1984 Y. gridders honored at '04 game

PROVO — Former BYU coach LaVell Edwards and his 1984 national championship team was honored during halftime ceremonies of Saturday night's BYU-Notre Dame game.

Edwards was joined by former BYU President, and current member of the LDS Church's Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Jeffrey R. Holland, and athletic director Val Hale at midfield, surrounded by dozens of players from that 1984 squad.

"Twenty years ago, this football team did what many people thought was impossible — win the national championship," Hale said. Edwards recalled telling his wife, Patti, months before that season that he didn't know how many games his team would win, but he knew he had a special group of players. The Cougars posted a perfect 13-0 record, capped with a victory over Michigan in the Holiday Bowl.

"Three of (those games) they had no business of winning, but they did," Edwards said. "And they earned the national championship."

Highlights of that magical season were shown on the video wall scoreboard along with the names of all the coaches and players that comprised the '84 team. Friday, the school inducted the entire 1984 squad into the BYU Athletic Hall of Fame. It marked only the third time a Cougar team had been inducted into the BYU Hall of Fame. The previous two were the 1950-51 and 1965-66 NIT champion men's basketball teams. The school also commissioned a lithograph to honor the '84 Cougars, with 1,984 individually numbered copies made available for purchase.

OUT OF ACTION: Three Cougar freshmen did not play Saturday, as per coach Gary Crowton's decision — kick return specialist B.J. Mathis, linebacker Karland Bennett and defensive back Billy Skinner.

FOR OPENERS: With the victory over Notre Dame, BYU improved to 4-0 in season-openers under Crowton. Since 2001, the Cougars have opened every season at home and have earned wins over Tulane, Syracuse, Georgia Tech and, on Saturday, Notre Dame. For the Fighting Irish, it marked coach Tyrone Willingham's first loss in an opener in three seasons at the helm.

BAER BACK: Saturday marked a homecoming of sorts for Notre Dame defensive coordinator Kent Baer. A Logan native, Baer played linebacker at Utah State (1969-1972) and later coached the Aggies as a linebackers coach and defensive coordinator from 1977-1985.

Baer coached at Idaho for one year in 1986 before moving on to a few stops with Pac-10 schools. He spent five seasons at Cal, three at Arizona State and then seven at Stanford. He joined the staff at Notre Dame in 2002 when coach Ty Willingham was hired.

Baer's friends and family in Utah reportedly purchased 263 tickets for Saturday's game.

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E-MAIL: jeffc@desnews.com