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The 2014 BYU Cougars football team boasts a dynamic, dual-threat quarterback, a junior running back on the Doak Walker Award Watch List, a high-powered offense, and a below-average schedule. Cougar fans, does any of this sound a bit like déjà vu?
If you’re shaking your head no, then allow me to take you back to the 2001 season when Gary Crowton sat at the helm in Provo. BYU began the year unranked and was led by rushing and passing superstar quarterback Brandon Doman, aka “The Domanator.” The Cougars entered the season unranked, and were determined to prove that they belonged with the “big dogs” of college football.
After pulverizing their first few opponents, BYU found itself ranked and on the brink of a special season. As the season progressed, junior Luke Staley emerged as the nation’s premiere running back by winning the Doak Walker Award, and was in the midst of all of the Heisman chatter.
With Doman and Staley leading the way, the Cougars steadily crept up in the rankings and eventually found themselves sitting with a 12-0 record in their lap. BYU fans, coaches and players were extremely excited at the possibility of a BCS bowl appearance and becoming college football’s first “Cinderella” of the BCS era.
Days before their season finale against the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors, BYU received some devastating news that the BCS Selection Committee decided to pass on the undefeated Mountain West Conference Champions due to their strength of schedule, or the lack thereof. Instead, heart-broken BYU players and coaches were sent packing for a trip to play in the Liberty Bowl against a mediocre Louisville Cardinals squad.
Now, let’s fast-forward to the present day.
It’s the introductory year of the College Football Playoff, and BYU began the season unranked but have recently worked their way into the Top 25. They are receiving national attention, mainly because of their trouncing of the Texas Longhorns in Austin a few weeks ago. Opposing coaches and players will tell you that quarterback Taysom Hill has a skillset not to be reckoned with. He is a deadly rusher in open space, and his passing accuracy seems to be greatly improved from a season ago.
Junior running back Jamaal Williams began the season with expectations to compete for the Doak Walker Award and appears to have a formidable partner in crime in Adam Hine. With the addition of a few big-time receivers this year, the Cougars are averaging nearly 500 yards of total offense per game and are putting points on the board in the blink of an eye.
Yes, Cougar fans, the 2014 season is undoubtedly off to an electrifying start in Provo, but as the season progresses and aspirations of being selected to play in the first ever College Football Playoff grow stronger, will it be enough for BYU to thrash every foe on their lack-luster schedule? Or will the past repeat itself, and leave the Cougars playing in an average bowl game against an average opponent?
As I peer down at my magic 8 ball, it only reads, “Time will tell.”
Weston Brown is a College Football writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @WestonBrown32, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.
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