“Lite”
801 372 0819
Vol. 38, Issue 11 - B, October 12, 2018
All Signs and Sources Indicate That Zack Wilson Will Start at QB tomorrow night against Hawaii
Which makes this email received from a subscriber this week very appropriate.
YOU KNOW YOU HAVE A BAD TEAM WHEN…
. . . everyone is talking about a quarterback change, mid-season.
That got me to thinking: Has a QB switch, mid-season, ever made much of a difference at BYU? Mostly, no. A bad team is a bad team. But there have been a few times. . . when it HAS made a difference. Here are three years that come to mind:
1. 1975: My memory is a little foggy here, and I don’t have box scores for all the games. But it seems to me that Gifford Nielsen came in after a few games had already been played. Possibly he was practicing with the basketball team before that. He was recruited (out of Provo High School) mostly as a basketball player. But he had been quarterback for the Provo High football team, so that was in the back of everyone's mind.
BYU lost its first three games in 1975, then beat a bad New Mexico team by one point. It looked like it was going to be a long season. But then something happened, and that something was Gifford Nielsen. BYU won the rest of its scheduled games that season, except for the one against ranked Arizona. BYU was not yet used to beating Utah, but in 1975 the score was BYU 51, Utah 20. That was news back then. (It would be news today, too.)
2. 1987: BYU was floundering under non-passer Bob Jensen. After six games it was 3-3, and the schedule hadn't been all that tough. This was a team going nowhere.
At some point, in 1987, Bob Jensen sat and a new guy named Sean Covey took over. Covey almost looked like a new BYU great at first, and BYU did finish the season with six straight wins (before a bowl loss to Virginia). But it was an illusion. Covey was too small, too fragile, and probably not as good as he looked when he first joined the team. Still, he really turned things around in 1987.
3. 2000: This is the one time that a quarterback change made a gigantic difference, and it doesn't reflect well on LaVell Edwards, who was finishing his tenure at BYU (along with Norm Chow). BYU had been going with Charlie Peterson, and then with strong-armed Bret Engemann (after Peterson got hurt). They also had a guy named Brandon Doman sitting on the bench (he'd been on the bench the year before too) but Norm Chow insisted that Doman wasn't good enough to play for BYU. Doman was strictly a reserve, said Chow. Not a good passer--that was the word from the geniuses who were running BYU's offense.
Eventually all of the other quarterbacks were hurt, and Doman had to play. Guess what? He was spectacular, and he saved the season all by himself. BYU had been a dismal 4-6 going into the penultimate game against Rocky Long's New Mexico team. It looked like LaVell was going to go out a loser.
But then Doman happened--because he was the only guy left. And Doman kicked butt. The Doman Cougars beat New Mexico 37-13. Remember, New Mexico was a Rocky Long team. 37 points against a Long defense was a big deal.
Then BYU played Utah in the final game of the season. And BYU, in a ferocious comeback and in one of the many magical games in LaVell's long career, won that game too, 34-27.
Doman went on to win the first 12 games of the 2001 season, under Gary Crowton. So he won his first 14 games as a starter. That was the last time--the last time--I felt that BYU football was something special. They've been good since, but not magical good, like they were under Doman (and Luke Staley).
Don't look for a change like that this year. BYU doesn't have the receivers, the brains, the magic--that it had under LaVell and under Crowton too, at the beginning. This is a prosaic team. But sure, play Zach Wilson. I'd like to see what he can do.
Robert Garrick
In the Spirit of Full Disclosure…
Quarterback controversies are good for business. People pay attention and are interested.
I always feel for the quarterbacks involved in the controversies, but regardless it fuels readership and discussion.
After Saturday against Hawaii, the current 2018 BYU QB controversy will either be resolved or exacerbated until next March and the start of spring football.
I’m talking the Zack Wilson vs. Jaren Hall debate on tap for 2019. A season opening schedule of Utah, Tennessee, USC and Washington guarantees a QB controversy between them.
Wilson will have the head start and could have a lock on the job depending on how he performs during the remainder of this season. But don’t discount Hall, the returned missionary from Mapleton.
So, let’s get started early because it is coming.
Zack Wilson…Jaren Hall
Click to Watch Wilson Click to Watch Hall
Finally, here’s BYU’s scary Halloween video for tomorrow.
That would be UH’s sophomore QB Cole McDonald. There is no QB controversy in Honolulu. This was his first start against CSU on the road.