The seven BYU inductees into the College Football Hall of Fame

The Cougars really struggled at the beginning of the 1975 season. For the first three games, Nielsen was a sophomore backup quarterback and the Cougars lost three in a row. He came off the bench against New Mexico and got the Cougars their first win of the year by a single point, 16-15. Nielsen started every game the rest of the way and every game for the next two years afterward.

Nielsen passed for 3,192 yards and 29 touchdowns as a junior, setting 13 WAC records. He was also named an All-American. Perhaps more significanly, Nielsen was the Quarterback that was driving the BYU ship when the Cougars got their first national ranking in program history. Perhaps more importantly to the Cougars and their fans, Nielsen never lost to Utah. He was also, however, unable to finish his senior season due to injury.

After BYU, Nielsen played for the Houston Oilers for six seasons and afterward became a sportscaster. Nielsen retired from KHOU-TV's Sports Director position in 2009.