GAME NOTES: 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."

Unfortunately, with the talent level that the Cowboys have right now, compared to what BYU is putting on the field, a moral victory might be all that the Pokes can get this weekend.

Sports Network Predicted Outcome: BYU 35, Wyoming 13