The Legend of Tanner Mangum Grows with Another Stunning BYU Victory

J.T. Barrett and Cardale Jones made 2014 the season of the backup quarterback, but Tanner Mangum is extending that magic into 2015.

The BYU freshman quarterback added another chapter to his growing legend late Saturday night with a late touchdown bomb in a 35-24 upset over No. 20 Boise State—one week after his "Hail Joseph" at Nebraska.

With less than a minute remaining and his team trailing by three points, Mangum lofted a fourth-down pass from 35 yards toward the end zone. This time, Mitchell Juergens came down with it.

And then the college football section of Twitter reacted accordingly.

On Boise State's ensuing offensive play, Ryan Finley was picked off by Kai Nacua, who weaved his way 50 yards into that same end zone to seal the Cougars' miraculous comeback win.

"A true freshman, his first start—to beat the No. 20 team in the country—that's a really nice start," BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall told ESPN after the game. "I'm really proud of him."

Rick Bowmer/Associated Press

Sorry, Bronco, but "a really nice start" only scratches the surface of Mangum's first two games as a Cougar.

He wasn't supposed to be in this position, after all. The freshman was star quarterback Taysom Hill's backup and was thrust into the spotlight last Saturday at Nebraska after Hill went down with a season-ending injury.

Mangum guided the Cougars to a come-from-behind victory that was capped by a 42-yard touchdown pass to Mitch Mathews as time expired.

Now, a week later, the unbelievable has happened again.

The signal-caller opened the game with an 84-yard scoring bomb to Juergens, his compatriot on the go-ahead score. His final stat line against Boise State? Seventeen completions on 28 attempts for 309 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions.  

"[Mangum's] a natural leader," Juergens said, per BYUtv. "He's just shown unbelievable poise."

He later recorded BYU's two offensive touchdowns of the fourth quarter, starting with a one-yard touchdown run to cut down Boise State's 10-point lead.

Mangum's fourth-quarter surge was an answered prayer for Mendenhall and the Cougars, as Yahoo's Dr. Saturday blog noted on Twitter:

First-time starting quarterbacks may have had better statistical starts to their careers than Mangum, but it's hard to imagine anyone having as dramatic of an introduction to the college football world.

And now, after his second unbelievable victory, Mangum has BYU pushing for a spot in the next Top 25 polls. The Cougars have now knocked off a top-20 team with eyes on an undefeated record and a team on the edge of receiving a preseason nod away from home.

The road doesn't get any easier from here for the now-legendary freshman.

Next week, BYU travels to unbeaten UCLA, which boasts its own first-year star under center in Josh Rosen. The following Saturday, the Cougars head to the Big House and take on Michigan.

Those road matchups will undoubtedly be tough for BYU, but the program has no reason not to be confident after the events of these last two weeks.

If those trips go down to the wire, one thing is for sure—BYU will be must-see TV again with its strong-armed freshman quarterack. College football fans can't afford to miss a chance at seeing more "Mangum Magic."

All stats courtesy of CFBStats.com unless otherwise noted. Recruit rankings courtesy of 247Sports.

Justin Ferguson is a college football writer at Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @JFergusonBR.