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Las Vegas • Saturday's bowl game won't be the first showdown between quarterbacks Tanner Mangum and Travis Wilson, even if odds are that it'll be the last.
Mangum is a freshman at BYU and Wilson is a senior at Utah, but in the summer of 2011, when both were about to embark on their senior years of high school, they vied to be among the final 11 at the so-named Elite 11 quarterback competition in Malibu, Calif.
Wilson missed the cut
Mangum not only made it, he shared MVP honors with one Jameis Winston.
Both were "crazy competitors" remembers Yogi Roth, the former host of an Elite 11 documentary series on ESPN and now a Pac-12 Networks football analyst.
Of Wilson, Roth said, "there's no player that puts a bigger smile on my face when I see him succeed on a critical down and distance." Wilson was, even then, "a ridiculously gifted athlete," Roth said, and a willing student.
But Mangum was something else entirely. "A live wire."
"He won the accuracy contest every day," Roth said, a younger Mangum wowing coaches with his relentless desire to learn. He still texts Roth to wish him a happy birthday.
Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said Wednesday he doesn't remember how seriously Utah pursued Mangum as a prep, though he recalls his appearance at Utah's summer 7-on-7 passing tournament. Roth said Mangum's mind "was pretty much made up off the bat" that he would attend BYU.
A freshman only because he paid his own way while practicing with the Cougars in 2012 and then served a two-year LDS mission to Chile, Mangum threw for more than 3,000 yards, 21 touchdowns and seven interceptions in his first college season. Wilson, meanwhile, threw for just over 2,000 with 13 touchdowns and 10 picks in his fourth campaign, though it's notable that Utah's level of competition was consistently high and that he added 467 yards and six touchdowns as a runner.
And the difference between the nation's No. 21-ranked passing offense and its 100th-ranked passing offense isn't as simple as Mangum vs. Wilson.
By any measure, BYU has more proven talent in the passing game, though it runs counter to the popular narrative that Utah has distanced itself from BYU since becoming a member of the Pac-12.
On Utah's offense, Roth said, "Nobody's scaring anybody. … To me, they were the least explosive team in the country that was ranked in the top 10 all season long."
The situation improves for Utah if receivers Britain Covey and Kenneth Scott are able to play Saturday. Covey, a true freshman with more than 500 yards and four touchdowns, is fighting a high ankle sprain. Scott, a sixth-year senior with 450 yards and another four scores, sustained a foot injury against Colorado.
Utah will have to do without both next year, however. Scott's eligibility expires. Covey plans to leave on an LDS mission of his own. And then freshman Tyrone Smith, with 178 yards, will be Utah's most productive returning wideout.
In Utah's five years in the Pac-12, its composite average between Rivals and Scout recruiting rankings is 46th in the nation, while BYU's is 64th, yet it's Utah that leans heavily on two departing targets and BYU that has five receivers with 400 or more yards.
Cougar seniors Mitch Mathews, Devon Blackman and Terenn Houk will all have a marked size advantage Saturday, something that has presented problems of late for Utah's defense, which ranks 96th in passing yards allowed. Similar mismatches were apparent in losses to USC (JuJu Smith-Schuster totaled 143 yards), Arizona (Cayleb Jones finished with 126) and UCLA (Jordan Payton and Thomas Duarte combined for 166).
Mangum, like Cody Kessler, Anu Solomon and Josh Rosen before him, is precise enough to throw it beyond the reach of a shorter defensive back but not his towering wideouts. Utah, with the return of junior defensive end Hunter Dimick, will try to keep him off balance.
And Utah does have one thing in its favor. Mangum may have been the Elite 11 MVP, but for all his ups and downs since summer 2011, the reigning Las Vegas Bowl MVP is Wilson.
Twitter: @matthew_piper —
Las Vegas Bowl
P Saturday, 1:30 p.m. MST
TV • Ch. 4