Remembering Taysom Hill’s leap of faith and BYU’s back-to-back blowouts of mighty Longhorns
Although an announced crowd of more than 90,000 burnt orange-clad fans were packed into DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium on the outskirts of Austin that sweltering early September day in 2014, Remington Peck remembers warming up for and then playing in that BYU vs. No. 25 Texas football game and wondering how that many people could be so quiet.
Early in the third quarter, it got even quieter — except for the 5,000 or so BYU fans mostly tucked into the northeast corner of the upper bowl who finally got the opportunity to make their presence known.
“Of course, the other thing that stands out is Taysom just put on a show. He pretty much took over the game.” — former BYU defensive tackle and tight end Remington Peck
On a 30-yard touchdown run that would come to be known as Taysom Hill’s “Leap of Faith,” BYU’s otherworldly athletic quarterback had staked the Cougars to a 13-0 lead by running up the middle, dodging a couple Longhorns defenders and then hurdling UT defensive back Dylan Haines just inside the 10-yard line before strolling into the end zone.
“Something like 100,000 people staring on in amazement in stunned silence,” recalled Peck, a defensive lineman his first three seasons at BYU before moving to tight end in 2015.
“I was right next to the (Texas) safeties, and I turned and saw it and my mouth dropped open,” said then-BYU receiver Jordan Leslie after having made a spectacular juggling catch in the same game.
High above the action, as Hill was doing one of those “are you not entertained?” poses from the movie “Gladiator,” BYU coaches in an enclosed booth in the press box yelled and screamed so loudly that the windows vibrated.
Even longtime Austin American-Statesman columnist Kirk Bohls, who has covered the likes of Earl Campbell, Vince Young and Ricky Williams was impressed. He still remembered the play eight years later at the Big 12 football media days in July 2022, a year before BYU joined the league.
In a jubilant BYU news conference in the bowels of the massive stadium that seats 101,119 on the fringes of the sprawling UT campus, Leslie and Hill claimed the other’s play was worthy of the “SportsCenter” Top 10 plays of the day on ESPN.
Hill would run for two more touchdowns and 99 yards and Leslie would catch seven passes for 85 yards and BYU would go on to a 41-7 rout of the college football blueblood, adding new meaning to the term burnt-orange.
“The two things I remember most is how quiet that stadium was, even before we starting rolling them — there was just no energy,” Peck said Monday when reached in his home in Hooper, Utah. “It was just a different environment than any other place I played in in my career. It was super quiet.
“Of course, the other thing that stands out is Taysom just put on a show,” Peck continued. “He pretty much took over the game.”
It was actually the second straight game in which Hill had dominated the Horns — more on the current New Orleans Saints jack-of-all-trades’ heroics in the 2013 game in a bit — and it moved BYU’s record against Texas to 4-1.
“From this day forward, there will be “Unwanted” posters in post offices, bars, dormitories, gas stations and on wooden telephone poles in this capital city of Texas,” wrote Deseret News columnist Dick Harmon. “The photo will be of a guy with a leg brace named Taysom Hill.”
Said Peck: “It was a big win and a big-time accomplishment for the program to go win there on a national stage. Growing up, and in college football, Texas is a big name. It was a big statement for BYU.”
In Texas’ postgame news conference, first-year coach Charlie Strong, called the beatdown in which heavily favored Texas didn’t score until 29 seconds remained in the third quarter on a 13-yard pass from backup quarterback Tyrone Swoopes to John Harris “an embarrassment to this program, an embarrassment to this university.”
He took “responsibility” for the loss, unlike legendary coach Mack Brown after the 2013 game in Provo in which Hill ran wild in a 40-21 BYU win and Brown fired defensive coordinator Manny Diaz the following day.
Peck, who is now a regional sales manager for a company that produces pipe and conduit, said the feeling in the locker room after the big win was that the sky was the limit for this team, which had downed Connecticut 35-10 in its opener and would go on to 33-25 and 41-33 wins over Houston and Virginia at home before a bye week and then a crushing 35-20 loss to Utah State in which Hill suffered a season-ending injury.
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Many longtime observers of BYU football, including this author, believe that 2014 team would have been one of the best in school history, and perhaps challenged for a New Year’s Six bowl berth, if Hill hadn’t been injured against the Aggies.
But the Cougars will always have that Sept. 6, 2014, day in Austin, when temperatures approached 100 degrees and the BYU brand burned bright on a national stage.
“That blowout win gave us the feeling that we could play with anyone in the country, if we could play with Texas,” Peck said.
More heroes in 2014
Hill and Leslie weren’t the only stars of the 2014 beatdown deep in the heart of Texas. Trevor Samson kicked a pair of field goals in the first half, one after a phantom holding penalty on Leslie negated a lengthy Hill touchdown run.
Running back Jamaal Williams, who has reunited with Hill on the Saints’ roster, rushed for 89 yards on 19 carries, while Adam Hine, now a dentist, rushed for 29 yards and two touchdowns. Mitch Mathews, Algernon Brown and Terenn Houk contributed to BYU’s 429 yards of offense.
Hill became a fringe Heisman Trophy candidate, at least until USU ended his season for the second time in three years.
“I do my best not to think about that stuff,” the native of Pocatello, Idaho, said at the time. “This was a keynote win for us to give us some national exposure and get us into that next tier. It’s about the team.”
Defensively, Dallin Leavitt led the the Cougars with seven tackles and a sack, Daniel Robertson and Zac Stout added six tackles and Jordan Preator and Alani Fua added five tackles and a sack apiece.
Several players who would go on to play in the NFL — Michael Davis, Fred Warner, Sione Takitaki, Bronson Kaufusi and Kai Nacua — added to the defensive effort.
Texas had just 82 rushing yards on 35 carries. Mitchell Juergens, Devon Blackmon and Scott Arellano shined on special teams.
“I don’t really know what message it sends,” said then-BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall. “But I think we have a really good football team.”
Swamped in Provo in 2013
There’s a reason why Texas was so heck-bent on revenge in 2014; Hill had absolutely embarrassed the No. 15-ranked Longhorns the year before, running for 259 yards and three touchdowns in a 40-21 win in Provo.
After heavy rains deluged LaVell Edwards Stadium and lightning caused a nearly two-hour delay to the kickoff, the Cougars and Robert Anae’s “go-fast, go-hard” offense swamped Brown’s Longhorns, a loss that went a long way toward ending the coach’s 16-year tenure at UT three months later.
“When the frightful storm that blustered through (Provo) Saturday finally subsided and the black clouds lifted, BYU’s offense seemingly saw the light, found its identity, and unleashed its own kind of storm on Texas,” Jeff Call wrote in the Deseret News.
When the clouds had lifted and Brown headed back to the Lone Star State with firing on his mind, BYU’s offensive record books needed rewriting. BYU rushed for a school-record 550 yards, eclipsing the 465 against Montana in 1958. The Cougars had 679 total yards, and the 550 on the ground was the most ever surrendered by Texas.
Said linebacker Kyle Van Noy, a future NFL third-round draft pick: “Tonight showed who we really are — our identity. That is the heart we have.”
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Peck had a sack of Texas QB David Ash in the game, while Van Noy, Alani Fua, Skye PoVey, Uani Unga and future NFL player Daniel Sorensen had eight tackles apiece. Sorensen added four pass breakups.
“That was a fun one,” Peck said. “Taysom and the offense deserved a lot of the credit. They dominated. But the defense showed up, too. Just a great team win.”
BYU ran 99 plays in the game; Justin Sorensen booted four field goals, Jamaal Williams ran for 182 yards on 30 carries, and Cody Hoffman made two catches for 63 yards.
“We expected to be able to run on them,” Hill said. “We didn’t expect to break the school record.”
Is it Texas’ turn?
BYU won the first two games of the series, taking a 22-17 win in Austin in 1987 and a 47-6 win in Provo in 1988, a stunning pair of conquests because the Longhorns were and still are one of the winningest programs in the history of college football.
In the most competitive game in the series, Texas downed Jake Heaps-led BYU 17-16 in 2011, the Cougars’ first season as a college football independent.
If the 2-1-2 pattern holds, Texas will win Saturday’s game, the foes’ first and probably only encounter as Big 12 members. Texas is off to the SEC next year.
Cougars on the air
BYU (2-2, 5-2)
at No. 8 Texas (3-1, 6-1)
Saturday, 1:30 p.m. MDT
DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium
(Capacity: 100,119)
TV: ABC
Radio: 102.7 FM/1160 AM
The Longhorns started the week as 20.5-point favorites and were 17.5-point favorites at last check. The last time BYU was this big of a road underdog, it upset No. 6 Wisconsin 24-21 in Madison.
“Yeah, I think for us, we have been in big games before. We have been in tough environments to play. I don’t think you need to build it up more than just what we want to get down to, which is the fundamentals and the basics of what we are not doing. The lack of execution, things like that,” BYU coach Kalani Sitake said. “It is not like you are going to perform better because the stage is bigger, because the team is one of the best in the country, and they have a wonderful brand and a fantastic fan base. That’s not it.”
In other words, there has to be another way.
Does Taysom Hill have any eligibility left?
