| Year: | 1977 |
| Team: | BYU Cougars |
| Sport: | football |
| Conference: | Western Athletic Conference |
| Short Conf: | WAC |
| Coachrank: | 16 |
| Aprank: | 20 |
| Record: | 9–2 |
| Conf Record: | 6–1 |
| Head Coach: | LaVell Edwards |
| Hc Year: | 6th |
| Off Coach: | Doug Scovil |
| Oc Year: | 2nd |
| Off Scheme: | West Coast |
| Def Coach: | Dick Felt |
| Dc Year: | 6th |
| Def Scheme: | 3–4 |
| Stadium: | Cougar Stadium |
| Champion: | WAC co-champion |
The 1977 BYU Cougars football team represented Brigham Young University (BYU) for the 1977 NCAA Division I football season. The Cougars were led by sixth-year head coach LaVell Edwards and played their home games at Cougar Stadium in Provo, Utah. The team competed as a member of the Western Athletic Conference, winning a share of the conference title for the second consecutive year, sharing the title with Arizona State with a conference record of 6 - 1.
The previous season, BYU was invited to the Tangerine Bowl, where they lost to Oklahoma State. Despite finishing the regular season with a record of 9 - 2 and ranked 17th in the AP Poll, the Cougars were not invited to a bowl game and dropped to twentieth in the final poll, and tied for sixteenth in the UPI Coaches Poll.[1] [2]
Senior quarterback Gifford Nielsen completed 30 of 40 passes for 321 yards and six touchdowns. Head coach LaVell Edwards pulled Nielsen with about three minutes left in the first half and again at 3:46 in the third quarter while three more potential touchdown passes were dropped otherwise Nielsen's stats would have been even greater. On the road in Logan, the BYU players were actually cheered by the Utah State fans as they left field.[4]
Starting quarterback Nielsen injured his knee late in the loss at Corvallis on October 8, ending his collegiate career; he was replaced by sophomore Marc Wilson.[5] [6] [7] [8] The struggling Oregon State Beavers were seven-point underdogs,[9] [10] and went winless in the Pac-10 Conference.
BYU's Marc Wilson threw for 571 yards,[11] breaking the single-game NCAA record set by Utah State's Tony Adams in 1972, also against Utah.[12] [13] Wilson was pulled with two minutes left, but returned a minute later and completed three passes, including a touchdown to John VanDerWouden, to set the record,[11] which drew the ire of Utah head coach Wayne Howard.
| Player | Comp | Att | Yards | TD | INT | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 164 | 277 | 2,418 | 24 | 18 | ||
| 98 | 156 | 1,167 | 16 | 3 | ||
| 10 | 16 | 103 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Terry McEwen | 3 | 3 | 32 | 0 | 0 | |
| Scott Phillips | 1 | 2 | 29 | 0 | 1 | |
| Dan Hartwig | 1 | 2 | 9 | 0 | 0 | |
| John VanDerWouden | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
See main article: 1978 NFL draft.
| Player | Position | Round | Pick | NFL club | |
| Tight end | 2 | 56 | Dallas Cowboys | ||
| Quarterback | 3 | 73 | Houston Oilers | ||
| Mekeli Ieremia | Defensive end | 6 | 158 | Chicago Bears | |
| Lance Reynolds | Tackle | 9 | 241 | Pittsburgh Steelers |