1979 Holiday Bowl

The 1979 Holiday Bowl was a college football bowl game played December 21, 1979, in San Diego, California. It was part of the 1979 NCAA Division I-A football season. It featured the Indiana Hoosiers against the BYU Cougars. Indiana won 38–37.

1979 Holiday Bowl
Indiana Hoosiers BYU Cougars (7–4) (11–0) Big Ten WAC 38 37 Head coach:  Lee Corso Head coach:  LaVell Edwards AP Coaches 9 9
1 2 3 4 Total Indiana 14 7 10 7 38 BYU 14 3 17 3 37
Date	December 21, 1979
Season	1979
Stadium	San Diego Stadium
Location	San Diego, California
MVP	Marc Wilson (BYU) Tim Wilbur (Indiana)
Attendance	52,500[1]
Payout	US$271,214 per team[1]
Holiday Bowl  < 1978  1980 >

Background

Indiana won seven games to complete their first winning season since 1968 while qualifying for a bowl game for the first time since the Rose Bowl team of 1967, while finishing fourth in the Big Ten Conference. Western Athletic Conference champion BYU was a perfect 11-0 going into this game, having risen from #20 to #9 by the fourth game, with a win over #14 Texas A&M beginning a season that saw the most wins in one season in school history up to that point.

Game summary

• BYU – Eric Lane 1-yard touchdown run (Brent Johnson kick)
• Indiana – Bob Stephenson 38-yard touchdown pass from Tim Clifford (Kevin Kellog kick)
• Indiana – Clifford 1-yard touchdown run (Kellog kick)
• BYU – Marc Wilson 3-yard touchdown run (Johnson kick)
• BYU – Johnson 40-yard field goal
• Indiana – Clifford 1-yard touchdown run (Kellog kick)
• BYU – Homer Jones 13-yard touchdown pass from Wilson (Johnson kick)
• Indiana – Mike Harkrader 1-yard touchdown run (Kellog kick)
• Indiana – Kellog 26-yard field goal
• BYU – Johnson 29-yard field goal
• BYU – Eric Lane 15-yard touchdown pass from Wilson (Johnson kick)
• Indiana – Tim Wilbur 62-yard punt return (Kellog kick)

The game, which featured an 11-0 BYU team going against a 7-4 Indiana team coached by future ESPN college football analyst Lee Corso, went back and forth from start to finish. The Cougars held a 37–31 lead late in the fourth quarter when Tim Wilbur took a 62-yard punt back for the go-ahead score. Brent Johnson's 27 yard field goal attempt with seven seconds to go was blocked and Indiana held on to get their first ever bowl win in school history. Wilbur was named co-MVP, along with Marc Wilson of BYU, who threw 28-of-43 for 380 yards with 2 touchdowns and 3 interceptions while rushing for 40 yards on 9 carries for a touchdown.^[2][3][4]

Statistics

Statistics	Indiana	BYU
First downs	21	31
Rushing yards	183	140
Passing yards	171	380
Total Net Yards	354	520
Passing	11–30–1	28–43–3
Fumbles–lost	1–0	1–1
Penalties–yards	7–70	1–15
Punts–average	6–41.3	2–38.0
Kickoff return yards	114	126
Punt return yards	66	30
Time of possession	35:07	24:53

Aftermath

Indiana did not make a bowl game again until 1986, while BYU continued to make bowl games, including five more Holiday Bowls in a five-year span, with the 1980 team breaking the record for most wins a season with 12.

References

1. "Holiday Bowl Game History". Archived from the original on December 16, 2012. Retrieved February 12, 2008.
2. "1979 Holiday Bowl – Bowl Games – Tradition - BYU Football Guide". Archived from the original on November 19, 2015. Retrieved January 6, 2017.
3. "CougarStats: BYU Football: BYU vs. Indiana 1979 Holiday Bowl".
4. "1979 Holiday Bowl: Indiana 38, BYU 37". Deseret News. December 4, 2000. Archived from the original on January 7, 2017.