The 1981 Holiday Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 18 in San Diego, California. It was part of the 1981 NCAA Division I-A football season, and was the fourth edition of the Holiday Bowl.^[3] The Friday night game was the third of sixteen games in this bowl season and featured the #20 Washington State Cougars of the Pac-10 Conference, and the 14th-ranked BYU Cougars, champions of the Western Athletic Conference.^{[4][5][6][7][8]}

It was the first bowl appearance in 51 years for Washington State,^[9] who used a two-quarterback system: junior Clete Casper was the passer and sophomore Ricky Turner the runner.^[10] Meanwhile, it was the fourth straight year in the Holiday Bowl for BYU. BYU's quarterback was consensus All-American and future Super Bowl champion Jim McMahon, the fifth overall pick of the 1982 NFL Draft. He was backed up by sophomore Steve Young, a future member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and also a Super Bowl champion.

Game summary

Favored BYU scored first on a 35-yard pass from McMahon to Dan Plater, the only scoring of the first quarter. McMahon threw a 7-yard pass to Gordon Hudson to increase BYU's lead to 14–0. Washington State got on the board after quarterback Turner scored on a two-yard run. BYU's Kurt Gunther kicked a 20-yard field goal and Waymon Hamilton ran in from a yard out to give BYU a 24–7 lead at halftime.^[5][6][7]

Early in the third quarter, BYU cornerback Tom Holmoe intercepted a Casper pass and returned it 35 yards for a touchdown, but WSU scored three unanswered touchdowns. Running back Matt LaBonne scored on an 18-yard run, Robert Williams scored on a 5-yard run, and Turner scored again on a 13-yard run to close the BYU lead to three points (31–28) at the end of the third quarter.^[5][6][7]

McMahon fired an 11-yard touchdown pass to Scott Pettis to take the lead back to ten points at 38–28. WSU fullback Mike Martin scored from a yard out and Turner added a 2-point conversion to close the gap to two points (38–36) with five minutes remaining. Late in the game, McMahon fumbled a third-down snap but picked up the ball and ran for a first down that helped to clinch the victory for BYU.^[11]

The players of the game, both from BYU, were McMahon and middle linebacker Kyle Whittingham,^[6] the future head coach at Utah. BYU evened its record in the bowl at 2–2,^[3][8] and played in the next three.

BYU moved up one spot to thirteenth in the final AP poll, and Washington State slipped out of the top twenty;^[12] their next bowl appearance was seven years later.

Scoring

First quarter

• BYU – Dan Plater 35 pass from Jim McMahon (Kurt Gunther kick)

Second quarter

• BYU – Gordon Hudson 4 pass from McMahon (Gunther kick)
• WSU – Ricky Turner 4 run (Ward Leland kick)
• BYU – Field goal, Gunther 20
• BYU – Waymon Hamilton 1 run (Gunther kick)

Third quarter

• BYU – Tom Holmoe 35 interception return (Gunther kick)
• WSU – Matt LaBomme 18 run (Pat Beach pass from Clete Casper)
• WSU – Robert Williams 5 run (pass failed)
• WSU – Turner 13 run (Leland kick)

Fourth quarter

• BYU – Scott Pettis 11 pass from McMahon (Gunther kick)
• WSU – Mike Martin 1 run (Turner run)

Source:^[5][6][7]

Statistics

Statistics	WSU	BYU
First Downs	23	22
Rushes–yards	53-245	32-69
Passing yards	106	368
Passes	8-25-2	28–44–0
Total yards	351	437
Punts–average	8–41	8–37
Fumbles–lost	0–0	5–0
Turnovers by	2	0
Penalties-yards	5-45	9-86

Source:^[5][6][7]