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BYU Football: The Mount Rushmore of Independence

By Adam Gibby

SAN DIEGO, CA - DECEMBER 20: Kyle Van Noy #3 of the BYU Cougars recovers a fumble scoring a touchdown after sacking the qurterback in the second half of the game against the San Diego State Aztecs in the Poinsettia Bowl at Qualcomm Stadium on December 20, 2012 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Kent C. Horner/Getty Images)
SAN DIEGO, CA - DECEMBER 20: Kyle Van Noy #3 of the BYU Cougars recovers a fumble scoring a touchdown after sacking the qurterback in the second half of the game against the San Diego State Aztecs in the Poinsettia Bowl at Qualcomm Stadium on December 20, 2012 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Kent C. Horner/Getty Images) /
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BOCA RATON, FLORIDA – DECEMBER 22: Zach Wilson #1 of the Brigham Young Cougars looks to pass against the Central Florida Knights at FAU Stadium on December 22, 2020 in Boca Raton, Florida. (Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images)
BOCA RATON, FLORIDA – DECEMBER 22: Zach Wilson #1 of the Brigham Young Cougars looks to pass against the Central Florida Knights at FAU Stadium on December 22, 2020 in Boca Raton, Florida. (Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images) /

Zach Wilson

Statistics: 7652 passing yards, 642 rushing yards, 71 total TD’s

Is BYU Football in the Big 12 if BYU goes 7-5 in 2020? Probably, but maybe not. While I certainly do believe 100% that BYU was the top contender for the Big 12 expansion with or without 2020, maybe the Big 12 ends up dissolving without a good BYU.

I know it sounds crazy, but maybe a team like TCU would have jumped to the AAC or West Virginia to the ACC if the expansion candidates weren’t very good. Sure Cincinnati has been great and UCF certainly was a great team a few years ago, but having BYU as a top 15 team knocking on the door may have helped some of the other Big 12 to relax a bit. Again, I know it sounds crazy to believe, but the Big 12 Conference was hanging by a thread for a few weeks after OU and Texas announced they’d be leaving for the Big 12, so who knows?

All of BYU’s special season started with Zach Wilson. Wilson was in large part, the face of college football. He was the underdog story that the nation fell in love with, especially during Covid when things were for the most part still shut down and people had nothing better to do than to cheer on the ‘non blueblood’ star.

Wilson was exceptional in 2020 essentially doing whatever he wanted to against every defense he faced. If the Cougars had the ball with 45 seconds left in the half on their own side of the fifty, fans knew there was a very good change six points were on the way.

What Wilson did for BYU was make them a desirable team, to the point where there wasn’t a single projection for Big 12 expansion that didn’t include the Cougars, something that wasn’t the case in previous conference expansion talks.

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What do you think? Who makes your ‘Mount Rushmore’ for BYU Football during Independence?

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