Long before Max Hall became the winningest quarterback in the history of BYU football, way before he threw five interceptions against Utah and was made the butt of countless jokes for it, he had no clue what he was getting himself into.

Back before he ever started a game or took a snap at BYU, way back before he nonchalantly shrugged and uttered the following naive words about what to expect -- "There's no pressure, I just need to execute" -- former Cougar QB Robbie Bosco spoke wiser, smarter, truer words about the challenge Hall or any BYU quarterback faces.

"It comes down to being a part of that select group of quarterbacks who have played at BYU, doing what needs to be done," Bosco said. "It's about winning championships. It's not just being a pocket passer, it's knowing when to dump a ball off, when to scramble, when to run, when to take chances, when to hesitate before you throw. It's finding the intuitiveness to do all of those things. That stuff can't be coached. A quarterback just has to have the feel to do it.

"There's a fine line between being average and being great.

"When you're the quarterback at BYU, people criticize the bad things and take the good things for granted. That's the beauty of it. Everyone is looking at you. If you are a competitor at all, you take that and run with it. We're talking about being great here. That's defined by winning games when it's tough, with someone breathing down your neck, spitting blood in your face. You go home after that, look yourself in the mirror and you know that you did it. It's incredible. There's no greater feeling in college football than playing quarterback at BYU. It's living up to the greats before you. That's a challenge that keeps you going, keeps you improving.

"That's what the legacy of playing quarterback at BYU is -- separating yourself from just being good to being great. It's being part of something special, an elite group of guys."

Which brings up the curious case of Hall, the questions still swirling around him: What is his legacy? Is he one of the elite?

Or is he on the other side of Bosco's fine line?

Had anyone asked that question at the end of last season, after Hall had suffered through consecutive losses, including the five-pick-and-one-fumble mess at Utah, greatness would have been connected to Hall only as it was double-dipped in sarcasm and cynicism.

If Utah fans were hard on him, BYU fans were brutal, too. He was also hypercritical of himself, well aware of his failings.

A few months after those losses, he said: "It never got to where it was like, 'I can't handle this anymore,' but ..."

His voice trailed off into the darkness of a bad memory.

"... Being the quarterback at BYU, it has its perks and it has things that are tough to handle. Everybody knows you everywhere you go. I'm just trying to embrace it. We may lose a couple of games, but in the grand scheme of things, we want to win a championship and have a lot of fun. It won't be perfect. I'll make mistakes, but it won't be the end of the world."

Eleven games and nine wins later, there will be no championship for Hall as hi senior season comes to a close.

Heading into Saturday's game at home against the Utes, he has won 30 games at BYU, more than any other Cougar quarterback, started 37 games, more than any other Cougar quarterback, and endured seven losses. Most of those defeats came in big games. He's won one league championship in three tries, thrown for 11,039 yards, 89 touchdowns and 40 interceptions.

That stacks up nicely against the BYU greats, including Ty Detmer (29 wins, three league championships, 15,031 yards, 121 touchdowns, 65 interceptions), Jim McMahon (26 wins, three league titles, 9,536 yards, 84 touchdowns, 34 interceptions), Steve Young (20 wins, two league titles, 7,733 yards, 56 touchdowns, 33 interceptions), and Bosco (24 wins, two league championships, one national title, 8,400 yards, 66 touchdowns, 36 interceptions).

Hall's opportunity was clearly longer than most of the QBs.

But, using Bosco's criteria, does Hall have a place among the former Cougar quarterback's so-called elite group of guys?

"Yeah, he does," Bosco says now. "Max has won so many games and shown so much grit, I'd put him in there somewhere. He's played hard and been tough in a lot of situations. To be able to hit that fourth-and-18 pass against Utah to win that game, to beat Oklahoma in Dallas, not a lot of quarterbacks could do those kinds of things. Max has."

There have also been times when Hall has not measured up when the lights have been the brightest, times when he's hurt his team when it needed him most.

Everyone can judge for his or her own self.

Statistically, by the numbers, Hall definitely belongs.

By the subjective eye test, he has not been as great, not as clutch or talented as McMahon, Young, Detmer, or Bosco. Hall probably fits into the middle to back end of the next tier, somewhere with Gifford Nielsen, Gary Sheide, Virgil Carter, Marc Wilson, and John Beck.

He could reasonably gain some ground, or lose it, depending on what happens Saturday and in the bowl game thereafter.

"Some of the teams -- like TCU and Utah -- that beat Max were better than a lot of the teams that the greats played back in the day," Bosco says. "You have to take that into account. I think he's done enough good things to belong."

If the guy, the gatekeeper, who won the national championship is willing, at least at some level, to let Hall in, that's likely good enough, or should be, for most everybody else.

GORDON MONSON hosts the "Monson and Graham Show" weekdays from 2-6 p.m. on 1280 AM The Zone. He can be reached at gmonson@sltrib.com .