My 15 Favorite BYU Games

-- Making lists + BYU Football = match made in blog heaven

Today I list the 15 BYU games that mattered most to me. One note worth keeping in mind -- I only include games I've been an 'alive' fan for, which means games prior to 1995 will not be included. Honorable mentions are found here.

#15 -- BYU at CSU, 2008
I know the 2008 season ended much the same way a trip to an unlicensed taco stand ends, but still I loved that team. They looked invincible for six games, got exposed by TCU, then struggled for the remainder of the year as emboldened MWC teams sought payback for the Brigham Young bully tour of 2006 and 2007. This was a team that went from a national title contender to a team who struggled to escape UNLV at home.

So yeah that 2008 BYU team wasn’t perfect, even if they quested for it. But this CSU showdown was an absolute blast, and maybe the best (or 2nd best behind UCLA) showcase of BYU’s offensive talents from that era. Austin Collie caught one of the most ridiculous one-handed bombs I’ve ever seen and scored three times11. Four times if you count the one that got written off when Collie went (aka was pushed) out of bounds in the first half in a performance that made Cougar fans feel like we had Jerry Rice on our team. And yet somehow Dennis Pitta one-upped him in yardage, 175 to 156, while delivering his own absurd highlight, a helmet-popping touchdown catch made between two converging defenders. Harvey Unga casually picked up 147 yards on 25 touches meaning collectively the trio combined for 478 total yards and six touchdowns. Meanwhile Max Hall threw 35 times and only missed on 7 attempts, racking up 389 yards and 5 touchdowns for his efforts.

When CSU scored to go ahead with 104 seconds left, I’d never felt more confident that BYU would drive down and score the winner. The truth is I’ve never felt as confident in any offense as I did that 2008 squad. The 2001 offense may have put up the better stats, but when firing on all cylinders that '08 squad was just a level above.

For proof here’s how BYU’s final drive went, which by the way only required 82 seconds.

- Max Hall to Dennis Pitta for 15 yards

- Max Hall pass incomplete

- Max Hall pass to Harvey Unga for 14 yards

- Max Hall to Reed White for 14 yards

- Max Hall to Austin Collie for 16 yards

- Max Hall to Dennis Pitta for 17 yards and the game-winning touchdown

That's how you say LOL in playbook.


#14 -- BYU vs Notre Dame, 2004
2002 and 2003 were some lean years; BYU’s worst since 1960 and 1961, in fact. Upsetting Notre Dame on opening night under the lights, on ESPN, with the two heralded newcomers at WR (Watkins and Collie) looking unstoppable felt like a return to glory. It turned out not to be, but at the time it felt like another 2001 season was possible.

By the way, for a team that wasn’t necessarily great, this team sure possessed some of my favorite BYU players: Collie, Watkins, Granger legend Fahu Tahi, cannon-arm John Beck, Aaron Francisco, Curtis Brown, Granger legend #2 Nate Soelberg, Matt “Bring the Pain” Payne, Brady Poppinga, and Daniel Coats. And technically Dennis Pitta as well, though I have not a single memory of his 17 catches from that season.

 

#13 -- BYU vs Utah State, 2012
This game lacked a lot of “favorite” staples – it wasn’t high scoring, didn’t have lead changes, and didn’t carry an enormous level of importance in the macro sense. It also ended with an easily avoided Taysom Hill injury and didn’t I say in our honorable mentions post that such an injury disqualified the 2015 Nebraska game?

Well, this game was simply personal: the city of Logan harmed me in 2012. For my favorite team to beat the best team in their history with a defensive suffocation for the ages was satisfying in a way that few games have ever been for me. Shockingly, this is also one of BYU’s “best wins ever” if you go by the metric of where the opponent finished in the rankings at the end of the season.


#12 -- BYU at Wisconsin, 2018
We once played UMass at home. The year was 2017. In 58 minutes and 32 seconds of game-time we scored 3 points against the fighting minutemen. We'd go on to lose 17 to 10. Florida International would score 63 on UMass just a couple of weeks later.

BYU rushed for 42 yards that day. Four games later with Grimes at the helm, against Wisconsin, on the road, BYU rushed for 191 yards. I have to think that about face ranks as one of the most drastic in BYU history. And so this game generated happiness out of pure disbelief. Four games after one of the worst moments in BYU history, the Cougars recorded their biggest upset since the 2009 Oklahoma game. It still is shocking to think about.


#11 -- BYU vs Utah, 2021
This obviously is a favorite game, but I couldn’t 100% enjoy it in the moment. Too much insane nonsense had struck our team during the rivalry game over the last decade to believe a 23 to 6 lead late in the third quarter was safe. When the rain started pouring and Utah scored to cut the lead to six and Hall’s 66-yard TD run got called back … I couldn’t have been the only one whose faith wavered in that moment, right? I was haunted by the two turnovers BYU had converted into only three points. All I could think was we had managed to lose in ways previously believed impossible over the past 10 years; and here we were on track to lose because a Ute-turned-Cougar scored a TD, earned a celebration penalty, causing us to miss an extra point which could be the difference if Utah scored one more time.

Praise heavens that didn’t happen.

One of my favorite moments from this game came the morning after, when my daughter – who had watched the first quarter with me before going to sleep – asked if BYU won.

“Yeah," I said, slowly, barely able to believe it. "My team finally did it.”

“You mean, our team did it.”

#10 -- BYU vs Texas, 2013
The joy of this game started with the absolute shock of it all. Following a botch job against an absolutely horrendous Virginia team there were limited expectations as BYU trotted out against ranked Texas. The rain didn’t help– if anything a monsoon delay in both game 1 and game 2 of the season seemed an ominous sign from the footballing heavens.

The joy of this game rose to another level when we realized Taysom Hill was going to turn into Luke Staley for one night. He rushed for 259 yards and 3 TDs … on 17 carries. Or to put it another way: every six times he carried the ball he completed a full day’s work, earning an average 91 yards rushing and a touchdown.

The joy of this game cemented itself in the final score. A 19-point win at home against the 15th ranked team in the country? Against a blue blood? Featuring a coming out party for two future NFL players (Taysom and Jamaal)? Wins don’t come much better.

#9 -- BYU at Utah, 2000
Presenting the first of two games on this list that feature me fondling our radio like an honor code violator, hoping that a caressing twist of the dial would somehow generate positive karma for the team I loved. If anyone deserved the magic that only the football gods could provide, it was LaVell in his final coaching game. I mean, Harry couldn’t lose to Voldemort in their final duel ... could he?

But things couldn’t end calmly in Harry and Voldemort’s final duel either. So it was that BYU led 26 to 10 entering the 4th quarter. And so it was that BYU trailed 27 to 26 ending the 4th quarter. How you ask? I refuse to acknowledge.

The final scenes were great though. How about this for whiplashing between despair and ultimate joy? With a minute remaining BYU was staring down a 4th-and-13 from their own 17-yard line that felt more like 4th-and-LaVell’s Entire Legacy on the line. Four plays later BYU scored the winning touchdown. Tevita Ofahengaue gave the throat slash signal to the entire Ute contingent and we knew that no harm would come to us on LaVell's last game. Not on His day.

#8 -- BYU vs Utah, 2009
Not on Max’s day either! I think this game is a bit underrated in BYU lore, much like the entire Max Hall era which is unjustly devalued by fans for lack of BCS accomplishments. But consider what was on the line for this game: this was only the second BYU-Utah showdown of my lifetime where both teams were ranked; a win would avenge the '08 humiliation; it would knock Utah out of top-25; it would give BYU 3 wins in the last 4 games against Utah; it would give BYU a chance for 3 wins over ranked teams in the season; and it would send BYU legends Hall, Pitta, Unga, and Jorgensen out as winners. Much like the 2000 version of the rivalry, BYU led, fell apart, and then celebrated victory in dramatic fashion.

Max’s speech, aka the BYU pledge of allegiance, was the cherry on top.


#7 -- BYU at Utah, 2006
This game would no doubt climb the list had I not been in Chile during it. But despite not having a radio to listen to, or a TV to watch, my dad’s recap via email was as dramatic and joy-filled as I could have hoped from any journalist. I remember as clear as day receiving the email. I couldn’t read it at first. I was too nervous. 2006 represented the resurrection of BYU football. They had climbed back from the depths of losing 52 to 9 against Air Force; of losing 50 to 12 against Boise; of handing six turnovers to UNLV in a home loss; but to complete the return they had to beat Utah.

So like a coward I printed the email, folded it up, and began sweating. I finally opened it while waiting in line at the bank. I’ll let my dad tell the story:



Was this the happiest moment of my mission? Of course not.

The happiest moment came a month later knocking doors when a friendly Chilean took pity and loaned us his HDMI cord, which we used to watch the DVD of the game my dad had mailed. To that random Chilean who opened his door to people from a different country, missionaries even, on CHRISTMAS DAY of all days, and figured "why not?" after we asked for technical equipment, I say thank you good sir and Gooooooooo Cougars.


#6 -- BYU vs Utah, 2007
Had Max Hall’s shoulder been at full strength for this game it’s possible the 4th-and-18 heave to Austin Collie would not simply been a 49-yard first down completion. It might have been an 88-yard touchdown pass. And I wouldn’t be here today because I would have keeled over in the stadium, the first person to have died from a happiness overdose.

This was my first in-person rivalry game and boy did the crowd deliver.22. In a vacuum, the '06 rivalry win trumps '07. But '07 gets a boost in my pantheon because
a) I was there
b) Austin Collie is my favorite player ever
c) I was fresh off the mission and starved for football Bryan Kehl picked off a pass on the goal-line and the crowd exploded. Harvey Unga scored the game winner and the crowd exploded. Utah false started back-to-back in the student endzone and the crowd exploded.

A bizarre fact about this game – it had no business being close. If Harvey Unga doesn’t drop a TD pass; if Austin Collie’s TD pass doesn’t get called back for offensive PI; if Bryan Kehl doesn’t trip and instead returns his interception 99-yards for a TD, this game is a blowout. I suppose I’m happy it wasn’t because the crowd response on 4th-and-18 is the most jubilant, delirious, ecstatic mob moment I’ve ever been a part of. As I wrote back in 2008, it was like a bomb went off:

“Bodies collided in air. Elbows, feet, and hands bounced off each other. I didn't know who I was touching, where I was touching them, or vice versa. My glasses were knocked off my face, the lenses scratched, the frame bent. 

And I couldn't have been happier.”


#5 -- BYU vs UCLA, 2008
I might have gotten back together with my ex-girlfriend because of this game. That’s how high I was after BYU dropped the 59-0 nuclear bomb on UCLA. A 59-0 victory under any circumstances is a dream, but to do it against the golden boy who had dumped us (Ben Olson); against the former legend who abandoned us (Norm Chow); following a week of media backlash saying we rode a referee’s mistake to beat Washington the Saturday before … it was just too delicious.

An aside: my personal BYU claim to fame is that I was responsible for BYU blocking the field goal that kept the zero in 59 to zero. UCLA’s most promising drive of the game settled right in front of my seats. As UCLA broke the huddle for their third down play – I repeat, it was third down – I singlehandedly began chanting with every ounce of voice left in me: “Block that kick!”

One bozo tried to tell me it was third down and I was chanting prematurely, but I knew what I was doing. Not only did I know BYU would stop the third down, I knew they would block the kick as well.

I was right on both accounts.


#4 -- BYU vs Texas A&M, 1996
The Ty Detmer revenge game! My baptism game! Here’s what I wrote last year on the 25th anniversary of the Pigskin Classic.

“I will never, ever, ever, watch that pass from Steve to KO and not get goosebumps.”

Yeah, that about summarizes it. This game brought me into the BYU fold. It was the first game I ever watched and I was immediately converted. The passing game. The stadium-shaking crowd. The lead changes. The penchant for drama. This was BYU football and BYU football was now my destiny.


#3 -- BYU vs Oklahoma, 2009
I moved into a new apartment the day of this game. For months I wondered what my new roommates thought when I lifted our apartment’s couch and tossed it sideways after O’Neill Chambers fumbled a yard away from the endzone.

“We thought you were nuts,” they eventually told me.

It probably didn’t help that I ran through the street screaming and punting my favorite football into the sky after Oklahoma’s field goal attempt missed. I do not apologize for my actions, either in despair or joy. It’s impossible to overstate how important this game was. BYU’s biggest upset since 1990, a victory over a Heisman winner, a victory over the prior year’s BCS champion runner-up, the inaugural victory in Dallas’ new stadium, and a victory that could match Utah’s win over Alabama in the Sugar Bowl.33.Of course Oklahoma ultimately had a ho hum season because anytime BYU pulls off an upsets that team then has to crater their season. But after an entire summer of hearing Utah fans drum up their Sugar Bowl win, this felt so so so good. Pure joy.


#2 -- BYU vs Kansas State, 1996
Kansas State ran the ball 41 times this game. They passed the ball 28 times. 67 of those 69 plays went for 0 points and 161 yards, aka 2.4 yards per play. For reference, the best mark in college football last year was Wisconsin’s 4.1 yards per play allowed.

Unfortunately 2 of those 69 plays went for 113 yards and 15 points.

This is a weird way of saying man this game was frustrating. We were dominating and we were losing. Our offense was locked up. The referees delivered two of the biggest “screw yous” in BYU history. This on the heels of the Bowl Alliance screwing us out of an ace bowl game. My dad couldn’t even frown at me when I kicked a hole in my bedroom door in rage.

When Kaipo got knocked out and the Wildcats celebrated, I had to wonder if it just wasn’t our day.

One play later Steve threw a pass and all the frustration was gone.

To win against the referees, the Bowl Alliance, the chirpy wildcats, the disbelieving media all on a goal-line interception at the buzzer was Valhalla.


#1 -- BYU vs Utah, 2001
Behold the peak of my fandom. At fifteen I was the perfect fan age: old enough to understand the importance of an undefeated season, while also young and dumb enough for it to matter to me more than anything in my life. I didn’t have kids, a job, or even a driver's license -- nothing distracted me from BYU. They won, I won. They lost, I died. That’s all there was to it. And in 2001 they would not lose. Not with Luke Staley.

At fifteen I was old enough to know BYU's rich history yet still young and dumb enough to debate it with haters at church and school. At fifteen I was old enough to understand sporting pain (eat turds, Michael Jordan) yet young and dumb enough to still believe in miracles. And so it was that I crouched by the radio, never surrendering hope even when BYU trailed by 11 with minutes remaining. When Staley scored for the second time I took $10,000 off our home’s resale value, jumping until the foundation started to vibrate. Had I any hormonal inclination at that time of life I would have pressed myself against the radio after Gilford’s pick. Instead I moshed against the walls, knocking a family picture to the ground. 

Our perfect season was intact, our rivals' dreams were raised then dashed, and my then-favorite player44. Staley is now #2, with Collie #1 and Van Noy #3. had just delivered a collective fourth quarter performance and a singular fourth quarter play for the ages. No win has meant more to me.

During the post-game show I screamed more joyfully than when Christmas morning yielded the Luke Skywalker X-wing lego set. This game was then, and remains for now, my favorite BYU win of all-time.