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PROVO — Last Thursday night before I went to bed, I said goodnight to my cousin and roommate, BYU safety Matt Hadley, knowing the Cougar football team would leave for Lincoln, Nebraska early the next morning.
"Goodnight, Taysom," I said to another roommate, Tanner Mangum. "Oh man! I just called you Taysom. Sorry!"
Tanner replied nicely, "Oh no it's fine, man."
I sheepishly shot back, "Sorry, maybe I was being prophetic."
Little did I know that my roommate would soon become the center of sports talk. I had no idea that Saturday's game would cement Mangum in BYU mythology alongside the likes of John Beck and Jim McMahon.
Down by one point with one second to play, BYU's hopes of winning in Lincoln looked slim. One more play and Nebraska would continue its dominant 29-year streak of season-opening victories at Memorial Stadium.
For Tanner, though, the outcome wasn't ever in question.
"I felt confident honestly the whole fourth quarter. We felt good," he said. "When it came down to the last play, we believed it would be the play (to win us the game)."
That last play, of course, was a 42-yard bomb that landed just short of the goal line. Mitch Matthews caught the pass and fell into the end zone for the game-winning touchdown that won't be forgotten.
The game-winning drive assured Cougar nation of Tanner's poise and leadership. I had a sneak peak of that leadership earlier in the week.
Thursday night before the team left, Tanner, Matt, our roommate Coleman and some others were watching the Utah play Michigan. On a critical fourth-and-1, Utah running back Devontae Booker had a flashy one-handed catch and converted it for the first down.
Most of us in the room were impressed by Booker's athletic play. Tanner, however, saw the one-handed catch as unnecessary and risky.
"If I were his quarterback I would've got up in his face," Tanner said.
Of course the Mangum family believes there is a time and place for one-handed snags. Tanner's brother Madison had an incredible one-handed touchdown catch for Idaho State on Saturday. The catch by Madison was listed number two on ESPN's SportCenter Top 10. Number one on the list, of course, belonged to Tanner and his Miracle at Memorial, or Lincoln Lob, whatever you prefer.
So what would a college quarterback do hours after he became a campus legend? I thought I might be tagging along with Tanner to some incredible parties Saturday night after the team returned to Provo, but I was wrong.
When Tanner and Matt walked in the door Saturday night, the first thing Tanner said was, "My heart just aches for Taysom." That sort of unassuming humility didn't just start that weekend; it really does define him.
For Tanner, the post-game highlights included talking to his mom Saturday night, interviewing with ESPN Sunday morning, attending all of church and entertaining Matt's 3-year-old niece.
It was a relatively quiet weekend for any college student, let alone a new college football hero.
The recently returned missionary has a lot ahead of him, though.
Tanner isn't interested in being a one-hit wonder. He knows he has a whole season ahead of him.
During a formal interview Monday, I asked Tanner how does he let this great weekend go and focus on Boise State?
"I just remind myself this really doesn't matter. It's just one game," Tanner replied. "The reasons why you play is not to get on SportsCenter.
"We're here to win." David Boyle is a student at Brigham Young University studying journalism. He is from Monticello, Utah, and is thrilled to be covering BYU football and basketball for fall 2015.
