December 17, 1984: The football team at Brigham Young University defeats the University of Michigan, 24-17 in the Holiday Bowl at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego -- a game that, under the rules of the time, BYU were locked into as Champions of the Western Athletic Conference.
This was not a particularly strong Michigan team, going in at just 6-5, and probably getting the bowl bid solely because of their history. Nevertheless, the Cougars of coach LaVell Edwards and quarterback Robbie Bosco beat them, leading a 4th-quarter comeback down 17-10 and throwing the winning touchdown pass with 1:23 left, and finished an undefeated 13-0 season.
No other team finished the season undefeated. The University of Washington finished 11-1, beating Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl. But their 1 loss, to USC (the University of Southern California), cost them the Pacific-10 Conference title, and if you're not Conference Champions, you shouldn't be crowned National Champions -- a principle that should have been held once the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) and later the Playoffs finally did come, but didn't.
Oklahoma, who won the Big 8 Conference, had been Number 2, but this loss eliminated them. Florida had been Number 3, and won the Southeastern Conference title, but were on probation, and were ineligible for a bowl game, costing them the National Championship.
Put it all together, and, voting on January 2, 1985, the Associated Press (AP) in their poll of college football writers, and United Press International (UPI) in their poll of college football coaches both gave BYU got a very dubious national title.
BYU had some unfair advantages. Being in the WAC, they had a rather weak schedule. The only ranked team they beat all season was the University of Pittsburgh, then Number 3, 20-14 in their season opener. They only beat Hawaii 18-13. They only beat Wyoming 41-38. They only beat the Air Force Academy 30-25. Their season was similar to that of the 1972 Miami Dolphins: They rarely looked like a great team, but they went undefeated, and won the Super Bowl.
Another unfair advantage BYU had was missions. As a school run by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, a.k.a. the Mormons, and named for the man who led the early Church to Salt Lake City -- the University is in Provo, 50 miles to the south -- they send their men on missions, and even "redshirt" their good players, so that their seniors are 23, 24 or 25 years old, playing opponents between 18 and 22 years old.
Then as now, the NCAA usually grants a player 5 years to complete 4 years of eligibility, but allows exceptions for injuries, military service, and, yes, religious missions -- something the 1st Amendment to the Constitution, with its freedom of religion, requires them to allow. Yet other schools famous for being run by religious institutions, such as Catholic schools like Notre Dame and Boston College, don't require missions. Nor do the Protestant schools in Texas that play major college football: Southern Methodist (SMU) in Dallas, Texas Christian (TCU, Disciples of Christ) in Fort Worth, or Baylor (Baptist) in Waco.
The Mormons do require missions, but will grant exceptions in some cases, including that of the man who was their quarterback the 4 previous seasons, and their most famous player ever, who just so happened to be the great-great-great-grandson of the school's namesake: Steve Young. That was seen as a bit hypocritical, because they were viewed as wanted to raise their profile, as well as raise money, off Steve's pro career.
Built in 1964, BYU's Cougar Stadium was renamed for coach Edwards following his retirement after the 2000 season. Under him, they won 19 Conference Championships -- the 1st 18 in the WAC, the last in the new Mountain West Conference -- in a span of 26 seasons. They became known for "mad bomber" quarterbacks, such as Virgil Carter, Gary Sheide, Gifford Nielsen, Marc Wilson, Jim McMahon, Young and Bosco; and, after Bosco, Ty Detmer, John Walsh. (Detmer's brother Koy starred at the University of Colorado.)
LaVell Edwards
Despite finishing 3rd in the Heisman Trophy voting in both 1984 and 1985, and winning a National Championship, Bosco never played a down in the NFL, the USFL or the CFL. Since 1989, he has been employed by BYU. Apparently, they take care of their own. Edwards died in 2016.
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December 17, 1984 was a Monday. On ABC Monday Night Football, the Miami Dolphins beat the Dallas Cowboys, 28-21 at the Orange Bowl in Miami.
Baseball was out of season. No games were played in the NBA. Two were played in the NHL. The St. Louis Blues beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 3-2 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. And the New Jersey Devils beat the Edmonton Oilers, 5-2 at the Brendan Byrne Arena in the Meadowlands. It had been 7 months since the Oilers, led by Wayne Gretzky, had won their 1st Stanley Cup; and 13 months since Gretzky had called the Devils "a Mickey Mouse organization" following a 13-4 Oilers win over them in Edmonton. Well, Wayne, how did they look after this?
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