Like independence as a whole, BYU’s bowl games the past 11 seasons have been a mixed bag.
Some of the 10 have been good, some have been bad, and at least one was downright ugly.
That would be the 2014 Miami Beach Bowl, which ended in an embarrassing bench-clearing brawl with Memphis after the Tigers outlasted the Cougars 55-48 in double overtime.
The Cougars’ 11th (and final) bowl game as an independent before they head off to the Big 12 and become part of that league’s bowl tie-ins will be played Dec. 17 against SMU in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The aptly-named New Mexico Bowl at University Stadium (5:30 p.m., ABC) will be the 40th bowl game in BYU history.
“I had Cody’s eyes. He stopped (his route). I was able to put the ball back shoulder. Great play by him.” — BYU quarterback Riley Nelson after throwing the game-winning touchdown pass to Cody Hoffman in the 2011 Armed Forces Bowl
The Cougars are a lackluster 16-22-1 in all bowl games; they are 5-5 in bowl games as an independent, meaning the showdown with SMU will be the tiebreaker for this current era of Cougars football.
Coach Kalani Sitake, who replaced Bronco Mendenhall in 2016, is 3-2 in bowl games, and has generally put a heavy emphasis on winning them, much as his mentor — Kyle Whittingham — has done at Utah.
“Not only do bowl games give you a lot of extra practices, they can give you a lot of momentum for next season if you win them,” he said last year before the Independence Bowl, which was played in a driving rainstorm and ended in a 31-28 loss to UAB.
Did that loss mark BYU’s worst performance as an independent in a bowl game? Or was the 35-28 loss to rival Utah in the 2015 Las Vegas Bowl worse?
On the flip side, which of BYU’s five bowl wins as an independent was the most impressive?
Here’s our ranking of the 10 performances, from best to worst.
1) 2020 Boca Raton Bowl: BYU 49, Central Florida 23
“BYU, Zach Wilson turn in a performance worthy of a New Year’s Six bowl,” read the Deseret News’ headline after this 26-point BYU win that came after the Cougars, who would finish No. 11 in the final Associated Press Top 25 poll, picked up their first-ever win in the state of Florida.
Snubbed by the College Football Playoff selection committee for NY6 bowl consideration after a 10-1 regular season, the Cougars, Wilson and a much-maligned defense took their frustrations out on the 6-3 Knights, who entered the bowl game at FAU’s stadium with the highest-scoring offense in the country but could not get anything going until garbage time.
“Things just went our way tonight,” said Sitake, graciously.
Noted UCF coach Josh Heupel, who would be hired at Tennessee a month later: “Obviously, BYU is a really good football team, well-coached, physically mature. First time since I have been here that we got beat like this.”
BYU led 35-10 at halftime, and Wilson won bowl MVP honors after completing 26 of 34 passes for 425 yards and three touchdowns, and running for two more. A little more than a week later, the junior declared for the NFL draft.
“This team is special, and not just in terms of talent on the field,” noted the Deseret News. “It is a crying shame they weren’t able to play for more, but that’s life as an independent.”
2) 2012 Poinsettia Bowl: BYU 23, San Diego State 6
While Zach Wilson and the Cougars’ offense carried them to the Boca Raton Bowl win, it was the defense and Kyle Van Noy who stole the spotlight in the 2012 Poinsettia Bowl, which ranks as the second-best overall performance in a bowl game by the independent Cougars, in our view.
Van Noy stole the game, actually, on a foggy night in San Diego when the James Lark-led offense struggled mightily against Rocky Long’s defense. Van Noy, who was selected in the second round of the 2014 NFL draft, was responsible for two defensive touchdowns. He stripped SDSU QB Adam Dingwell in the end zone and recovered the football for a touchdown to give the Cougars the lead after the Aztecs led 6-3 at halftime.
Jamaal Williams’ touchdown run gave BYU a 16-6 lead, then Van Noy returned an interception 17 yards for a TD to seal it at Qualcomm Stadium. Van Noy was the easy choice for defensive MVP, while Cody Hoffman caught 10 passes for 114 yards to earn offensive MVP honors.
“We finished tonight on all three sides of the ball with the never-give-up attitude, the effort and the playmaking,” Van Noy said. “We put those three together, finally.”
3) 2016 Poinsettia Bowl: BYU 24, Wyoming 21
This victory over a former WAC and Mountain West rival wasn’t nearly as pretty as some of the others, but ranks high on our list because of who was on the other sideline — none other than current Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen.
The future first-round NFL draft pick was seemingly leading the Cowboys to a stirring come-from-behind upset win in the quagmire that was the Qualcomm Stadium field until BYU safety Kai Nacua intercepted his overthrow with 1:22 remaining in the game to seal the three-point Cougars win.
“I almost overran the ball because I was so excited,” said Nacua, who had made a key pick-six earlier in the season to beat Boise State. “I knew it was coming to me.”
In his final game as a Cougar, Jamaal Williams rushed for 210 yards and a touchdown on 26 carries. Sophomore Tanner Mangum, making his first start of the 2016 season after Taysom Hill had sustained a season-ending elbow injury against Utah State, threw for 96 yards and a touchdown and BYU’s defense held Wyoming to 373 yards amid the rain and the mud.
4) 2011 Armed Forces Bowl: BYU 24, Tulsa 21
When the Cougars became an independent in 2011, athletic director Tom Holmoe, with the help of television partner ESPN, made some bowl agreements to ensure BYU would have a place to play in the postseason. The first was a deal to play in the Armed Forces Bowl, which is traditionally held in Fort Worth, Texas, but was played in Dallas at SMU’s stadium in 2011 because TCU’s stadium was being renovated.
An offensive shootout was expected in Big D, but the crowd of 30,258 at sun-drenched Ford Stadium witnessed a defensive struggle — until BYU quarterback Riley Nelson and receiver Cody Hoffman combined to make a play that still lives in Cougar lore.
With 11 seconds remaining and the Cougars trailing 21-17, Nelson audibled to a trick play called “Red Alert,” and faked a spike as if to kill the clock. Then he rose up and threw a strike to Hoffman, who was just inside the end zone.
“I had Cody’s eyes. He stopped (his route). I was able to put the ball back shoulder,” Nelson said. “Great play by him.”
Hoffman caught eight passes for 122 yards and three touchdowns to earn Most Outstanding Player honors.
5) 2018 Famous Idaho Potato Bowl: BYU 49, Western Michigan 18
The win in front of 18,711 fans on Boise State’s blue turf still stands as the largest margin of victory in BYU bowl history, but it is known more for being the game where then-freshman Zach Wilson played a perfect game and BYU receiver Dylan Collie boldly predicted afterwards that Wilson would join the ranks of Ty Detmer, Steve Young and Jim McMahon as one of the best quarterbacks in school history.
Wilson completed all 18 passes he threw for 317 yards and four touchdowns to become only the second quarterback in FBS history to post a 100% completion rate with a minimum of 10 attempts. After a sluggish first half, BYU outscored the overmatched Mid-American Conference team 42-8 in the second half to win going away.
BYU finished a lackluster season 7-6 as Collie caught six passes for 124 yards and two TDs and senior linebacker Sione Takitaki shined before being drafted the following spring by the Cleveland Browns. Takitaki made 19 tackles, the most ever in a bowl game for BYU.
“I’ve been trying to let Zach loose for a long time now,” Sitake said. “I’ve mentioned that he’s a gunslinger, and that’s kind of what we need to let him be.”
6) 2015 Las Vegas Bowl: Utah 35, BYU 28
Throw out a disastrous first quarter in which the Cougars gift-wrapped five touchdowns for the Utes with early turnovers, and Bronco Mendenhall’s last game as BYU’s coach could be considered a mild success. That’s right — Utah jumped out to a 35-0 lead and the rout was on, until BYU woke up at Sam Boyd Stadium and made things interesting in the fourth quarter.
“We did lose the game, but I am taking with me a pretty good going-away present,” said Mendenhall, who coached in the game despite having taken the vacant Virginia job a few weeks before the first and only meeting between BYU and Utah in a bowl game.
Freshman quarterback Tanner Mangum rebounded from three interceptions and a fumble by throwing for 315 yards and two touchdowns, and the Cougars outgained the Utes 386 yards to 197, but the first-quarter damage was too much to overcome.
“We ended up with the win, which is all that matters,” Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said.
7) 2014 Miami Beach Bowl: Memphis 55, BYU 48 (2OT)
Lost in the aforementioned furor over the post-game brawl — precipitated by the fact that both teams were on the same sideline at Marlins Park, a baseball stadium — was one of the most entertaining bowl games of the decade for BYU.
Filling in for Taysom Hill, who had suffered a season-ending injury after the Cougars got off to a 4-0 start in 2014, Christian Stewart threw for 348 yards and three touchdowns, but was also picked off three times and the Cougars gave up 480 yards.
“It was a battle right to the end,” Mendenhall said. “You can’t really get much closer than double overtime.”
8) 2013 Fight Hunger Bowl: Washington 31, BYU 16
After former BYU quarterback Steve Sarkisian left UW for USC, interim coach Marques Tuiasosopo stepped in and led the Huskies to a 31-16 win over the Cougars that was closer than the final score indicated. With Taysom Hill passing for 293 yards and rushing for 133, BYU moved the ball up and down the field on the Pac-12 team, but struggled in the red zone. Justin Sorensen kicked three field goals and missed a fourth after Robertson Daniel’s big interception gave the Cougars good field position.
Special teams was the difference, as BYU allowed two long kickoff returns, including a 100-yard return for a touchdown by John Ross. BYU’s four-game bowl winning streak was snapped in the loss at AT&T Park in San Francisco, and the Cougars finished with an 8-5 record.
“Taysom led our team really well, but our special teams needed to execute better,” Mendenhall said.
9) 2019 Hawaii Bowl: Hawaii 38, BYU 34
BYU seemingly had the Christmas Eve bowl game in the Islands won with a 34-31 lead late and was trying to run out the clock when Zach Wilson’s third-and-2 pass to Micah Simon fell short. Coach Kalani Sitake opted to punt, and the Hawaii quarterback Cole McDonald made him pay for taking the conservative route. McDonald drove the Rainbow Warriors 71 yards in three plays, capped by a 24-yard touchdown pass to Nick Mardner to give UH the lead with 1:17 remaining.
Wilson had a chance to etch himself further into BYU bowl history, but he was intercepted by Khoury Bethley in the final moments and the Cougars fell to 7-6.
“The big plays were the issue, even at the end of the game,” BYU coach Kalani Sitake said.
10) 2021 Independence Bowl: Alabama-Birmingham 31, BYU 28
Because of injuries, a BYU defense that had been stellar in posting five wins over Pac-12 teams and a 6-1 record against Power Five opponents was a shell of its former self when December rolled around, and the Cougars suffered a humiliating defeat on a rainy, cold day in Shreveport, Louisiana. The Blazers controlled the line of scrimmage, went 9 of 14 on third down and 2 of 2 on fourth down to post the upset.
BYU played without starting quarterback Jaren Hall (ankle injury) and six defenders who were listed as starters when the season began and gave up 412 yards to UAB.
“Hopefully this will get our guys hungry and be a learning moment for us,” Sitake said. “This is a step backwards. I get it. No one likes to lose. But I promise you, we are going to learn from this, and we will be a better team because of it.”
New Mexico Bowl on the air
BYU (7-5)
vs. SMU (7-5)
Dec. 17, 5:30 p.m. MST
University Stadium, Albuquerque, New Mexico
TV: ABC
Radio: KSL Newsradio 102.7 FM/1160 AM