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BYU Football Countdown: Player 48 – No stats available

By Adam Gibby

Fordham University guard Vince Lombardi (40) pursues the Purdue ballcarrier during a game circa the mid-1930. Lombardi famously would coach the Green Bay Packers to five World Championships in seven years--including the first two Super Bowls. Also pictured playing for Purdue is Cecil Isbell (88) who would play for Green Bay in the late 1930s and early 1940s before ending his career with the New York Giants. (Photo by Fordham University/Getty Images)
Fordham University guard Vince Lombardi (40) pursues the Purdue ballcarrier during a game circa the mid-1930. Lombardi famously would coach the Green Bay Packers to five World Championships in seven years--including the first two Super Bowls. Also pictured playing for Purdue is Cecil Isbell (88) who would play for Green Bay in the late 1930s and early 1940s before ending his career with the New York Giants. (Photo by Fordham University/Getty Images) /
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PROVO, UT – SEPTEMBER 21: Flags of the BYU Cougars are run around the field during a game against the Utah Utes during the first half of an NCAA football game September 21, 2013 at LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo, Utah. Utah beat BYU 20-13. (Photo by George Frey/Getty Images)
PROVO, UT – SEPTEMBER 21: Flags of the BYU Cougars are run around the field during a game against the Utah Utes during the first half of an NCAA football game September 21, 2013 at LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo, Utah. Utah beat BYU 20-13. (Photo by George Frey/Getty Images) /

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Interesting how today in college sports and professional sports we are so stuck on statistics and analytics that sometimes we lose the beauty of the game. While I was working at BYUtv, I would often hear people on the broadcast crew discussing how if a quarterback threw in between a certain range of yards on third down on the far side of the field it would be converted over 70% of the time. It was sort of annoying at times because took the beauty of the game.

While these statistics may be true and interesting, are we taking it too far? On NBA shot charts, there are actually analytics now that not only break down the shot selection and accuracy but also of how those are affected by timeouts, fatigue and who is guarding the player. It is ridiculous.

The reason this is being brought up today is because less than 100 years ago stats were not important, in fact they didn’t really exist. If you were a good player, you were a good player and you helped your team win a lot of games.

Today’s player in the Countdown has no stats. In fact, in the research that I did I couldn’t even find what position he played.

No. 48 LLoyd “Gus” Shields – Team Captain – 1929-1932

There are no available rosters for BYU Football back in 1932. All we know is that the Cougars had their best record ever ranging from starting in 1922 until when Lavell Edwards arrived. The team finished 8-1 that season, only losing to Utah. In fact, the team outscored their opponents 196-50, including four shutouts.

We know that LLoyd Shields was the captain of that team, and while we know nothing about his actual playing, we do have some information from his obituary. We know that he as an All-Conference player in 1930 and 1932. Outside of that, there isn’t much to find on him from a football perspective.

What we do know for sure though, is that 1932 was the first good year for BYU Football and the last one for the next 30 years. Perhaps, we are giving credit to the wrong player, and for that we recognize the entire 1932 team as the 48th pest player for going 8-1 and for the first time ever being a bright spot in BYU athletics.

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