The 1984 NCAA Division I-A football season was topsy-turvy from start to finish.
It ended with the BYU Cougars being bestowed their first and only national championship by beating Michigan in the Holiday Bowl.
In the final AP Poll, BYU received 1,160 points (with 38 first-place votes) while Washington received 1,140 points (with 16 first-place votes) for one of the closest finishes in AP history.
NCAA-sanctioned voters (Berryman QPRS, The Football News and the National Championship Foundation) did name Washington their champion, but the school does not formally claim the season as a championship season; seven years later, Washington would be at the center of another split-championship debate.
While the Cougars finished with a perfect 13–0 record and were the consensus National Champions, most noted the contentious circumstance of awarding it to the program (none of their conference opponents in the WAC finished with fewer than four losses, and even Michigan finished the season at 6–6 after the bowl loss) and argue that the championship could have just as well have gone to the 11–1 Washington Huskies.
Washington (ranked fourth in the AP polls) had stated a preference for the Orange Bowl rather than take the suggestion (as laid out to them and other teams by Holiday Bowl promoters) to play BYU.
Washington was then formally invited to play Oklahoma (ranked 2nd in the polls) in the more prestigious 1985 Orange Bowl.
One poll put out among anonymous AP voters by NBC asked who they might rank as #1 depending on the outcomes of the Orange and Holliday Bowl, with over half stating that a decisive victory by Oklahoma might make them the national champion; when asked if Washington won decisively, more of the pollsters believed BYU would be deemed champion.
[2] All subsequent national champions have come from what are now known as the Power Five conferences + Notre Dame.
In an early warning of a topsy-turvy year, the Tigers fell 20–18 with Bo Jackson gaining just 96 rushing yards.
3 Pittsburgh lost 20–14 to Brigham Young; the Panthers soon dropped out of the polls and finished with a disappointing 3–7–1 record.
6 Texas had not begun their seasons, and the next AP Poll featured No.
1 Miami played their third consecutive ranked opponent, and this time they lost 22–14 to No.
4 UCLA struggled to beat San Diego State, and their 18–15 victory dropped them out of the top five in the next poll.
7 Penn State, which had beaten Iowa the previous week, won 56–18 over William & Mary.
7 Brigham Young won 59–9 at Colorado State and moved up in the next poll: No.
3 Oklahoma ended in a controversial 15–15 tie after the officials nullified an Oklahoma interception in the end zone, allowing the Longhorns to kick a game-tying field goal as time expired.
5 Brigham Young struggled to beat Wyoming, edging the Cowboys 41–38, and No.
2 Oklahoma made a late comeback to beat Iowa State 12–10.
7 Brigham Young defeated Air Force 30–25, moving up in the next poll: No.
3 Nebraska shut out Iowa State 44–0, leading the two teams to switch places in the next poll.
Since the Trojans had the head-to-head advantage and were one game ahead in the Pac-10 standings with just one more to play, this ensured a Rose Bowl berth for them.
10 Florida, which had started the season under a cloud as coach Charley Pell was forced to resign due to recruiting violations, had caught fire under interim coach Galen Hall and shut out No.
3 Brigham Young, which moved to the top spot with a 24–14 victory at Utah.
However, due to the Gators’ recruiting violations, the Sugar Bowl berth would go to the second-place team, No.
1 Brigham Young finished the year undefeated with a 38–13 win over Utah State.
3 Oklahoma State faced off for the Big 8 title, with the Sooners pulling out a 24–14 victory and an Orange Bowl berth.
The famous “Hail Flutie” game also took place this weekend, with No.
December 1: The only highly ranked team which had not finished its schedule was No.
1 Brigham Young was tied in to the Holiday Bowl, where they would face an underwhelming opponent in unranked Michigan.