(Sports Network) - In a strange twist of fate, the BYU Cougars
took time off following their demoralizing loss to TCU at home on October 24
by a score of 38-7 and somehow bounced back into the AP's top-25 without
playing a down. Now, the 25th-ranked team in the nation is ready to get back
to the gridiron and begin the second half of Mountain West Conference play
against the Wyoming Cowboys in Laramie this Saturday afternoon.

Winners of six of their first seven games of the season, the Cougars went into
their heated showdown versus TCU at home and laid an egg, scoring just a
single touchdown after ranking 13th in the country with a scoring average of
34.6 ppg.

In the case of the Cowboys, this is their second straight game against a
ranked Mountain West Conference opponent, following their 22-10 setback versus
Utah on Halloween. The loss was the second in as many game for the Pokes, but
with four games still remaining there is hope that Wyoming could earn a split
and possibly show up in the postseason somewhere.

Last season this relationship paid big dividends for BYU as it completely
dominated the Pokes in a 44-0 final in Provo, marking the opening of the
Mountain West Conference slate for the Cougars and moving them to a perfect
4-0 at the time. With respect to the all-time series between these two
programs, BYU maintains a 42-30-3 edge right now.

"I think the conference race, as with standings and rankings, etc, now they
start to become relevant," BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall notes as his team
heads down the stretch. "The picture becomes a lot clearer now as to what our
league looks like and maybe the nation at-large, so it becomes an exciting
time in college football."

At the moment the Cougars are painting the picture of an offense that ranks
first in the MWC in passing with 291.3 ypg and is also first in the league and
10th in the nation with 448 ypg overall. All of that action has pushed the
program to 34.6 ppg, which is currently second in the MWC behind only TCU
which has become a dominant program on both sides of the ball as the Cougars
found out first hand a couple weeks ago.

Quarterback Max Hall is completing almost 70 percent of his pass attempts for
278.9 ypg through the air, but while he has tossed 17 touchdowns he has also
been picked off 11 times and that is not very characteristic of the signal-
caller.

Dennis Pitta tends to be the favorite target of Hall, reeling in 38 passes for
533 yards and five touchdowns. When the action calls for a running play,
Harvey Unga is the primary back for the Cougars having gained 698 yards and
hit the end zone nine times. The team as a whole has logged 19 rushing
touchdowns, giving the squad an even balance on the scoring sheet.

Since allowing a total of just 16 points to Oklahoma and Tulane in the first
two games of the season, the BYU defense has been tested over and over again,
to the point where the group has lagged a bit in the secondary. More
specifically, the pass defense is now ranked seventh in the conference and
93rd in the nation with 244.4 ypg allowed.

Coleby Clawson has tried to curtail the passing attack of adversaries by
posting a team-best four sacks and seven quarterback hurries, but to this
point it is still not enough.

After being held scoreless by Air Force a week earlier, the Cowboys pulled out
a couple of tricks as they tried to compete against Utah in Salt Lake City.
The result was Austyn Carta-Samuels completing 19-of-30 passes for 121 yards,
while also catching a touchdown pass in what turned into a 12-point setback on
the road.

Wyoming had trouble getting its offense into gear, generating just 51 net
rushing yards on 25 attempts and finishing with 202 yards of total offense
versus the Utes.

"We struggled a little bit in our offense," admitted Wyoming head coach Dave
Christensen. "It's not a secret that when you play top-20 teams in the country
and top defenses in the country week in and week out, there will be some
struggles, especially when you have the youth that we have."

After eight games the Cowboys, who are 2-2 in conference action thus far, rank
eighth in the conference and 109th in the nation in scoring with 18.3 ppg,
based mostly on the fact that the squad has been shutout twice in 2009.

Allowing 3.25 sacks per game (113th in the country) is not exactly the best
way to break in a fresh quarterback like Carta-Samuels, but at this point the
Cowboys have few other options. Perhaps the one saving grace for this team is
that they are second in the conference and 17th nationally in turnover margin
with a plus-0.88 turnovers per outing and those are the sort of intangibles
that can make or break a team.

"I've talked with our guys, and sticking with a top-20 team is not a moral
victory...in our program, losing is not acceptable," coach Christensen has
said about his team's efforts. "That's not what we are out here to do."






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