The History of Opening Day Starting QBs at BYU in the Modern Era (The 80s)
Moving into the Golden Era of BYU quarterbacking, followed by... some uh... not so great years.
On to the 1980s, where BYU started the decade off with three consecutive NFL Draft picks at quarterback, including two future Super Bowl winners and a Pro Football Hall of Famer and then… moved into some dark times, at least as far as quarterback play was involved. While the latter half of the decade was full of inconsistent quarterbacks, there was hope on the horizon.
1980-81 - Jim McMahon
After earning All-WAC honors during a tumultuous 1978 season while sharing the starting job with Marc Wilson, Jim McMahon had been uncertain about his future at BYU. After not getting the starting nod against Navy in the Holiday Bowl, he had offseason knee surgery and was debating a transfer to the Bay Area or Weber State. Dr. Brent Pratley, who had performed the surgery, convinced McMahon to stay by challenging him: “Wouldn’t there be some satisfaction in rising above it all and rubbing it in their faces?”
He redshirted the 1979 season and was named the starter heading into 1980. With BYU slated to face a so-so New Mexico team that they had beaten 59-7 the year prior, McMahon was primed to get off to a great start to his junior campaign. Instead, the Cougars lost 25-21 and he only completed 11-of-25 passes for 147 yards and 2 touchdowns and an interception. The team would right the ship after that game, going 12-0 and winning their first bowl game in dramatic fashion on one of the greatest comebacks in college football history, capped by McMahon’s Hail Mary pass to Clay Brown in the end zone to beat SMU. In the final 12 games after that lone loss, McMahon completed 65 percent of his passes for 4,870 yards with 49 touchdowns and 18 interceptions.
The 1981 season would start off with a win, though McMahon went without a passing touchdown for the first time since the 1978 UNLV game in Japan. BYU would beat Long Beach State 31-8 and McMahon would pass for 403 yards but also threw 2 interceptions. Despite dealing with some injuries, McMahon still had another great season and finished third in the Heisman voting. He capped off his career with another Holiday Bowl win, this time over Washington State by a score of 38-36.
SEASON STATS:
1980: 316-of-494 for 5,017 yards, 51 TD and 19 INT; 6 rush TD; 12-1 record
1981: 299-of-465 for 3,897 yards, 33 TD and 7 INT; 10-1 record
1982-83 - Steve Young
BYU’s first true dual-threat starting quarterback since Virgil Carter, Steve Young had his first taste of starting experience filling in for Jim McMahon in 1981. He went 1-1 in those two games, completing 48-of-80 passes for 576 yards, a touchdown and 5 interceptions. He did run for 129 yards in those two games though. His 1982 got off to a fine enough start. The Cougars shut UNLV out 27-0 and Young completed an efficient 19-of-26 passes for 271 yards and touchdown and interception. On top of that, he added a score on the ground. His next game would not go so smooth as he completed less than half of his passes and threw 6 interceptions in a 17-14 loss to No. 6 Georgia on the road. He finished strong from that point on though, being named 1st Team All-WAC and winning WAC Offensive Player of the Year.
The 1983 season would be one for the record books but it started off with a 40-36 loss to Baylor. Young was brilliant though, completing 23-of-38 passes for 351 yards and a touchdown, while running for 113 yards and two more scores. The Cougars would win out the rest of the way, finishing with an 11-1 record on the year. Young would finish as Heisman runner-up while completing a blistering 71 percent of his passes for the year.
SEASON STATS:
1982: 257-of-412 for 3,445 yards, 20 TD and 19 INT; 403 rush yards and 10 TD; 8-4 record
1983: 330-of-465 for 4,216 yards, 34 TD and 13 INT; 437 rush yards and 9 TD; 1 receiving TD; 11-1 record
1984-85 - Robbie Bosco
Heading into the 1983 season opener, Robbie Bosco was a nervous wreck. The previous four starting quarterbacks at BYU had all had a sort of audition before getting the full time job. Gifford Nielsen took over for an ineffective Mark Giles before getting the full-time job, Marc Wilson relieved Nielsen after a season-ending knee injury, Jim McMahon split time with Wilson before taking the full-time job in 1980, and Steve Young got two starts in injury relief for McMahon as a sophomore. Bosco threw all of 28 passes as a sophomore in 1983, mostly in mop-up duty during blow out victories. His one moment of meaningful play came against Utah State that year, when he came in for a concussed Steve Young and completed 3-of-3 passes for 28 yards and a touchdown. Young came back into the game and led BYU to a 38-34 win.
The national talk before BYU played No. 3 Pitt on the road on ESPN to start the season was about how this might be where the BYU quarterback dynasty stumbles. Maybe this was where LaVell’s Cougars started to lose a step. Early on in the game, that appeared to be the case. Bosco was wild, erratic. He was taking hits left and right. BYU led 3-0 at half but Bosco threw two third quarter picks, with one of them going for six and BYU found themselves down 14-3 with 6:36 left in the quarter. The Cougars righted the ship soon enough and took the 20-14 lead with 2:42 left in the game. Bosco finished the day completing 25-of-43 passes for 325 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions. The rest of the season is a story all BYU fans know. The Cougars won out the rest of the way, finishing 13-0 and being named National Champions.
1985 saw Bosco throw for 508 yards and 3 touchdowns, but also 4 interceptions in the season opener against Boston College. Unfortunately, interceptions were a running them for Bosco that year as he threw 28 all season and had four games with four interceptions. The Cougars finished the regular season 11-2 and faced off with No. 17 Ohio State. Sadly, the interceptions came up again (Robbie threw four of them) and the Buckeyes beat BYU 10-7 with their only touchdown coming on a Robbie Bosco pick six.
SEASON STATS:
1984: 313-of-500 for 4,218 yards, 35 TD and 14 INT; 2 rush TD; 13-0 record
1985: 363-of-561 for 4,534 yards, 31 TD and 28 INT; 2 rush TD; 11-3 record
1986 - Steve Lindsley
Tasked with the tall task of replacing Robbie Bosco, Ricks College transfer Steve Lindsley got off to a shaky start as he turned it over on BYU’s first two possessions of the season and the Cougars failed to score until a 49-yard Leonard Chitty field goal midway through the second quarter. The Cougars ultimately got things going and beat Utah State 52-0. Lindsley finished completing 24-of-37 passes for 369 yards with 2 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. Unfortunately, the season would continue to be an up-and-down affair with Lindsley often being pulled for backups Mike Young and Bob Jensen. After only completing 4-of-12 passes for 45 yards and 2 interceptions in a 10-3 loss to San Diego State, Lindsley was benched for the last time and Jensen started the final two games of the season.
SEASON STATS: 180-of-287 for 2,247 yards, 12 TD and 18 INT; 3 rush TD; 7-4 record
1987 - Bob Jensen
The only BYU football player to come from Fillmore, UT in the modern era (since 1972), Jensen took over as starting QB at the end of 1986 and kept the job heading into the opener against Pitt in 1987. The season started off well enough when he found receiver Rich Zayas for a 73-yard touchdown pass on the first play from scrimmage. Sadly, BYU was shut down from that point on as Pitt climbed to a 27-7 lead in the fourth quarter. The Cougars tried their best to claw back in the final period but fell short 27-17. Jensen was sacked 8 times and accumulated a total of -97 rushing yards (a BYU record for fewest yards in a game by an individual) and the team totaled -76 on the ground (the second fewest rush yards as a team in program history). Jensen did manage to complete 26-of-48 passes for 317 yards with 2 touchdowns and an interception. BYU struggled to a 4-3 record and, after mostly ineffective play, Jensen was benched in favor of sophomore Sean Covey for the final six games of the season. After the season, Jensen decided to forgo his senior season and try his hand in the CFL but would be waived by the Ottawa Rough Riders before the 1988 season.
SEASON STATS: 143-of-259 for 1,833 yards, 10 TD and 14 INT; 4 rush TD; 4-3 record
1988 - Sean Covey
Another season where the opening day starter was coming off a season where they took over the starting job during the previous year. He started the final 6 games of 1987, leading BYU to a 5-1 record and completing 145-of-240 passes for 1,812 yards and 9 touchdowns and 9 interceptions in those starts. It would be another messy start to the season as Covey only completed 5-of-12 passes for 35 yards before leaving with a concussion in a 14-24 loss to Wyoming. The rest of the season would be an up-and-down affair for the Cougars and Covey, who dealt with a number of injuries and inconsistent play. He threw for 490 yards and 2 touchdowns against TCU but threw three interceptions (one pick six) in a 28-57 loss to Utah, only the second time BYU had lost to Utah under LaVell. Covey would be benched in favor of Ty Detmer in the Freedom Bowl against Colorado and that was that. He would have major knee surgery in the offseason while Detmer would take the starting job moving forward.
SEASON STATS: 178-of-329 for 2,646 yards, 14 TD and 11 INT; 4 rush TD; 8-4 record