PROVO, Utah >> The Brigham Young University football team may have actually exceeded the expectations of many diehards entering its Saturday night home football contest against Hawaii.
Still, consternation was high among BYU nation despite an upset road win early in the season against Wisconsin and even despite a national ranking as high as No. 20.
That’s because the Cougars had lost their previous two games heading into the battle with the Rainbow Warriors and, in their last outing, suffered a lopsided 45-20 defeat to in-state rival Utah State.
Enter the picture for the Hawaii game: one Zach Wilson, a true freshman quarterback who had thrown a total of six passes in the first six games.
Wilson was given the starting nod over senior QB Tanner Mangum, and the Cougars’ frosh signal-caller delivered in a 49-23 victory over UH.
“Forty-nine points,” answered Dylan Collie, former Hawaii wide receiver now playing as a graduate transfer for BYU, when asked about Wilson’s performance.
“That’s pretty dang good,” Collie continued. “For (a 19-year-old) kid to come in and play as confident and be as confident as he was … to be honest, I don’t think a lot of kids could do it.”
Wilson’s numbers for his first start weren’t spectacular, but 194 yards passing included three touchdown tosses and Wilson himself found the end zone on a 23-yard scamper up the middle late in the first quarter for a 14-0 lead.
Brigham Young coach Kalani Sitake downplayed any kind of spark that a change in quarterback might have given the team.
“I just think that our offense played a lot better. We were more sound up front,” Sitake said. “We weren’t playing physical enough as a team and that was the goal.”
But the home crowd at Lavell Edwards Stadium certainly was energized.
Wilson once threw a completion from near the left sideline after getting a lateral throw himself in BYU’s first touchdown drive.
And, before finding pay dirt to end the second, the freshman hurdled one Hawaii defender on a keeper — although that play was called back to an offensive holding penalty.
As the game wore on, Wilson’s starting debut was marked by some good fortune and a solid Cougars running attack — one that included 91 yards by Matt Hadley and 85 more from Lopini Katoa.
Late in the first half, after Hawaii got on the board with a Ryan Meskell field goal to make the score 21-3, BYU went three-and-out and gave Hawaii the ball back. But Cougs defensive back Austin Lee intercepted UH quarterback Cole McDonald and returned the ball from midfield back to the Warriors’ 13.
On the next play, Wilson found fellow freshman Dallin Holker on a touchdown pass for a 28-3 lead.
In the second half, a fumble recovery by Brigham Young gave the Cougars a short field and all Wilson had to do was hand the ball off to running back Riley Burt on four straight plays. The last was a 4-yard touchdown run for a 35-10 advantage midway through the third.
“I was grateful for the opportunity and tried to make the most of it. Luckily, I have a lot of help from my teammates,” Wilson said. “Everybody knows a quarterback can’t be successful without a good line or good receivers or, shoot, even a good scheme.
“I think everything was in place tonight,” he added.
For Collie, who played the last three years in a Hawaii uniform, his part included a pass catch in the first half and a short run from his receiver position in the second.
Although Collie initially was in the BYU program before going on a church mission and then subsequently transferring to Hawaii, he ended up back at the school where his father, Scott (1979-82), and older brothers Zac and Austin also played.
As a graduate transfer, this year is the end of the line for this Collie chapter. But Dylan Collie knows that Wilson’s story is just beginning.
“I have a lot of faith in him and I know that everyone else does and we’re going to keep this thing going,” Collie said.
