Yesterday for our QOTD (question of the day), I paid tribute to controversial takes like those of Brady Poppinga, but also to those that I've heard amongst Cougar Nation. I asked "which controversial BYU sports takes do you receive flack for?"

My controversial take was:

“Christian Stewart was a better QB, Taysom was the better football player in 2014.” Ultimately IMO, If Christian Stewart was given the reigns in fall camp to be QB1, I believe BYU had just as good of a chance to win games and score points as a Taysom Hill led team did. Christian was a much better passer and distributor of the football, although his completion % was slightly less efficient b/c he took WAY more shots downfield rather than dinking and dunking.

Looks as if I’ve kicked a hornets nest around here. So as a reminder, I was demolished for this same/similar take in July of 2014 after I’d personally watched multiple PRP’s in which Taysom had huge issues with his accuracy and touch. Furthermore I also had conversations with many within the program that felt similarly to me, therefore I’ve embraced the hate once and I’m willing to do it again.

That being said, CB is an interesting place. This is the same group where the majority called for Taysom to be benched in favor of Tanner Mangum and also told me Taysom had no business in the NFL as a QB prior to his proday in 2017. Furthermore, ya’ll especially ridiculed Brady Poppinga for declaring that Taysom was a 1st round NFL Talent leading up to that draft and mind you he did just receive a 1st round tender during free agency.

At any rate, yesterday I stated that I felt that most players on offense at that time preferred to have a traditional qb distributing the ball to playmakers rather than hoarding the ball on RPO’s and running on 3rd and 5 for 1st downs. I believe that if you hooked up the 2014 offensive unit to a lie detector and results were anonymous, there would be at least 50% or more that wanted Christian Stewart to be their QB. Hindsight.. but you can do your own investigatory questioning with the contacts that you have to confirm. I think you'll be surprised.

Here are my reasons for the take:

1. Eyes on experience watching both Taysom and Christian throw and compete in practice prior and during the season.
2. Polling prominent former players that were on the team (yes this is a controversial subject even amongst them and it’s a much closer competition than most of you think.)
3. BYU’s defense in 2014 was arguably the worst defense in the last 20 years. That 2014 defense gave up 29.8 PPG, more than any other Bronco Mendenhall defense. It was certainly a difficult situation for a back up to inherit that had limited reps. Wins and losses matter on a QB’s resume, but how much blame do you put on that atrocious defense?
1st 4 games the defense only gave up 18.75 PPG. In the last 7 games (not including Utah State or Savannah State ) they gave up 35.42 PPG w/ a decrease in SOS IMO (not including Savannah State or Memphis OT points) Did a slight decrease in offensive production produce/influence horrific play by the defense?
5. Bobby Hauck says BYU QB Christian Stewart is a better passer than Taysom Hill “When asked to evaluate Stewart’s play this season, Hauck said, “(Stewart) doesn’t run the ball as well (as Hill). He flat throws it better than Taysom Hill does. If you’re asking your quarterback to throw, they’ve got a better player in there right now than they had before.” Link:https://www.deseret.com/2014/11/14/20552739/byu-football-christian-stewart-has-settled-in-as-cougars-starting-quarterback
6. Dennis Erickson at the Utah Proday gave rave reviews of Christian Stewart, and the Titans scout that was in attendance at all 3 prodays (BYU / Utah / Utah St.) inquired whether or not Christian was pursuing the NFL. The Titans scout I was told even made the claim that he had a next level arm and accuracy.
7. Total offense and total TD’s accounted for are also similar between the two.

I really do find this to be an intriguing debate, b/c there is enough evidence to support both sides. To some, this is a controversial take, to others an idiotic take.

I feel like there could be some recency bias in this particular debate b/c of the success Taysom has had in the NFL despite not playing the QB position.

Many will piss and moan while undermining my points due to recency bias forgetting how good Christian was in his final 5 games once he hit his stride and got comfortable. Also Anae revamped had to revamp the offense to fit Stew's skill set.

Also of note, the main reason why Taysom was the starter was because Taysom was an alpha freak athlete and the better "all around" football player. It's also important to realize the vision of Bronco Mendenhall offensively. Bronco Mendenhall hated preparing for dual threat QB’s. He thought it was the most difficult thing to prep for as a D Coordinator. Therefore, he wanted an offense highlighting those elements. I also remember him getting scriptural with the “Walk and not be weary and run and not faint”, ideology with "Go Fast Go Hard". That’s the reason he brought back Robert Anae and the go fast go hard Rich Rodriguez RPO philosophy of offense. Taysom Hill was the perfect guy to run it is his opinion, maybe he should have focused on doing what has made BYU great for the last 40 years though? Slinging it.

Jordan Pendleton hopped on yesterday and agreed with me on the take, making the case that Taysom is a superb utility player, as we've seen in the NFL, so why not put the best 11 on the football field and utilize Taysom as New Orleans has used them? He also applauded Stew's QB'ing ability. Check that out via the podcast. Also we will have Dennis Erickson on to chat about Christian Stewart and what he recalled about his film and proday performance today.

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Once again, thanks for the love and the hate. Being a part time radio show host is a blast. Going on 12 years now and couldn't have done it without Cougar Nation and Cougar Board.