ESPN The Magazine 2024

In homes across the country, little boys begin rooting for "their" teams by the time they're old enough to sit up straight. Before they can even hold their own bottle, they are learning that their dads always know more than the coach and that referees are bad men. They become aware of the evil in this world--the rival team--and they learn what colors are acceptable in their homes. While they still drool all over themselves, they have dad intently explaining what the defense needs to do, or why the quarterback should pump fake and go long. In homes like these, the chosen team becomes a part of the family--often times, dad's favorite kid--and the little boy begins to treat the team like his favorite sibling. This story begins in 2005, when Sammy Taylor was born into a home like this, with a sibling named BYU.

When Sam was born, BYU was in the midst of a program slump. After a 20 year stretch of tremendous success under the legendary coach, LaVell Edwards, the Cougars had suffered a number of losing seasons in the new century. When Edwards retired, the Cougar faithful had already begun getting restless---Edwards last few years were unsuccessful by his standards--and they were more than ready for offensive guru Gary Crowton to take over. In Crowtons first year--2001--BYU started 12-0 and gave Cougar fans National Championship ideas. In 1984, BYU beat Michigan 17-10 to win its only National Championship, and that one Championship was enough to always give Cougar fans the hope and belief that another one was possible. Towards the end of the Cougars 12th victory in 2001, their superstar player, Luke Staley, broke his leg. Without Staley, the Cougars dropped their last 2 games to finish 12-2--another year without a title. Inspite of the poor finish, BYU fans had sky-high expectations for Crowton and the program, but following the dominant 2001 season, things went downhill. 2002 ended up being the Cougars first losing season in nearly 30 years, and a couple more losing seasons followed, sending Crowton out the door and bringing in Bronco Mendenhall. Mendenhall began rebuilding the program, but National Championship thoughts were non-existent--not just because of the lack of ability in the BYU program, but because of the BCS. This was the football environment that Sam was born into when he joined the Cougar faithful in 2005.

Even though BYU wasn't as good as it had been in its glory days of the 80's, Mendenhall had helped the Cougs back to respectability. Unfortunately, respectability, even greatness, weren't enough because of the BCS setup, which would allow the Cougars to play a perfect season and get a BCS game but no chance for a National Championship. None of this fazed Sam's dad, Steve, from brainwashing Sam to love the Cougars. As a young kid, Sam didn't exhibit a lot of toughness, so his dad always talked about having him play tennis--anything that didn't require the kinds of things football does. Sam liked watching football, he liked trying to play catch, and he had a decent arm, but none of that gave Steve the impression that Sam could be a football player.

When Sam turned 8, an enormous change took place in College football--the BCS system was changed and a 16 team playoff was created; it included the conference champions from the 10 division one conferences, and 6 at large teams. After years of trying, proponents of a playoff system had finally succeeded, in a bigger way that most had hoped for. Fast Forward 11 years, and BYU still hasn't won another National Championship. Since the format changed to a playoff in 2013, BYU has made the Playoffs 6 times, where they have a 1-5 record. In 2016, BYU got an 8 seed and knocked off Ohio State, a 9 seed. After that first round win, the Cougars faced the topped ranked Gators--they lost 56-14--and they have only been to the playoffs twice since then, losing in the first round both times.

As college football continued to improve the way it crowns a champion, Sam continued to improve as an athlete. While he may not have shown early signs of football skill, by the time he was 8, Sam was starting to excel. His first year of pee-wee football ended up being the kind of season that gets better and better everytime its retold by someone, mainly because it was so dominant. As a quarterback, Sam ran and threw for 121 touchdowns, all while throwing only two interceptions and fumbling once. He wasn't sacked the entire season, and that's not because he had a line full of Orlando Paces'. The instincts, speed, vision, and elusiveness that Sam displayed then have continued to improve and he's put up those kind of stats at every level. By the time he was a senior in high school, Sam was considered the top QB prospect in the country. He found every big-time school putting on the full court press, all trying to get him to cast aside BYU so he could win a National Championship. He admits that he briefly thought about Florida and USC--both schools have been dominant for the last 2 decades--and Urban Myers 6 National Championships, plus the weather in Florida, were really difficult to turn down. But in the end, he had to go with the team he's loved his entire life, and he chose BYU, even if that meant success would be getting past the first round of the playoffs.

After a freshman year spent learning on the sidelines, Sam earned the starting job for the Cougars this year. Midway through this season, BYU is ranked 3rd in the country, undefeated, and considered a real title contender by just about everyone. The Cougars are 6-0, with wins coming over three of those wins coming over top 15 teams--all by at least 2 touchdowns. The most impressive win was the opening game of the season, when the Cougars went to South Bend, and knocked off the 2nd ranked Fighting Irish, 34-13. In that game--the 1st start of his career--Sam had a stat line from a video game: 31-35, 427 yards, and 4 touchdowns, with no picks. Those video game numbers have continued, with Taylor compiling a staggering 6 game total: 81% completion percentage, 2,500 yards, 31 touchdown passes, 1 interception, 320 rushing yards, 12 rushing touchdowns, and no fumbles. Taylor currently leads all the early Heisman Ballots by a mile--the last and only Cougar to win the Heisman is Ty Detmer--and no one can say his stats have come against inferior competition. The MWC has 4 teams in the top 25--Utah, TCU, Boise State, and BYU--and the Cougars still haven't played their 3 ranked conference foes; if they are all still ranked when they play BYU, the Cougars will have played 6 teams inside the top 20.

All of the stats are great; possibly winning the Heisman would be nice; getting a spot in the Playoffs would be good; none of that matters to Taylor. Winning one game in the playoffs is a start, but to Sam, only winning the National Championship would be truly satisfying. He recognizes that he's downplaying a lot of significant achievements that have rarely or never happened at BYU, but he wasn't around when BYU won their only National Title. To him, the only meaningful thing he can do in his career as a Cougar is to end that drought. If he does, he just might surpass Jim McMahon, Steve Young, & Ty Detmer, and be considered the greatest Cougar QB ever. As a magazine, we don't root for any particular team, but we wouldn't mind writing a follow up story a couple of months from now, asking Sam Taylor how it feels to be a Heisman Trophy winning National Champion.