After we started this blog, I started thinking about ranking all of the BYU QBs, but I got bored with that exercise, but a better one emerged: ranking the QB seasons. Though it is interesting and fun to think about college careers, more than pro sports, college sports are really about seasons, as even superstar players rarely make impacts for more the 2-3 seasons.
So I’m starting at the bottom and working my way up. I’ve included the criteria I used and some of my thought process.
Process & Criteria
It’s hard to judge college QB seasons over time. I started with Gary Sheide’s 1974 season and moved forward. The offense changed a lot during the LaVell era, changed even more during the Crowton era, and has morphed even more under Bronco Mendenhall. It’s also hard to get stats for the seasons back in the day; I primarily used the wonderful Cougar Stats website in my research.
My criteria were as follows, with certainly a high level of subjectivity:
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Minimum 1000 yards passing, which means some years have two QB seasons
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Yards per pass attempt
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Completion percentage
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TD-to-INT ratio
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Total TD passes
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Season results
Is this perfect? Of course not. Will it leave a ton of room for discussion? Certainly. That’s the point. As always, I would love your feedback on this one.
BYU QB Season Rankings No. 41-36
No. 41: Matt Berry, 2003
Stats: 1445 yards; 63% comp; 7 TDs; 14 INTs; 6.15 yards per completion; Season: 4-8, 6th in MWC
Thoughts: This isn’t the last time you’ll see Berry on this list. Was he really this bad? Or was Crowton and his staff just really bad at developing QBs? Regardless, Berry was awful. He turned the ball over a lot, he only kept his completion percentage up by throwing short passes. Not sure he had much talent on offense, but hey, thems are the breaks.
No. 40: Brett Engemann, 2002
Stats: 1334 yards; 55% comp; 6 TDs; 8 INTs; 6.20 yards per comp; Season: 5-7, 7th in the MWC
Thoughts: We’ll be stuck in the Crowton era for a bit. Engemann was a disaster. Was it all his fault? Probably not. Crowton played QB roulette (sound familiar) which likely undermined his confidence as he was rotated with Berry. Was he talented? Yes, but he was inaccurate, turnover prone, and lacked leadership, not a good make-up for a college QB.
No. 39: Matt Berry, 2002
Stats: 1309 yards; 59% comp; 7 TDs; 9 INTs; 7.11 yards per comp; Season: 5-7, 7th in the MWC
Thoughts: If you combined 2002 Berry with 2002 Engemann, that’s one disastrous season. If anyone wants the Crowton era back, please check your history. Berry showed a little promise (and barely outplayed Engemann), but he regressed in 2003.
No. 38: Steve Lindsley, 1986
Stats: 2247 yards; 63% comp; 12 TDs; 18 INTs; 7.83 yards per comp; 8-5, 2nd in the WAC, 31-10 loss to UCLA in the Freedom Bowl
Thoughts: Lindsley had the unfortunate circumstance of following a succession of awesome QBs, including Robbie Bosco, who only won a national championship in 1984. My memories of him: poor pocket presence and turnovers. He was blessed with a much better supporting cast than the QBs lower on this list (hence a much better overall season for the team), but he didn’t play much better.
No. 37: Bob Jensen, 1987
Stats: 1883 yards; 56% comp; 10 TDs; 14 INTs; 7.08 yards per comp; Season: 9-4, 2nd in the WAC, 22-16 loss to Virginia in the All-American Bowl
Thoughts: Jensen was only marginally better than Lindsley. The team was still very talented, but lacked good QB play to match the seasons from earlier in the 80s.
No. 36: Charlie Peterson, 2000
Stats: 1630 yards; 58% comp; 6 TDs; 5 INTs; 6.25 yards per comp; Season: 6-6, 3rd in the MWC
Thoughts: Before Brandon Doman took over and rescued LaVell Edwards from leaving BYU with a losing season, Peterson struggled. He was probably more ‘talented’ than Doman from a physical perspective, but he struggled in the pocket, checked off way too often, and could not take advantage of the decent talent around him.
-Adam
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October 6th, 2010 at 5:20 pm
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October 8th, 2010 at 7:41 pm
When Bret Engemann started and played the entire game, (in 2002), BYU was 3-0. His lack of confidence early in 2002 (due to the coaches’ lack of confidence in him) was the beginning of the end of the Crowton era, in my opinion. That season actually started out with two pretty good games (beating Syracuse and Hawaii at home).
October 10th, 2010 at 5:36 pm
You are totally right. I think Engemann could have been at least above average at QB. All the criticisms current fans have of Bronco and Anae could be multiplied by 100.
October 18th, 2010 at 11:21 am
Matt Berry did serve a mission in Panama City Panama so we should cut him some slack.
I seem to recall him getting sacked all the time as well. I saw him often on campus and I had the urge to tackle him a few times as I walked by because he thought he was something else.
October 18th, 2010 at 9:19 pm
[…] started this series last week with my ranking of seasons 41-36. In that post you can also read the criteria I used to put together these […]
October 26th, 2010 at 10:02 pm
[…] Seasons 41-36 […]