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BYU Football Week 1 POWER RANKINGS: The best of beating Nebraska (or, Please forgive me Mitch Mathews)

After one of the craziest opening week games in BYU history, we're here to bring you the first week of POWER RANKINGS, a not-so-scientific ordering of the best from week to week.

By Jake Welch
Eric Francis/Getty Images

Let me preface these rankings by saying that it has been 24 hours since the Miracle at Memorial and I'm barely able to write complete sentences. It took me a good 30 minutes to be able to stand up and a couple of hours before I could speak words.

Never has a victory been equal parts bitter and sweet. Now let's get on with the rankings.

WEEK 1 POWER RANKINGS

Honorable Mentions
  • Devon Blackmon - If he prays for something to happen, the it will probably happen.
  • Terren Houk - Besides hugging the ref, he brought his A game with some fine catches
  • BYU O-Line - We don't get the storybook ending without amazing pass protection
10) Robert Anae

Never in the history of his BYU coaching career has Doctor Robert Anae trolled the fan base so hard. With less than one minute to go on their own 35 yard line, he decides to call a draw play with Adam Hine. This was the craziest of calls considering 1) BYU pretty much had ZERO success running the ball and 2) WE HAD NO FREAKING TIME OUTS LEFT AND WE HAD 65 YARDS TO GO. Clearly he saw something in the Nebraska defense because Adam scampered up the middle for 16 yards, at which point the entire BYU fan base said,  "WHAT THE HEL.......AVENS!!!!!! OH GOSH I'M GLAD THAT WORKED." It could have turned out poorly but hey, it didn't. THE MASTER OF THE SAMOAN FIRE KNIFE WINS THIS ROUND.

9) Jonny Linehan

"That's weird. Does Jonny Linehan REALLY need an entire room to himself? He's just a punter," said everyone while watching Inside BYU Football.

OF COURSE HE DESERVES HIS OWN ROOM. If you casually show up to your first ever football game and boom some serious punts (a few of which were into the wind) then you're allowed to have your own position room, piggy back rides up the RB stairs and free Chick-Fli-A for the whole semester. Let's make this happen ASAP.

8) Micah Hannemann

The BYU secondary wasn't exactly a "no fly zone" on Saturday but when the BYU defense desperately needed a stop, Micah came up with a HUGE interception what was as pretty as it was needed. That's some NFL-style goodness because the dude got two feet in.

7) Fred Warner

You are lying to me if you didn't think the exact some thing whenever Fred Warner made a huge play on Saturday.

"DANG was that Fred Warner? Because that sure looked like Kyle Van Noy."

He's got a long way to go before he's in the same conversation as KVN, but dang it if he doesn't remind us of him. It's good to know we have a serious athlete on the edge.

6) Trevor Samson

BYU won by 5 points, huh? How many points did Trevor "I'LL KICK INTO THE WIND LIKE A BOSS" Samson produce from field goals alone? SIX. If you're not giving all kinds of love to Samson then you need check yourself. Also, did anyone notice how much facial hair Trevor was sporting? Either he has a beard card or he just walks around campus like "I DO WHAT I WANT" and everyone just respects that.

5) Bronson Kaufusi

Did you see how much Bronson was smiling on Saturday? I sure as heck did. He looked right at home on the defensive line, just straight up terrorizing the Nebraska offense.

4) Nick Kurtz

I honestly could have put any of these next four guys in the top spot but because I have to honor the rules of power rankings, I have to draw the line somewhere. I loved so many things about Nick's performance but there is one thing that stood out to me in particular. The guy is an absolute ball hawk. There were multiple times that he caught the ball at the highest point, including one almost miracle catch on the final drive where he had the ball in his hands for a brief moment before it was swatted away.

Kurtz displayed laser focus while seeing the ball into his hands on several occasions. It's an understatement to say that I am REALLY excited to see what this kid can do the rest of the season.

3) Tanner Mangum

Imagine that you are playing football for the first time since 2012. Imagine that you got home from your mission 96 days ago. Imagine that your first college football game ever you have to fill in for THE MAN Taysom Hill. Imagine that you are down by four points and the running game is doing diddly squat. Imagine that on fourth and one with nine minutes left Nebraska rushes six and you're scrambling to stay alive let alone complete a pass. Imagine that you roll left only to see defenders in your face and then you roll right to see even more red shirts. Imagine that you deliver a perfect pass while getting drilled in the face and that leads to a field goal. THEN ON THE FINAL DRIVE YOU THROW A TOUCHDOWN PASS AS TIME EXPIRES.

Basically imagine that you are Tanner Mangum, the baddest dude on planet earth. Swag for days.

2) Mitch Mathews

I'm not going to lie and say that I have always loved Mitch Matthews with all my heart. I have repeatedly mocked Mitch for his propensity to only catch balls out of bounds and complain to the officials after every play. Seconds before the Miracle I sent out this flippant tweet.

AND THEN HE MADE ONE OF FINEST CATCHES IN SCHOOL HISTORY. I have never been so happy to be wrong on Twitter in my entire life. Mitch, I know you're reading this, please know that the scripture of Matthew 6:14 has taken root in my heart. I forgive you my friend and hope that you can find it in your heart to forgive me.

1) Taysom Hill

"O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up—for you the flag is flung—for you the bugle trills"

STAT OF THE GAME

In BYU's final drive, the only passing yards came from the final touchdown pass. The first 34 yards on that drive came by way of an 11-yard run by Mangum, and 16-yard run by Hine and another 7-yard run from Mangum. That's not how you usually drive down the field to set up game winning play with no timeouts.

TWEET(S) OF THE WEEK

Former tennis start Andy Roddick didn't seem too pleased with the result on Saturday.

WELL THAT WAS WEIRD

Most other football teams don't want anything to do with the refs after scoring but apparently here at BYU we feel the need to show them the love. First it was the Riley high five in Texas, and now it's the Houk Hug.

UP NEXT: BOISE STATE

There is an official Boise State vine account and they show you the only place in Boise worth looking at for 6 seconds. What a cool looking log. And the trees? They are green. And rocks too. Wow. Cool vid.

In This Stream

Game 1, BYU at Nebraska: Cougars win on last-second prayer, Taysom Hill out for season

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