The 1987 All-American Bowl featured the first meeting between the

BYU Cougars The BYU Cougars are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Brigham Young University (BYU), located in Provo, Utah. BYU fields 21 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) varsity athletic teams. They are a member of the West ...

and the

Virginia Cavaliers The Virginia Cavaliers, also known as ''Wahoos'' or ''Hoos'', are the athletic teams representing the University of Virginia, located in Charlottesville. The Cavaliers compete at the NCAA Division I level ( FBS for football), in the Atlantic C ...

. BYU, coached by Lavell Edwards, had a 9–3 record going into the bowl game and Virginia, coached by George Welsh, had a 7–4 record.

Game summary

The game ended up being filled with missed opportunities for BYU. The Cougars missed a pair of field goals – one from 51 yards and another from 47 yards. Virginia's defense also came through a couple of different times with key goal line stands to stop other potential scoring drives. BYU settled for a 20-yard field goal from Leonard Chitty on its first possession to take a 3–0 lead. The Cougars had a first-and-goal from the 4-yard line but Darren Handley dropped a would-be touchdown pass on third down. Trailing 3–0, the Cavaliers struck quickly. Quarterback Scott Secules scored on a three-yard keeper to make it 7–3. Early in the second quarter, Virginia went 66 yards in four plays behind the running of Kevin Morgan, who scored on a 25-yard run to make it 14–3. The third quarter belonged to BYU, who held the ball for all but two minutes. But the Cougars scored just once – on an eight-yard run by

Freddie Whittingham Freddy or Freddie may refer to: Entertainment *Freddy (comic strip), a newspaper comic strip which ran from 1955 to 1980 * Freddie (Cromartie), a character from the Japanese manga series'' Cromartie High School'' * Freddie (dance), a short-lived 1 ...

. A muffed PAT attempt left it 14–9. Another potential scoring drive ended when BYU drove inside the five-yard line, but a fourth down pass to

Matt Bellini Matt may refer to: *Matt (name), people with the given name ''Matt'' or Matthew, meaning "gift from God", or the surname Matt *In British English, of a surface: having a non-glossy finish, see gloss (material appearance) *Matt, Switzerland, a mu ...

was batted away in the end zone by

Tony Covington Anthony Lavonne Covington (born December 26, 1967) is a former American football safety in the National Football League (NFL) and Arena Football League (AFL). He was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the fourth round of the 1991 NFL Draft. H ...

. Virginia boosted its lead to 22–9 with 11:17 left in the game when John Ford hauled in a 22-yard pass from Secules and the Cavs had a successful two-point conversion. The Cougars answered with a one-yard touchdown pass from

Sean Covey Sean Covey (born September 17, 1964) is an American business executive, author, and speaker. He is President of FranklinCovey Education and also serves as Executive Vice President of Global Partnerships. Covey's works include The 4 Disciplines of ...

to Whittingham that made it 22–16 with 7:09 remaining. BYU had one last shot at a go-ahead touchdown in the final minutes, but Covey was stopped two feet short on a fourth-down run by defensive end Sean Scott. Secules was named MVP after completing 10 of 19 passes for 162 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. Covey threw 61 passes and completed 37 for 394 yards, one touchdown and one interception.

References

All-American Bowl All-American Bowl BYU Cougars football bowl games Virginia Cavaliers football bowl games All-American Bowl December 1987 sports events in the United States {{Collegefootball-bowl-stub