SAN DIEGO — Just when it looked for all the world BYU had done a number on the U.S. Navy to win its first bowl in history: just when the Cougars were on their way to a rout, the tide, if you'll excuse the expression, turned.
The Navy's ship came in.
Sparked by the brilliance of split end Phil McConkey, the Naval Academy swept to 20 second-half points for a 23-16 win over BYU Friday in the world premiere of the Holiday Bowl — played at San Diego Stadium in front of 52,500 fans, most of whom didn't even think about leaving early to avoid traffic jams out on Stadium Way.
Nope, the Navy kept them in their seats. The crowd was prejudiced in the academy's direction anyway, what with San Diego being a seaport and all-around Navy hangout, and when the Midshipmen woke up in the second half it made for the start of a pretty good evening for thousands of sea-men taking furlough for the occasion.
Navy was definitely on the ropes midway into the third quarter when BYU scored on a Jim McMahon run to take a 16-3 lead.
That's when McConkey, a 5-10, 164-pound senior, went to work. He gained 16 yards on a reverse to set up a late third-quarter touchdown by Kevin Tolbert — making the score 16-10; and then gained 26 yards on an identical play moments later to set Bob Tata up for a 28-yard field goal that narrowed the gap to 13-16.
Then came the game's big play. The year's big play. The biggest play for Navy since Staubach retired. McConkey hauled in a 35-yard pass from QB Bob Leszczynski with a leaping catch over BYU's best pass defender, Bill Schoepflin, and rambled 30 yards into the endzone for enough points to give Navy the inaugural Holiday title and give himself the Best Offensive Player trophy. The Navy's advantage of 20-16 was extended moments later to 23-16 on Tat's third field goal of the game.
Those final Navy points came with seven minutes still to play, but BYU couldn't swim back. Not against the tide. The sailors were sailing.
After McConkey's TD the Cougars amassed a grand total of 16 yards — in the game's final 12 crucial minutes. The Y. tried both all-Star quarterbacks, Marc Wilson and Jim McMahon, to no avail. They were sacked four times in the late-going, after being touched only once each through three quarters.
"You could feel the momentum switch," said BYU coach LaVell Edwards, "it swept completely from us after McConkey's catch. We couldn't get it back."
The Y. had once had the momentum — like for nearly three full quarters. Wilson led a first quarter march that meant three points from Brent Johnson (33-yard field goal) and was replaced in the second quarter by McMahon, who did even better, spearheading a couple of brilliant-type drives en route to the short-lived, and loved, 16-3 advantage. McMahon hit Mike Chronister on a 10-yard pass for BYU's first TD and rushed himself for the second six-pointer.
These highlights, coupled with a defense playing inspired, seemed altogether plenty against a Navy team not brimming with explosiveness. A BYU defensive stand on the goal line to close the fist half — denying Navy a touchdown after three cracks from the five-yard line — seemed to verify the WAC champions had clear title to the Holiday Bowl.
BYU linebacker Tom Enlow was a key part of that goal line stand, and several other stands as he made 10 unassisted tackles and was named the game's Best Defensive Player even though his team lost. Amid postgame congratulations (and condolences) he pointed to two second-half circumstances he felt did in his Cougars.
"I think," said Tom, "we slacked up after we scored so easy to start the second half. We thought it was going to be too easy. Then we found out Navy was in excellent shape, and they were ready to play that fourth quarter.
"We (the defense) were on the field too much in the end, and that meant trouble. We know we're playing a good game if the defense is on the sidelines most of the time."
It was BYU's closest effort in history to a bowl win, after three tries, and was the sourest pill to swallow, after coming that close to the brass ring and all.
At no time during its 8-3 regular season had Navy won by coming from behind. Who'd have figured the Middies had brought enough torpedoes to San Diego to last four full quarters?
But just as in the loss to Utah a month ago, it was unmistakably the last quarter that sunk BYU. There was little consolation for the Cougars in their coaches' postgame post mortem. Said Edwards: "We played a good game . . . but only for three quarters."
In the game's final statistics, Navy wound up with 352 total yards compared to BYU's 255. The telling stat occurred in the second half, when Navy gained 235 of its yards and BYU gained only 94 of its total.
But if BYU, the WAC champion, didn't finish strongly, the Holiday Bowl, with its complete sellout, its spectacular halftime show, its pregame weeklong hospitality, its toe-to-toe ballgame and a visit by the KGB Chicken, staked itself excellently for Holiday Bowl II in 1979.