1978 Holiday Bowl

The 1978 Holiday Bowl was the inaugural college football bowl game of the Holiday Bowl. It was played on December 22, 1978, at San Diego Stadium in San Diego, California. The game was part of the 1978 NCAA Division I-A football season. It featured the 1978 Navy [Midshipmen football team|Navy Midshipmen] against the 1978 BYU [Cougars football team|BYU Cougars]. Navy won 23–16.

Background

Navy won their first seven games of the season, the most wins in a streak in years. A loss to Notre Dame sparked a losing streak that spanned to their games against Syracuse and Florida State, but the Midshipmen managed to rout Army 28–0 to win their eighth game, the most in a season since the nine win year in 1963. The Cougars had won their third straight Western Athletic Conference title, with a 5-1 conference record. BYU was making their 3rd bowl appearance in four years, after skipping the previous year due to the game falling on a Sunday.

Scoring summary

BYU – Brent Johnson 33 yard field goal
Navy – Bob Tata 40 yard field goal
BYU – Mike Chronister 10 yard touchdown pass from Jim McMahon
BYU – McMahon 2 yard touchdown run
Navy – Kevin Tolbert 4 yard touchdown run
Navy – Tata 28 yard field goal
Navy – Phil McConkey 65 yard touchdown pass from Bob Leszczynski
Navy – Tata 27 yard field goal

For Navy, Bob Lesczynski threw 7-of-13 for 123 yards for one touchdown. Phil McConkey caught 4 passes for 88 yards and rushed for 42 yards on 2 carries, while being named MVP. For BYU, Jim McMahon threw 9-of-18 for 133 yards for one touchdown and one interception. Mike Chronister caught 3 passes for 60 yards and one touchdown.

Aftermath

This was the first in seven consecutive Holiday Bowl appearances for the Cougars, who won four of the seven they played, including one against Michigan in 1984 that determined the national championship. Navy has not reached the Holiday bowl since this game, while they went on a bowl win drought of 18 years, not winning one until 1996.