A few years from now (hell, maybe a few weeks), you probably won't remember much about the 2018 Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, but I guarantee you Zach Wilson will remember it for the rest of his life. The BYU quarterback had the performance of a lifetime, leading the Cougars to a 49-18 win over Western Michigan.
Wilson finished the game completing every pass he attempted. He threw 18 passes ... and he completed 18 passes. And this wasn't one of those cases where a QB throws all of his passes at the line of scrimmage, either. Wilson's 18 throws picked up 317 yards, good for 17.6 yards per attempt. He threw four touchdowns, including a 26-yard scoring toss as well as a 70-yarder.
Wilson could do no wrong. He set a school record for consecutive completions in a single game with his 18 completions, passing the previous mark of 14 set by Steve Sarkisian in 1995 and Steve Young in 1982. The 18 consecutive completions came one short of tying the bowl record set by Mike Bobo at Georgia when he completed 19 straight passes in the 1998 Outback Bowl. So it's pretty obvious that when he leaves BYU, Wilson will either go on to be a Hall of Fame QB in the NFL, or he'll be a college head coach someday. There's no in between.
Of course, while we're on the subject of Wilson leaving BYU, that's the other part of this remarkable story. Wilson is only a freshman, so he won't be leaving Provo any time soon. Wilson took over the starting job at QB against Hawaii in mid-October and has held on to the reins since. He finishes the season having thrown for 1,578 yards and 12 touchdowns in seven starts. While BYU finishes this 2018 season at 7-6, Wilson's performance during the season, and especially in the bowl game, should give Cougar fans plenty of reasons to be optimistic about this BYU team in 2019.
After all, it'll be at least another nine months before Wilson throws his next incomplete pass.
