Glenn Connelly / Photo Editor

Last Tuesday, San Diego State football head coach Brady Hoke said BYU senior quarterback Max Hall was “one of the best two or three quarterbacks in this country.”

On Saturday, Hall showed why.

In a 38-28 victory against SDSU, Hall wouldn’t let his No. 18 Cougars go down. He carried the rock 14 times for 51 yards and a touchdown, completed 27 of his 39 passes for 346 yards and tallied three touchdowns through the air.

But his statistics only tell part of the story.

With no timeouts and the clock running at the one-yard line just before halftime, Hall was instructed by his sideline to spike the ball. The senior had other plans, though. With four Aztec defenders stacked in the A gap, Hall snapped the ball, pulled up and sprinted to the corner of the end zone, crossing the goal line with no time left in the second quarter.

“It was one of those last minute decisions where I thought this is either going to be really good, or really bad,” Hall said. “So it turned out pretty good.”

BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall added, “Max saw the clock running out, grabbed it and just took it on his own initiative, went around the end and scored a touchdown, which was phenomenal.”

That’s what veteran quarterbacks such as Hall bring to the table.

Facing uphill battles all afternoon, Hall kept his composure and answered the bell each and every time for the Cougars. When SDSU took a 14-7 lead early in the second quarter, Hall marched his squad down the field on a 12-play, 68-yard drive which ended in a Hall touchdown pass. When BYU got the ball back tied at 14, Hall led the team on a 14-play, 80-yard drive capped off by the quarterback keeper. When the Aztecs tied it again at 21 in the third quarter, Hall threw two more touchdown passes to keep his Cougars up for good.

“The big thing that hurt us is obviously Max is a tremendous quarterback,” Hoke said.

In a perfect SDSU world, sophomore quarterback Ryan Lindley will become Hall-like in the future. On Saturday, he was pretty close, throwing for 298 yards and three scores. But an ill-advised throw in the second quarter took points out of the Aztecs’ pocket when BYU defensive back Scott Johnson intercepted Lindley in the end zone.

But Hall threw his fair share of interceptions as a sophomore, grew from every single one of them and became the quarterback he is today because of it.

Only time will tell if Lindley can do the same.