The 10 Best BYU Football Seasons Ever

Ranking BYU's top ten seasons of all time is difficult. At this point, the program is so storied and has produced so many great teams that this list will inevitably leave off a deserving group. If you disagree with these rankings, feel free to tear me to shreds on Twitter @JFloyd314. And enjoy this walk down a very happy memory lane. References to games are linked to highlight videos where available.

#10: 2001 (12-2, 7-0 MWC)—In some ways, the 2001 BYU football team was only half a team—it arguably represents the finest offense BYU has ever fielded, but defense was...well...a bit of an afterthought at times. Feasting on mostly mediocre Mountain West competition, the Cougar offense averaged a jaw-dropping 46.8 points per game. There are three reasons that people often criticize this team: first, their abysmal defense (which allowed a ghastly 30.5 ppg); second, their offensive overdependence on Doak Walker Award winner Luke Staley; and third, their relatively soft schedule. All are fair criticisms. Certainly, the defense suffered numerous letdowns and was embarrassed in the Hawaii game, and sure, the offense collapsed against Louisville without Staley. And while the Cougars had done their best to put together an impressive schedule, even adding a rare SEC opponent in Mississippi State, they didn't play anyone who ended up being all that great. Still, this team won 12 games in a row—a difficult feat regardless of schedule strength—and Luke Staley's Doak Walker Award win stands alongside Ty Detmer's Heisman Trophy as one of the most remarkable individual feats in BYU history. The Cougars finished ranked #24 by the Coaches’ Poll and #25 by the AP.

#9: 1932 (8-1-0, 5-1-0 RMAC)—This is the most underrated season in BYU football history. Full stop. It's perhaps not well known among Cougar fans because it was surrounded by the Dark Ages of BYU football—a time when just posting a .500 record was cause for huge celebration. So bad were the Cougars of yore that, in all years of the 1930’s except this one, they averaged 4.5 wins per season. But in 1932, for one season, they rose out of mediocrity and produced a dominant team. Granted, they played a weak schedule, but the 1932 Cougars were truly in a statistical class all their own. They outscored their opponents 155-80 for the year, and although they lost the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference title to Utah, this was a very, very good team—possibly the single best scoring defense in BYU football history, allowing an astonishing 5.6 points per game and pitching four shutouts. Certainly, 1932 is a season that merits far more attention than it gets.

#8: 2020 (11-1)—It was hard to decide where to put this season. I considered leaving it out entirely and opting for the Cougars' excellent 2006 campaign instead, but I decided to stick with 2020 for two reasons. The first is that even against mostly bad teams, BYU put together a string of really impressive performances. They dominated the teams they were supposed to dominate, and they were only kept from a NY6 bowl by falling short in a weird last-minute matchup with talented upstart Coastal Carolina. The second reason 2020 had to be included is simple—the team featured a lot of high-level talent. While his NFL career hasn't been all that noteworthy so far, Zach Wilson's performance in 2020 was so strong that it induced the Jets to draft him 2nd overall, making him the highest Cougar ever selected. And he wasn't the only one—four other Cougars were drafted as well, making 2021 one of the best drafts ever for BYU talent. In particular, left tackle Brady Christensen has been a regular starter at the NFL level since being taken in the 3rd round by the Panthers. This was a remarkable team, and it's tragic that they didn't get to prove themselves against better competition. The Cougars finished ranked 11th by both the AP and Coaches' Polls and 16th by the CFP Poll.

#7: 2009 (11-2, 7-1 MWC)—This is the first BYU football season that I remember vividly—I was in fifth grade at the time, and I can still recall jumping up and down in a tired sort of way when Andrew George finally scored that game-winning touchdown in OT against Utah. Three games from this season made my list of Bronco Mendenhall’s best wins, including the number one game, which was the Cougars’ stunning 14-13 upset of #3 Oklahoma. Although they lost badly to TCU and Florida State, this was a very talented team. Harvey Unga led a strong rush attack and set BYU's all-time career rushing record, while Max Hall directed a classic BYU aerial assault en route to becoming the winningest quarterback in school history. And just ask Heisman-winning Oklahoma QB Sam Bradford how good the Cougar defense was. This season marked the pinnacle of the Bronco Mendenhall era at BYU. The Cougars finished the season ranked #12 by both the AP and Coaches’ polls and came in at #14 in the final BCS standings.

#6: 1979 (11-1-0, 7-0-0 WAC)—The 1979 Cougars produced the first really special season of LaVell Edwards' career, as Marc Wilson rewrote the NCAA passing record book while leading his team to an 11-0 regular season record. Nobody in the WAC was even on BYU's plane of existence. Opening the season with a thrilling 18-17 upset of #14 Texas A&M on the road, the Cougars then tore through the remainder of their schedule with vicious ease. Unbeaten, untied, and ranked #9 going into the 1979 Holiday Bowl, the Cougars might have clinched a final ranking in the top 5 and a higher rating on this list if they could only have beaten a much inferior Indiana team…but it was not to be. The BYU defense collapsed in the second half, and a botched punt led to a Hoosier touchdown and 38-37 lead. Then, normally reliable BYU placekicker Kurt Gunther blew what would have been a game-winning field goal. The stunning upset loss dropped the Cougars to #12 in the Coaches’ poll and #13 in the AP poll. Had that field goal been good, this season would rank somewhat higher; however, it would not have cracked the top three simply because, outside of A&M, the Cougars didn’t play any good teams. Or anything even remotely resembling a good team.

#5: 1990 (10-3-0, 7-1-0 WAC)—This list would not be complete without due recognition being given to the season that brought BYU perhaps more national recognition than any before, including 1984 (which will be discussed later). The Cougars opened the season by humiliating #1 Miami in Provo, and closed the season with Ty Detmer winning the Heisman Trophy. However, all was not well with BYU football in 1990. I am willing to excuse the debacle that was the Holiday Bowl because Detmer was already dinged up going into the game and then proceeded to separate both shoulders. But the Cougars' losses to bad Hawaii and Oregon teams will forever cloud what was otherwise a magical season, and those two losses keep the 1990 team from rising any higher on this list. The Hawaii game was especially brutal—on the heels of Detmer's Heisman win, the Cougars had their bells rung 59-28 by a 7-win Rainbow Warriors squad. It was an embarrassingly low-effort performance against an opponent BYU should have easily beaten. In spite of all that, the greatness of Ty Detmer and the Miami win made this season incredibly special and worthy of its place on this list. BYU fans may never see production quite like Detmer's again.  The Cougars finished the season ranked #17 by the Coaches’ poll and #22 by the AP.

#4: 1980 (12-1-0, 6-1-0 WAC)—The 1980 season started inauspiciously for BYU with an upset loss to New Mexico, but the Cougars then proceeded to go on an absolute rampage. Jim McMahon took a match to the NCAA record book and started his own, with 34 NCAA records to his name by season’s end. The Cougars rang up the most points for a single game in school history during an 83-7 rout of UTEP, and established what is still the Holy War record for margin of victory with a 56-6 win over Utah. Then came the 1980 Holiday Bowl. For 55:27 of game time, the Cougars played some of their worst football of the season, digging themselves into a 45-25 deficit against the highly-touted SMU Mustangs. For the final, magical 4:33, however, those same Cougars woke up and scored an incredible 21 straight points en route to a ridiculous 46-45 come-from-behind victory—the first bowl win in program history. The dominance of this team, and the mark it made on college football history, made one of the most memorable in BYU history. The 1980 Cougars finished the year ranked #11 by the Coaches’ poll and #12 by the AP. 

#3: 1983 (12-1-0, 7-0-0 WAC)—You will never find a more completely statistically dominant BYU team than 1983. Offensively, the Cougars averaged a ridiculous 44 points per game and were led by Steve Young, who won the Davy O’Brien and Sammy Baugh awards. Many a WAC defensive coordinator considered a change in profession after facing that offensive assault, and that went for PAC-10 teams as well, as UCLA discovered the hard way. And let’s not forget the defense, which was led by a star-studded cast that held opponents to just 20.9 ppg for the season. Suffering just one loss, a shootout defeat in their season opener against Baylor, the Cougars rolled to an 11-1 season that concluded with a dramatic Holiday Bowl victory over Mizzou and set the stage for a national championship the following year. The 1983 Cougars featured a number of NFL players; best-known among them, of course, is Young himself, who had a Hall of Fame career with the 49ers. The 1983 BYU football team finished ranked #7 by both the AP and Coaches’ polls.

#2: 1996 (14-1, 8-0 WAC)—The 1996 BYU football team could have so easily made Number One on this list but for two games: Washington and New Mexico. Aside from those games—a bad loss and an unexpectedly ugly win, respectively—the '96 Cougars were jaw-droppingly good. They won fourteen games, still a program record. They beat #13 Texas A&M 41-37 in Cougar Stadium on national TV to open the college football season. They finished with a 19-15 victory over #14 Kansas State in the Cotton Bowl. Most importantly, though, this BYU team began a conversation about the unfairness of the Bowl Alliance/BCS system which would eventually lead to its demise following the 2013 season. This team was stacked—Chad Lewis, Itula Mili, Brian McKenzie, James Dye, and Sammy Baugh Trophy winner Steve Sarkisian headlined the offense; the defense featured stars like Henry Bloomfield, Omarr Morgan, Tim McTyer, and WAC Defensive Player of the Year Shay Muirbrook. The Cougars played a relatively weak conference slate, but non-conference strength of schedule was enough to land them in a New Year’s Day bowl for the first and only time in program history. BYU finished the season ranked #5 by the AP and Coaches’ polls.

#1: 1984 (13-0-0, 7-0-0 WAC)—To me, it would be unconscionable to place any other season at the top of this list, as this was the season that set the gold standard for BYU football success. Thirteen wins. Not one single loss or tie. A perfect, unblemished season. There are scores of Power 5 teams that have never been close to competing for a national championship, but the 1984 Cougars from the lowly WAC defied the odds to win it all. From their season-opening win over #3 Pittsburgh to their gutsy finish in the Holiday Bowl, the Cougars fielded a rock-solid defense and a high-flying offense and only occasionally looked mortal in the process (the Hawaii game was ugly, but the Cougars got the win—in part because of this insane play by Kyle Morrell). When all was said and done, the Cougars were the only undefeated and untied team in college football and every major championship selector of the day ranked them #1. All these years later, 1984 stands as the peak of BYU football dominance and the yardstick against which every subsequent season has been judged.