The 1983 Holiday Bowl was a college football

bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivi ...

played December 23, 1983, in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United Stat ...

. It was part of the

1983 NCAA Division I-A football season The 1983 NCAA Division I-A football season ended with the University of Miami, led by Bernie Kosar, winning their first national championship over perennial power and top ranked Nebraska in the Orange Bowl. The Hurricanes' 31–30 win over Nebra ...

. It featured the unranked

Missouri Tigers The Missouri Tigers intercollegiate athletics programs represent the University of Missouri, located in Columbia. The name comes from a band of armed Union Home Guards called the Fighting Tigers of Columbia who, in 1864, protected Columbia fro ...

, and the ninth ranked BYU Cougars.

Scoring summary

Missouri scored first with a 2-yard touchdown run from running back Eric Drain giving the Tigers an early 7–0 lead. In the second quarter, BYU quarterback

Steve Young Jon Steven Young (born October 11, 1961) is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 15 seasons, primarily with the San Francisco 49ers. He also played for the Tampa Bay Buccane ...

scored on a 10-yard touchdown run to tie the game at 7–7. Missouri's Brad Burditt kicked a 37-yard field goal, as Missouri took a 10–7 lead into halftime. In the third quarter, BYU came up on top, thanks to a 33-yard touchdown pass from Steve Young to Eddie Stinnett giving BYU a 14–10 lead. In the fourth quarter, Eric Drain scored on his second rushing touchdown of the game, a 2-yarder, for the Tigers to take a 17–14 lead. With just 23 seconds left, Young gave a handoff to Eddie Stinnett. Stinnett then turned around and passed it back to Young, who caught it and ran in for a touchdown, giving BYU a 21–17 win. Young achieved a rare feat in college football: one touchdown pass, one touchdown run, and one touchdown reception all in a single game. For his efforts, he was named offensive MVP. Missouri's Bobby Bell was awarded the defensive MVP. BYU had 42 rushing yards, 328 passing yards, 71 return yards, and 22:53 possession time with five turnovers. Missouri had 252 rushing yards, 86 passing yards, 22 return yards, and 37:07 possession time with four turnovers.

Legacy

The game was placed in ''

NCAA Football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most o ...

'' video games as a "College Classic", challenging players to recreate the ending. The challenge begins the Cougars' final scoring drive of the game, with the player attempting to score the go-ahead touchdown.

References

Holiday Bowl The Holiday Bowl is a post-season NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision college football bowl game that has been played in San Diego since 1978. San Diego County Credit Union has been the game's title sponsor since 2017, and the bowl has ...

Holiday Bowl Missouri Tigers football bowl games BYU Cougars football bowl games December 1983 sports events in the United States 1983 in sports in California {{California-sport-stub