Show i Sports 1 thoughts This year two Western Athletic Conference teams Wyoming and BYU will be betaking betaking betaking taking part in bowl games Wyoming will battle Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl December 25 Brigham Young University will take on Oklahoma State in the Tangerine Bowl in I Orlando Florida December 18 Brigham Young University is taking part in the Tangerine Bowl due to the passing arm of Gifford Nielson A powerful offensive line gave Nielson plenty of passing time November 20 in Salt Lake City Nielson bombed the University of Utah defense for long gains gainson on passes as BYU easily defeated the University of Utah 34 to 12 THIS TillS YEAR with the offensive offensive of of- power of the Utes' Utes quarterback Dan Hagemann and BYUs BYU's Gifford Nielson aswell as aswell aswell well as outstanding receivers for the passes thrown by the two men a crowd of over jammed into Rice Stadium in Salt Lake City on on November 20 The show turned out to be strictly a solo affair as as s Utah's signal caller Dan Hagemann was knocked out of the game early and Gifford Nielson became the main attraction of the contest Nielson's first visit to the University of Utah as a player for BYU was slightly different in 1973 The BYU Freshman team was set to battle the University of Utah Papooses Papooses' in late October in Rice Stadium Utah had a 1 11 record and BYU was undefeated before the traditional battle between the schools was to be held This reporter was asked by bythe bythe bythe the University of Utah's sports editor to cover the football contest I thought that this would be a great honor to report on the amazing rivalry between Utah and BYU I figured that there would be a large crowd on on hand to root for Utah to break BYUs BYU's unbeaten streak However when I arrived a surprise greeted me The stadium was almost empty as as there were less than 1000 people at the ball game N Now w wt t that at J t think about t it thre re might r h haxe rye e b beep been e IS' IS e th t r. r present resent for the football battle Th arting quarterback for BYU was Gifford Nielson an unknown at at- atthe the time who wasn't worth half a stadium of fans faris in Rice Ric Stadium in 1973 The fans weren't too excited about the new new crew of Utah footballers on the fr freshman team and the stadium resembled a grocery store parking lot on Christmas Day Utah's freshmen scored early in the contest with BYU as they recovered a fumble in the second quarter on the Kittens' Kittens 20 yard line A few plays later Utah's quarterback Randy Griffin darted four yards for six points Craig Buchi kicked the extra point which gave Utah a 7 0 lead early in the second quarter The The Papooses gained two more points in the 1973 freshman freshman fresh fresh- man battle with BYU as Jack Lindsey blocked a punt by the Kittens' Kittens Wayne Penrose with left in the first half Utah jumped on the ball in the end zone for a safety which gave the Papooses a 9 to 0 lead at half time Utah fans the few present at atthe atthe atthe the game were hopeful the Utes could hang on to upset the BYU squad The BYU team which lost last the ball six times in the first half on three pass interceptions two fumbles and one blocked punt was was' a changed crew of football players in the second half The Kittens scored a touchdown with only three minutes into the third quarter Gifford Nielson threw a yard 40 bomb to Ken for forthe forthe forthe the six points Dean Paynter kicked the extra point making the score 9 to 7 for Utah HYU UYU THEN picked up a fumble on Utah's 40 with 1047 left in the third quarter The game was won by BYU YU in the third quarter due to a successful successful suc suc- kick by Dan Paynter BYU held onto the 9 10 advantage for the remainder of the ball game Less than a thousand football fans tans saw Gifford Nielson toss his first pass fo for a touchdown in Salt Lake City against the Ur University of Utah in the third quarter of the 1973 freshman game but over watched him blast the Utah defenders for countless pass completions and a number of touchdowns on his return to Rice Stadium in 1976 |