BYU crushed Holmoe-led Cal the last time they met
By Jeff Call
Deseret Morning News
PROVO — It's been a little more than four years since BYU and California faced each other on the football field, but it seems like a lot longer — given all the drastic changes the two programs have gone through. After going opposite directions over the course of those four years, the Cougars and Golden Bears will find themselves at the same place, Sam Boyd Stadium, one week from today in the Las Vegas Bowl. On a sun-drenched afternoon on Sept. 8, 2001 — just three days before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 — BYU traveled to Berkeley with a 2-0 record. The nationally ranked Cougars were led by first-year coach Gary Crowton while the Bears were coached by Tom Holmoe and quarterbacked by Kyle Boller (now of the Baltimore Ravens).
Cal jumped out to a 7-0 lead and BYU, which had scored 122 points in its first two games of the season, was held scoreless until nearly halfway through the second quarter. Facing fourth down in their own territory, Crowton called a fake punt and Ned Stearns took the snap directly from center and rumbled for a first down. Later in that drive, quarterback Brandon Doman connected with Luke Staley on a 27-yard touchdown pass to tie the score at 7-7. From there, BYU was unstoppable, scoring 35 unanswered points and, in the end, cruising to a convincing 44-16 victory. Doman rushed for three touchdowns and threw for three more. "It was a hard-fought game," remembered Doman, who now is BYU's quarterbacks coach. "We just made plays that day." The Cougars went on to post a 12-2 record that season while the Bears finished 1-10. BYU's future looked bright and Cal's future looked bleak. But, as it turned out, the Cougars crumbled while the Bears flourished. Holmoe, who posted a 16-39 mark in five years at Cal, was forced to resign at the end of the 2001 campaign. A few months after Holmoe's departure, the NCAA penalized the program for violations that happened under Holmoe's watch. Cal hired Jeff Tedford, who has led the program to four straight winning seasons for the first time in more than 50 years. He won Pac-10 Coach of the Year honors in 2004 and Cal owns a 32-17 overall record with Tedford at the helm. Among the highlights include an upset victory over Southern California in 2003 — which marks the last time the Trojans lost a game.
Holmoe was hired by BYU as an associate athletic director in 2002. Meanwhile, the Cougars suffered three consecutive losing seasons for the first time in 40 years and Crowton was forced to resign after the 2004 season. Ironically, Holmoe played a role in the decision to let Crowton go and he also led the search for a new head coach and helped to hire Bronco Mendenhall last December. Crowton became the offensive coordinator at one of Cal's Pac-10 rivals, Oregon, and helped lead the Ducks to a 10-1 season. Today, Holmoe is a key figure in what he and the BYU faithful hope is the resurgence of Cougar football. So it is that the past and present of both BYU and Cal collide next week in Las Vegas. "People here in Provo see this as a revenge game for me," Holmoe told the Contra Costa Times. "But I'm not going to have anything to do with the outcome of this game. I'm not the coach here. This is more of a reunion." Doman says he hasn't thought much about Holmoe being back with BYU and the fact that Holmoe used to coach Cal. "It's probably more weird for him than it is for any of us," he said. "It will probably be quite the experience for him. I'm glad he's with us." "In having Tom Holmoe being a former head coach there, it's going to be a lot of fun," said BYU running back Curtis Brown, who was recruited by Holmoe when he was at Cal. "There are some ties between us and Cal and that's great. It's going to make the game that much more exciting."
COMMITMENT: Michael McCoy, a 5-11, 180 defensive back from San Bernadino Valley College pledged to sign with the Cougars next week and as a mid-year qualifier, will enroll at BYU in January. McCoy was an honorable-mention Foothill Conference honoree and had five interceptions during his two-year career in junior college. He graduated from Palmdale High School in California.
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