With a record crowd of 61,243 watching from the stands of Jack Murphy Stadium and a huge television audience tuning in at home, BYU and Michigan squared off in what turned out to be a typical, thrilling Holiday Bowl with BYU scoring in the closing minutes to preserve a 24-17 victory.
Holiday Bowl VII lived up to all the glamour and excitement of the previous six bowls, plus it had a new dimension - national championship luster - thanks to BY U's undefeated, untied season and No.1 ranking. It was the first time in years that a non-New Year's Day bowl game determined the national championship. And the national media was there to tell the story to millions of Americans.
What they described was vintage Holiday Bowl. After a scoreless first quarter in which Cougar quarterback Robbie Bosco was forced to the sideline with an injured knee and ankle, the game began to develop drama.
BYU scored first with 8:37 left in the first half on a five-yard run by Kelly Smith. The touchdown was set up after a limping Bosco returned to the lineup with his knee heavily taped and engineered an 80-yard drive.
On the next series, BYU had a chance to blow the game open after stopping Michigan on its own five yard line. But instead of taking advantage of the Wolverine misfortune, Bosco fumbled the ball into the end zone and Michigan recovered.
The Wolverines responded by putting together an 80-yard drive of their own, which culminated on Rick Rogers' five-yard touchdown run up the middle. The PAT tied the score at 7-7.
BYU marched the length of the field in the final minute of the half but had to settle for a 31-yard field goal by Lee Johnson and a 10-7 lead as time ran out.
Play was ragged in the third quarter, with neither team scoring until Michigan scored on a 10-yard pass from Chris Zurbrugg to Bob Perryman. The PAT gave Michigan a 14-10 lead.
The fourth quarter started on a sour note for BYU, with Lakei Heimuli fumbling the ball on the Cougars' 11 yard line. A tough defensive stand by BYU stopped a touchdown, but Bob Bergeron gave Michigan a 17-10 lead with a 32-yard field goal with 14:14 left in the game.
Enter.Bosco and Co.
The Cougar offense, stifled for the most part by its own turnovers, finally got untracked. An 80-yard drive was culminated with a seven-yard Bosco-to-Kozlowski touchdown pass in which Kozlowski jumped high in the air at the back of the end zone to make the grab. Lee Johnson's PAT tied the score at 17-17 with 10:51 to go.
After both teams traded possessions, BYU got the ball on its own 17 yard line with 4:36 to go in the game. Bosco scrambled for nine yards. Heimuli ran for another eight. Following a Kelly Smith run for one yard, Bosco hit Mark Bellini for 20 yards. A 15-yard face mask penalty against Michigan moved the ball to the Wolverine 30.
Bosco then hit Heimuli for eight, Smith for five and Haysbert for six. An incomplete pass made it third and four from the Michigan 13 yard line with 1:30 to play. Bosco dropped back, stepped up under a heavy rush and rifled the ball to Smith in the end zone. The touchdown with 1:23 left gave BYU the lead, 24-17.
Michigan's attempt to provide a miracle of its own failed when Marv Allen picked off the second pass of the drive. For BYU it was another Holiday Bowl victory and its first-ever national championship.
For the game, BYU passed for 371 yards and rushed for another 112. The Cougar defense, meanwhile, held Michigan to 120 yards rushing and 80 yards passing.
Source:1985 BYU media guide
