BYU football: Cougars keep raising their national profile

PROVO — In the aftermath of their 34-14 victory over Utah State Friday night, the No. 8 BYU Cougars acknowledged they didn't turn in one of their best performances of the season.

Today, they'll find out where they stand, according to the nation's pollsters, when The Associated Press and USA Today coaches' rankings are released.

Sports Illustrated's Stewart Mandel wrote in this week's issue about BYU: "Traditionally, an unofficial ceiling has been placed on non-BCS teams (in 2004 an undefeated Utah peaked at No. 4), but increased respect for the Mountain West could prompt voters to treat the Cougars more generously."

BYU received plenty of attention on ESPN's Saturday morning college football show, "College Game Day." The Cougars were ranked No. 10 in a mock Bowl Championship Series poll shown on the program. The poll is based on criteria of the actual BCS poll, which debuts next week.

Also, Cougar quarterback Max Hall was interviewed by "Game Day" host Chris Fowler while the panel of commentators debated whether BYU or fellow Mountain West Conference team Utah could go undefeated and gain a BCS berth.

Meanwhile, BYU is learning more about itself from the win at USU. The Cougars had a 34-0 lead after three quarters, then allowed the Aggies to score a pair of touchdowns in the fourth quarter. USU was driving deep in BYU territory when time expired. The Cougar offense gained 406 yards, but played unevenly for much of the contest.

"We struggled in this game offensively in some parts," said wide receiver Austin Collie, who caught eight passes for 132 yards and two touchdowns. "We had some glimpses where we were awesome and some glimpses where we could have performed better. I think that happens to all teams. It's just a little humbling point in our season where we need to understand that there are teams that can beat us. We need to play with a chip on our shoulder."

Did having a bye week affect the offense in a negative fashion?

"Offensively, it took us longer to find our execution and precision and credit Utah State for some of that," said coach Bronco Mendenhall. "I always look at myself first, and possibly how we managed the bye week could have been improved. I expected maybe a little bit of rust and some lack of precision. I didn't expect it to be as sustained as long as it was. There were a lot of plays to be made that we didn't make. For us to reach our goals, and to continue to improve, which is our main objective, we have to be a little bit sharper."

Also, with the non-conference portion of the schedule over, two-time defending MWC champion BYU knows things are only going to get tougher. The Cougars host New Mexico next Saturday.

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