Cougar Tracks: BYU eager to beat a ranked team

At 4-2 through six games, BYU's season has been decidedly star-crossed. Now, it becomes star-studded, with the Cougars scheduled to face Top 10 teams in consecutive weeks for the first time ever.

With Oregon State (10 AP/14 Coaches) at home and Notre Dame (7/7) on the road, the next two Saturdays will also largely determine whether the Cougars can continue to entertain hopes of another double-digit win season.

An improbable sweep would set the Cougars up for a ten-win campaign with even some leeway for a late-season loss. A split would force BYU to win out leaving South Bend, while being swept would cement the Cougars' single-digit win status and force a 4-4 team to worry simply about bowl eligibility--something that is still all but assured with Idaho and New Mexico State on the schedule in the season's final three weeks.

BYU's 4-2 record is familiar; the Cougars have earned that six-game tally four times in Bronco Mendenhall's eight seasons on the sidelines. While enjoying moderate success under Mendenhall in the first-half of the schedule, BYU has historically performed better in the downhill portion of the season:

*******

Oregon State has a shaky quarterback situation: starter Sean Mannion is sidelined with a knee injury, and replacement Cody Vaz will be making his first career start after two years of relative inactivity. The Beavers also possess a somewhat soft statistical portfolio in parts, ranking 103rd in rush offense, 92nd in scoring offense, and 106th in pass yards allowed.

OSU's rush defense (ranked 4th) rivals that of top-ranked BYU, the Beavers do lead the nation in third-down conversion defense, and their aerial attack (under Mannion) is among the nation's best. So, Oregon State is not without virtues, but there are enough holes that the team is not favored to win in Provo--and it's notable that this Top 10 program is a six-point underdog against a team that has scored only six points in two of its last three games.

While OSU's season-opening win over then-no. 10 Wisconsin was an eye-opener, the Badgers have been underwhelming. Oregon State's ensuing Pac-12 victims UCLA, Arizona and Washington State are a combined 1-8 in conference play. Last week's relative struggle to dispatch Wazzu 19-6 was mildly disconcerting to Beaver fans, then came Mannion's injury diagnosis. So, the answer to the question "is Oregon State for real?" may not be known until November, when Mannion is expected to return and the Beavers face Arizona State, Stanford, and Oregon in a four-game span.

All of that said, the ranking is the ranking, and BYU has never faced Top 10 opponents in consecutive weeks. Assuming Notre Dame can retain its current status after hosting Stanford on Saturday, BYU will indeed enter uncharted territory over its next two games.

Over the years, BYU has faced nationally-ranked (Top 20/Top 25 teams) in consecutive games, and most often in consecutive calendar weeks, on the following ten occasions, with the following results:

BYU wins both: 1

BYU splits: 4

BYU loses both: 5

*does not count games played over two seasons (i.e. bowl game and following season-opener)

*******

With Oregon State visiting Provo on Saturday for the first time since 1986 (when BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall was an Oregon State starting safety), BYU welcomes a Top 10 team to town for the first time in three years:

*******

The Cougars have recorded four wins over Top 10 teams, the last one at home coming against Miami in 1990:

*******

Mendenhall has coached 15 games against teams ranked in the Top 25 at the time of the game; his record is 4-11, with BYU averaging fewer than 10 points per game in the last five losses to ranked teams:

*******

Photo: Courtesy Jaren Wilkey, BYU Photo

*******

Related topics