The 1982 Holiday Bowl was a college football bowl game played December 17, 1982, in San Diego, California. It was part of the 1982 NCAA Division I-A football season. It featured the 17th ranked Ohio State Buckeyes, and the unranked BYU Cougars.
Teams The game featured the Ohio State Buckeyes from the Big Ten Conference and the BYU Cougars from the Western Athletic Conference (WAC). This was the first meeting between the two teams.
Ohio State
The Buckeyes, led by fourth-year head coach Earle Bruce, started the season 2–0 and rose to no. 13 in the AP poll, but lost their next three games and fell out of the rankings. Ohio State then won its final six games, ending the regular season with a 24–14 victory over no. 13 Michigan in the Game. The Buckeyes entered the Holiday Bowl with an overall record of 8–3 and ranked no. 17 in the AP poll.
BYU
The Cougars, led by eleventh-year head coach LaVell Edwards, entered the game as the WAC champions with an overall record of 8–3. BYU's losses came against then-no. 6 Georgia, Air Force, and Utah State by a combined seven points. The Cougars ended the regular season with a 17–12 victory over Utah in the Holy War. Despite New Mexico also finishing with an identical WAC record of 7–1 (and 10–1 overall), BYU won the WAC title outright due to a 40–12 head-to-head victory over the Lobos during the season.
Scoring summary Ohio State scored first on a 47-yard field goal by Rich Spangler, giving the Buckeyes a 3–0 first quarter lead. In the second quarter, BYU quarterback Steve Young threw a 7-yard touchdown pass to Neil Balholm giving BYU a 7–3 lead. Ohio State running back Tim Spencer scored on a 61-yard touchdown run, giving the Buckeyes a 10–7 lead. Buckeye quarterback Mike Tomczak later scored on a 3-yard run making it 17–7 in favor of the Buckeyes. BYU's Kurt Gunther kicked a 39-yard field goal before halftime to make it 17–10 Ohio State.
In the third quarter, Ohio State's Vaughn Broadnax scored on a 1-yard touchdown run giving OSU a 24–10 lead. Tim Spencer added an 18-yard touchdown run, and Rich Spangler a 37-yard field goal to give Ohio State a 34–10 lead at the end of the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Ohio State scored a 1-yard touchdown run going up 41–10. Steve Young fired a 13-yard touchdown pass to Gordon Hudson narrowing the lead to 41–17. However, Gayle scored on a 5-yard touchdown run to respond for the Buckeyes. The Buckeyes had 329 rushing yards, 132 passing yards, while also having 196 yards on return yards, possessing the ball for 34:33 with 24 first downs. BYU had 19 rushing yards, 352 passing yards, 124 return yards, with possession time being 25:27. Both teams lost a fumble, while BYU had a pass intercepted. BYU had 9 penalties for 75 yards; Ohio State had 12 penalties for 109 yards.
Game summary
Statistics OSUBYU First downs 24 21 Plays–yards 85–461 64–371 Rushes–yards 66–329 18–19 Passing yards 132 352 Passing: –– 11–19–0 28–46–1 Turnovers 1 2 Team Category Player Statistics Ohio State Passing Mike Tomczak 11/19, 132 yards Rushing Tim Spencer 21 rushes, 167 yards, 2 TD Receiving Gary Williams 5 receptions, 63 yards BYU Passing Steve Young 27/45, 341 yards, 2 TD, INT Rushing Waymon Hamilton 3 rushes, 14 yards Receiving Gordon Hudson 7 receptions, 81 yards, TD
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