-letter day for offensive production. BYU comically outgained Wagner 741 yards to 129 and had 31 first downs to six for the Seahawks. It was ugly. Tanner Mangum sat early in the second quarter with an eye-popping passer rating of 321.6 and BYU ahead 42-0, and Beau Hoge and Koy Detmer, Jr. got to lead the charge from there. Highlights here.
2. 2014 vs. Savannah State (64-0): The Savannah State game gets preference in this list because it was a shutout and a more completely dominant win. As lopsided as the Wagner game was, the Seahawks at least put together a semblance of an offensive effort. Savannah State did not, registering only 63 yards of total offense. The Tigers didn’t seriously expect to put up a fight; head coach Earnest Wilson actually promised before the game that he would do a snow angel in the end zone if his team scored a touchdown. That almost happened—after the Cougars benched starting QB Christian Stewart, backup McCoy Hill entered the game and appeared to lose a fumble that Savannah State returned for a score...which was called back when it was determined that Hill’s knee was down. So sympathetic was the home crowd for the Tigers’ plight that the fans in the stands actually booed the decision. In my opinion, this is the worst game Tom Holmoe has ever scheduled a BYU team to play, but a spot had to be filled and the Tigers were happy with their paycheck. Highlights here.
1. 1980 vs. UTEP (83-7): The BYU-UTEP series has always been a little lopsided—it’s telling that both of the games against a current FBS team on this list happened against UTEP. In this one, the Miners at least managed to score a touchdown right before halftime, but the game was never in question. Jim McMahon threw for 451 yards and six touchdowns with a passer rating of 232.46 before Coach Edwards benched him in the third quarter. Four different Cougars scored multiple touchdowns, with an incredible eight players scoring at least one. The Cougars outgained the Miners 736 yards to 179. Twelve touchdowns, 83 points, and a 76-point margin of victory are all still school records that may never be seriously threatened.