Four Years, Four Memorable Taysom Losses

Four Years, Four Memorable Taysom Losses

     I still love the guy! And it's not all his fault. I'm talking about the half-man, half legend, Taysom Hill of running through, over and around the Texas Longhorns fame and renown. Twice. I think I really do love the guy. I do. Don't get me wrong: despite these awful sports setbacks which I will now recount, if he were not already married, I would want him to marry into my family.

He's put them, my favorite football squad, into positions to win all the years he's played. And he has been the big contributor to big wins, overall. BYU football.

But the four memorable losses are from 2012, 2013, and now two in September 2016.

Oh, yeah. All September games; I attended two of them in person.

2012

     I was overseas and I took a break from work where a friend  had the perfect T.V. set up at his office to watch the game, where BYU owed Boise State for some past losses. The Cougar defense was immaculate, the only Bronco touchdown was due to the offense (i.e. Taysom, returned missionary freshman turnover  that lead to their one and only touchdown), BYU scored a last minute TD to potentially send the game into overtime for a possible win, but we went for a 2 point conversion, and BYU failed. The coach, the new QB, the Cougars miscalculated. We failed.

My friend and I were bummed. Especially my friend. More like irate. And he was a professional psychiatrist and commissioned officer in the US Army, trained to help people with serious problems. I wanted to change the subject when we were talking to a German captain later at a meal where I introduced her to him, but he could not get over it.

"Why did they decide to go for it? The BYU defense had their number all game! We had momentum for overtime to win! Ahhhhh!!!"

Sorry, Dave. We cannot be perfect all the time. Rookie quarterbacks and their tenured coaches are human. They mess up. You are a doctor. You know that.

"That's no excuse!"

"Tough loss. They'll play better the rest of the long season. It's a learning curve." I tried to console him.

"Agghhhhhhh!!!" 

The German officer thought maybe American shrinks were a little too connected to their teams. But we had that team beat, really. Learning curve.



2013

A year later found me back in the friendly confines of Virginia, where the Cougars were playing  in picturesque Charlottesville, not too far away to drive with my wife and oldest two children.

It got rainy, and then lightning delayed it a few hours. Then in the soggy downpour, a hard thrown pass off of rookie Jamal William's hands led to the game losing touch down to the then outplayed Virginia Cavaliers. Ironically, Bronco, our had coach since 2005, took their coaching spot last year, after checking out the UVA campus three seasons prior in this flooded quagmire of a silly loss.
 
But who blamed himself for this failure ever since? Sophomore quarterback, Taysom Hill. In 2016 (the present), nine months after his head coach Mendenhall had taken the coaching position at the former place of ignominy, Taysom declared in Kensington, Maryland, next to the Washington DC temple and a few thousand of us fans on a Sunday night fireside, that he would not let that happen again.

Well, not really. He didn't say it wouldn't happen again. He mostly talked about what a painful loss it was and that as he was drowning in his own misery and physical distress and defeat seconds after the clock ran out and his clock was cleaned, a kind teammate helped him off the puddled field and literally "lifted him up" to move on. An unnecessary throw, and an unnecessary loss.

Sophomore season. Still learning.

2016

Taysom came back after missing his senior season with a potential career ending Lis Franc injury that he incurred in his first game of 2015. This was the the third season in four he left with a serious break of bones. Would he come back for a last season at glory? Yes, the guy is Superman. He declared his return for final season of his super-human career. And now, he was a senior and up on the learning curve. Right?
Second week of the season, after getting by a feisty Arizona team in Phoenix in week one, which was clutch, and so then arch rival Utah was due. Right? We had not beat them this decade yet. Taysom had never beat them. Twice he had leg bones broken to lesser inter-state rival Utah State. To the same player. So the Utes were going to pay, right?
Fast forward to a crazy game where the Cougars were picking up silly Utah turnovers.
And then it boiled down:
Last minute game tying touch down, like Boise State in 2012, led by Taysom? Check.
Go for it with no time left like the Boise State game in 2012? Check.
Lose excruciatingly without a chance in overtime? Check.

At least for me I did not have any post-game sessions with any Army officers, foreign or domestic, no professional psychotherapists getting in my grill about this being the height of idiocy. Insanity is trying to get a different result by doing the same thing repeatedly. There were some different dynamics than in the 2012 game in Idaho, but...

 It was painful to observe and absorb, nonetheless. New coach, old quarterback, same result.
Only this time against the instate nemesis. Utah got away with one. Without even mentioning the ejections of two BYU defenders previous to the ill-fated comeback.

I heard the complaints inside my own head and my soul, plus the Facebook chirping from friends and family, and a telephone conversation with my dad on the phone, where in no uncertain terms the new coach (two games in!) should be fired. How could they go for the win? It was more justified than in 2012. Poor play call, however. Taysom made it through two guys but couldn't surge past three more in front of the goal line.

Should a coach in second game at the helm be dumped?

Wellllll.... not quite, I say. Give the guy a chance. Learning curve.

But a 5th year senior, getting stuffed by over 1,000 pounds of Utah hot mess?

Ahh, Taysom. You know what kryptonite is, right?



Then we had a flat game against UCLA weeks three (8 days ago), lost by three, and then the long awaited game here in the DC region, at none other than Fed Ex field not far from University of Maryland. We had a shot at respectability and going 2-2 in a hard first month.

Four years ago when I told a hard core West Virginia Mountaineer fan that BYU was coming to the DMV (Delaware/Maryland/Virginia metroplex), he uttered in no glossy English that they would kill us.  He swore a few times, but that was normal for him. I was confident BYU would be in position to make Sergeant Showalter eat crow. We would see. I was dreaming of this one for years, since before the London Olympics or the Mitt Romney election.



I bought 3 tickets months ago in anticipation of seeing some good game, a great win. A new lease on life with a cool new coach and system.

In the last 4 plus minutes Taysom had the ball in two possessions to win the game, trailing by 3 points. Or tie.

But: alas, Alexander wept. There was much left to conquer. This was yesterday but I now see it from thousands of miles away.

Twice, ill fated tosses, from our Super guy, fifth year senior, just like that throw in Charlottesville some three years prior, with my two oldest in attendance back then, were thrown off our receivers' hands. Twice intercepted. Twice thwarted from game winning drives. And now with two more children in tow. Yesterday, it was. Yesterday, a Saturday to remember in September. I congratulated a few Mountaineer fans, despite their profane chants. They were good sports after all, and I wondered if the alum or booster to the tune of thousands per year thought of me, a BYU alumnus from our banter of bravado four years ago.

Beaten barely by 3 points, two game-saving interceptions!

And yes, tack up four last minute losses to these teams of mostly power conferences, plus Boise of BYU's former Mountain West, that could have o should have taken their losses from the Cougars. Septembers all.

2012. Team finished 8-5.
2013. Team finished 8-5.
2014. The year I have not mentioned that Taysom played healthy all year?
Also 8 wins, 5 losses.
Last year, he was hurt. BYU got 9 wins with a freshman backup.
2016? 1-3 so far. 9 games plus a presumed bowl game to go.

10-3 finish, go undefeated the rest of the season? Not likely. 8-5 might have be the mark of Taysom Hill. That is looking like a good season at this point. Almost great with this start.


Oh, well. Learning curve.

I still love BYU football. I still love Taysom. I still think Coach Sitake is the man for the job.

But these four losses are forever on my learning curve.Taysom's learning curve.

8-5 might be good enough for Taysom Hill. And the occasional pounding of the Longhorns.

Tight losses to a few opponents in September.

Times to remember. Times with friends and family.

Future Septembers where results may improve, but the past is still beloved, no matter if the play calls and throws didn't turn out.

Taysom and the Cougars were loved and lost, and in the end, that was much better than having never loved at all.

Go Cougs.