THE COUGARS HAVE A GREAT DAY AT THE POLLS : BYU Wins the National Title on Its Record, Not Schedule

Despite criticism from Washington to Florida, not to mention Oklahoma, Brigham Young University was voted the No. 1 position Wednesday in both the Associated Press and United Press International final college football polls.

The Cougars (13-0), the only undefeated team in the nation, finished ahead of Washington (11-1) in both polls to win their first national championship.

BYU’s detractors pointed to a weak scheduled played by the Western Athletic Conference champions, and weren’t impressed by the Cougars’ 24-17 victory over Michigan (6-6) in the Holiday Bowl. Quarterback Robbie Bosco drove BYU to two fourth-quarter touchdowns, including one in the final 90 seconds to pull out the victory.

“We’ve finally caught the attention of the Eastern media,” BYU Coach LaVell Edwards said. “We’ve raised the nation’s level of consciousness of BYU.

“It’s strange. As long as we were No. 3, 4 or 5, nothing was said. Everyone felt comfortable with that. But as soon as we were ranked No. 1, a lot of people became uncomfortable. I think the team handled the pressure well. We were always having to defend our ranking.”

The Cougars received 28 first-place votes and 579 points from the 40 coaches who participated in the final UPI balloting. Washington, which defeated Oklahoma, 28-17, in the Orange Bowl, received 11 first-place votes and 561 points.

“If you pick the best record, you can’t argue with Brigham Young,” Washington Coach Don James said. “But if you pick the best team, I think that’s us.

“Im not sure I would say I’m surprised. I thought we would get more votes from the UPI coaches than from the AP writers. But I’m not going to jump off the 19th floor. We’ll put up two fingers if we have to. The only difference is we won’t get a championship ring.”

Nebraska (10-2), a 28-10 winner over LSU in the Sugar Bowl, was third with 508 points and Boston College (10-2), which beat Houston, 45-28, in the Cotton Bowl, finished No. 4 with 429 points.

The rest of the UPI top 10 consists of Oklahoma State (10-2), Oklahoma (9-2-1), Florida (9-1-1), SMU (10-2), USC (9-3) and UCLA (9-3).

The second 10 includes Maryland, Ohio State, South Carolina, Auburn, Iowa, LSU, Virginia, West Virginia and Kentucky and Florida State, who tied for 19th position.

BYU received 38 of 60 first-place votes in the Associated Press poll and 1,160 of a possible 1,200 points from the nationwide panel of sports writers and sportscasters.

The Cougars’ 20-point margin of victory is the closest since the AP went to a postbowl poll in 1968. The previous closest came when Alabama won the 1979 national championship by 28 points over USC.

The closest finish since the AP poll began in 1936 was Alabama’s 16-point victory over Ohio State in 1961 when the national championship was decided on the basis of regular-season play.

Washington finished with 16 first-place votes and 1,140 points.

Even after Oklahoma was eliminated from championship contention, Coach Barry Switzer--critical of BYU for the past month--refused to acknowledge that BYU might be No. 1 after all.

“Washington is the best team we played and they deserved to be No. 1,” Switzer said. “They’re a better team than Brigham Young, I guarantee you.”

The Huskies were No. 1 four times during the regular season before suffering their only loss, 16-7, to USC on Nov. 10.

The other six first-place votes went to Florida, which held third place with 1,092 points. The Gators won the Southeastern Conference championship but were barred from playing in a bowl by the conference because of recruiting violations.

The rest of the AP top 10 consists of Nebraska, Boston College, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, SMU, UCLA and USC.

THE FINAL POLLS ASSOCIATED PRESS

Team Record Pts 1. BYU (38) 13-0-0 1,160 2. Washington (16) 11-1-0 1,140 3. Florida (6) 9-1-1 1,092 4. Nebraska 10-2-0 1,017 5. Boston College 10-2-0 932 6. Oklahoma 9-2-1 883 7. Oklahoma State 10-2-0 864 8. SMU 10-2-0 761 9. UCLA 9-3-0 613 10. USC 9-3-0 596 11. South Carolina 10-2-0 557 12. Maryland 9-3-0 552 13. Ohio State 9-3-0 497 14. Auburn 9-4-0 432 15. LSU 8-3-1 314 16. Iowa 8-4-1 228 17. Florida State 7-3-2 207 18. Miami (Fla.) 8-5-0 166 19. Kentucky 9-3-0 152 20. Virginia 8-2-2 119

UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL

Team Record Pts 1. BYU (28) 13-0-0 579 2. Washington (11) 11-1-0 561 3. Nebraska 10-2-0 508 4. Boston College 10-2-0 429 5. Oklahoma State 10-2-0 376 6. Oklahoma 9-2-1 345 7. Florida (1) 9-1-1 328 8. SMU 10-2-0 310 9. USC 9-3-0 245 10. UCLA 9-3-0 229 11. Maryland 9-3-0 175 12. Ohio State 9-3-0 166 13. South Carolina 10-2-0 143 14. Auburn 9-4-0 118 15. Iowa 7-4-1 73 16. LSU 8-3-1 48 17. Virginia 8-2-2 45 18. West Virginia 8-4-0 34 19. (tie)Kentucky 9-3-0 28 20. Florida State 7-3-2 28