BYU football: Michigan no patsy, Y. players contend

PROVO — One of the many criticisms leveled against BYU during its 1984 national championship run was that it played a soft schedule.

That argument intensified in some circles after the Cougars edged out a 6-5 Michigan team in the Holiday Bowl.

But coach Bo Schembechler's Wolverines were a much better team than their mediocre record indicated, say members of the '84 Cougars. That's one of the fallacies that defensive lineman Jim Herrmann, and others, would like to clear up.

"They were good. It's not like they were some horrible team by any stretch of the imagination," Herrmann says. "Their record wasn't what we had hoped for, or what they had hoped for."

Expectations were high that season for Michigan in '84. The week after BYU beat Pitt on the first weekend in September, the Cougars rose to No. 13 in the polls, one spot ahead of Michigan, which hadn't played yet. The Wolverines still received one first-place vote in that week's poll.

After knocking off No. 1-ranked and defending national champion Miami in its season-opener, Michigan soared to No. 3 in the AP poll and fans in Ann Arbor were talking national title.

However, the Wolverines lost the following week to Washington and dropped to No. 16. They rose to No. 13, and had a 3-1 record, before losing again and falling out of the AP poll for good that season.

Michigan suffered a plethora of injuries that year, most notably one to quarterback Jim Harbaugh, who ended up having a solid NFL career and is now the coach at Stanford. Chris Zurbrugg quarterbacked Michigan in its 24-17 loss to BYU in the Holiday Bowl.

"Michigan was a great team that had lost their starting quarterback," Herrmann said. "He wasn't Jim Harbaugh. He was the catalyst. They had great talent."

"We didn't get any credit for beating (Michigan), but they were a very good team," says offensive lineman Trevor Matich. "They lost a lot of guys to injury. By the time the Holiday Bowl rolled around, all but one were back from the team that played early in the season. That was a team that was a whole lot better than it seemed.

"Michigan, top to bottom, was probably the most talented team we played that year. The Michigan team we played was very similar talent-wise to the team that was ranked high early in the season."

Herrmann points out that besides Harbaugh, the Wolverines had some other future NFL players on their roster that season — Jumbo Elliott, Kevin Brooks, Mike Hammerstein and Jamie Morris.

While the Cougars would have preferred to play a team with a better record in the Holiday Bowl, Herrmann, a Wisconsin native, loved playing a Big Ten opponent.

"Playing a team from the Midwest, where I grew up, it was awesome," Herrmann says. "To play a team you grew up watching was really cool."

Herrmann's younger brother, who was a top high school recruit in 1984, ended up signing at Michigan a little more than a month after the conclusion of the Holiday Bowl.

e-mail: jeffc@desnews.com