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BYU Football: Zach Wilson wasn’t playing against Utah State’s scrubs

By Adam Gibby

BOISE, ID - DECEMBER 22: Utah State Aggies mascot Big Blue cheering during first half action at the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl between Utah State Aggies and the Akron Zips on December 22, 2015 at Albertsons Stadium in Boise, Idaho. (Photo by Loren Orr/Getty Images)
BOISE, ID - DECEMBER 22: Utah State Aggies mascot Big Blue cheering during first half action at the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl between Utah State Aggies and the Akron Zips on December 22, 2015 at Albertsons Stadium in Boise, Idaho. (Photo by Loren Orr/Getty Images) /
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One of the biggest counter-arguments to Zach Wilson’s success against Utah State is that BYU was playing in garbage time against backups. But is that right?

BYU Football was down 45-13 with 3:46 left in the game against Utah State when Zach Wilson entered the game. In most games, this would guarantee that every player on the field would be backups.

Not this game. Not in this rivalry.

On Wilson’s first play, I was able to make out seven of the eleven defenders numbers:

  • 6 – Cameron Haney (STARTER)
  • 7 – DJ Williams (STARTER)
  • 10 – Tipa Galeai (STARTER)
  • 15 – Baron Gajkowski (BACKUP)
  • 25 – Shaq Bond (STARTER)
  • 51 –  Justus Te’i (BACKUP)
  • 55 – Adewale Adeoye (STARTER)

That’s right, Utah State was playing at least five of their starters against BYU when Wilson took his first snap. It’s likely that there were seven to eight.

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The play that I had the best look at was Wilson’s scramble for 26 yards:

  • 2 – Ja’Marcus Ingram (STARTER)
  • 7 – DJ Williams (STARTER)
  • 9  – David Woodward (STARTER)
  • 10 – Tipa Galeai (STARTER)
  • 15 – Baron Gajkowski (BACKUP)
  • 25 – Shaq Bond (STARTER)
  • 51 – Justus Te’i (STARTER)
  • 55 – Adewale Adeoye (STARTER)
  • 93 – Jacoby Wildman (BACKUP)

On that play, Nos. 7, 9 and 10 were the three players that Wilson juked, sending two of them to the ground. All of them were starters. In fact those three combined for eight tackles, three pass deflections, one interception, one forced fumble and a touchdown.

Granted, Utah State was probably not playing as hard as they did at the beginning of the game, but in a rivalry game, you can bet that they were not content with BYU marching down the field and scoring.

The fact that Wilson was able to move the ball as quickly as he did with as much efficiency as he showed against a mixture of Aggie starters and reserves tells me that he deserves a real hard look at getting the start against Hawaii this Saturday.

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