"The team goal was to go undefeated. By doing that, we would give ourselves a chance to win the national championship," says wide receiver Glen Kozlowski. "We just wanted to win every game. That's all we did. We talked about a national championship. But it wasn't that we would win it, but that we would give ourselves a chance to win it if we went undefeated."

BYU wanted to play No. 2 Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl, but they were contractually obligated to play in the Holiday Bowl as the Western Athletic Conference champions.

A loss to Michigan would have not only ruined any shot at a national championship, but it would have justified the criticisms that the Cougars had absorbed from detractors around the country.

The Wolverines did everything they could to smash BYU's hopes of a national title.

In the first quarter, Bosco dropped back and completed a pass to Kozlowski. At the end of the play, Michigan's Mike Hammerstein unloaded on Bosco, injuring his left leg. An official whistled Hammerstein for a late-hit penalty and Bosco was removed from the game as trainers and doctors attended to his left knee and left ankle.

"I got hit down low," Bosco says. "My foot got stuck in the ground and (Hammerstein) rolled on it. He twisted it really bad. The most pain of the whole injury was my ankle."

"I remember that cheap shot from (Hammerstein)," said BYU offensive lineman Trevor Matich. "He hit Robbie and hurt his knee. The rest of that game, I played not just to win the game for the win and the championship, but to beat these suckers because at that moment, everything about Michigan football was that play. I was livid. Michigan football is honorable. That play was not honorable."

Backup quarterback Blaine Fowler replaced Bosco, who was taken to the locker room. As it turned out, Bosco had sustained a partial medial collateral tear in the knee, and a Grade 2 ankle sprain.

"I was thinking, 'I can't believe I went the whole season without being injured,' " Bosco said. " 'Now here's the biggest game of our careers, and I get injured.' "

As much as his leg hurt, not being able to play hurt even worse. Inside the locker room at Jack Murphy Stadium, Bosco could hear the muffled sounds of the crowd — and it was killing him.

"After I was checked, I asked the trainers, 'If I get hit on it again, is it a career-ending injury? Can I play on this?' " Bosco recalled. "They said I could. I said, 'Wrap it up and let's go!' They wrapped it up and I went out there. Warming up, I wasn't sure if I could do it or not."

He approached quarterbacks coach Mike Holmgren and told him he wanted back into the game.

"Are you sure?" Holmgren asked.