I'm always surprised at the love the '85 team gets. There was no question injuries held back that team and no question that the win over Air Force was a tremendous win. Another positive piece of trivia about that team, the win over Washington was Lavell Edward's first home win over a team that played in a bowl game that same year. Remarkable to think that it took Lavell Edwards 13 seasons to beat a bowl team at home.

HOWEVER, THEY LOST TO UTEP!!! I don't care if UTEP knew their plays, stole signals, had mind readers, used trick plays who cares it's UTEP!!! It is unforgivable to be the only win for a particular team. UTEP finished 1-10 that year. Combine that with the fact that BYU played 9 teams that finished with a losing record it's hard to give that team which lost their bowl game and lost to UTEP the credit that other BYU teams deserve.

I'll take the '83, '81, '80, '84, '96, and 2006 and probably a couple of others Cougars over the '85 team.

mormonrasta wrote:

I'm always surprised at the love the '85 team gets. There was no question injuries held back that team and no question that the win over Air Force was a tremendous win. Another positive piece of trivia about that team, the win over Washington was Lavell Edward's first home win over a team that played in a bowl game that same year. Remarkable to think that it took Lavell Edwards 13 seasons to beat a bowl team at home.

HOWEVER, THEY LOST TO UTEP!!! I don't care if UTEP knew their plays, stole signals, had mind readers, used trick plays who cares it's UTEP!!! It is unforgivable to be the only win for a particular team. UTEP finished 1-10 that year. Combine that with the fact that BYU played 9 teams that finished with a losing record it's hard to give that team which lost their bowl game and lost to UTEP the credit that other BYU teams deserve.

I'll take the '83, '81, '80, '84, '96, and 2006 and probably a couple of others Cougars over the '85 team.

Another interesting note about the '85 team--despite losing 3 games including the bowl game, they still managed to finish #16 in the AP rankings. It will take a few more years of 10+ win seasons before I ever imagine a 3-loss BYU team (with a bowl loss especially) finishing in the Top 20.

I'm not using the ranking to justify my opinion, but I do still stand by my opinion that the '85 team was one of BYU's best teams. One thing that we can probably agree on is that the '85 season was one of the most disappointing seasons in BYU history.

Mingjai wrote:

mormonrasta wrote:

I'm always surprised at the love the '85 team gets. There was no question injuries held back that team and no question that the win over Air Force was a tremendous win. Another positive piece of trivia about that team, the win over Washington was Lavell Edward's first home win over a team that played in a bowl game that same year. Remarkable to think that it took Lavell Edwards 13 seasons to beat a bowl team at home.

HOWEVER, THEY LOST TO UTEP!!! I don't care if UTEP knew their plays, stole signals, had mind readers, used trick plays who cares it's UTEP!!! It is unforgivable to be the only win for a particular team. UTEP finished 1-10 that year. Combine that with the fact that BYU played 9 teams that finished with a losing record it's hard to give that team which lost their bowl game and lost to UTEP the credit that other BYU teams deserve.

I'll take the '83, '81, '80, '84, '96, and 2006 and probably a couple of others Cougars over the '85 team.

Another interesting note about the '85 team--despite losing 3 games including the bowl game, they still managed to finish #16 in the AP rankings. It will take a few more years of 10+ win seasons before I ever imagine a 3-loss BYU team (with a bowl loss especially) finishing in the Top 20.

I'm not using the ranking to justify my opinion, but I do still stand by my opinion that the '85 team was one of BYU's best teams. One thing that we can probably agree on is that the '85 season was one of the most disappointing seasons in BYU history.

You're probably in the majority of opinion as far as love for that team. Maybe I'm just bitter because of the loss to UTEP. That's the 2nd most devastating loss for me in my lifetime (The shutout by Utah was the most). It's hard for any team to follow up a National Championship year and maybe my expectations were too high. I guess I should be grateful that I root for a program where a team that finished #16 in the country would barely make my top 10 teams.