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The national football observers would never know it, but BYU is among the hottest teams in college football.
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BYU's 5-game winning streak is the 6th longest current streak nationally, its 10-game home win streak is also the 6th longest nationally, while its 12-game conference win streak is the 3rd longest in the FBS.
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Since opening 0-2 in his first two MWC games, Bronco Mendenhall has gone 17-1 in conference play.
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Since falling at Boston College last year to drop to 1-2 on the season, BYU is 16-2.
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BYU is 28th in the latest AP poll, and 30th in the new Coach's poll. BYU is the only MWC team receiving votes. The bye week was not good to Hawaii--the undefeated Warriors dropped from 12th to 14th, and from 11th to 12th, while 8-1 Boise State went from 21st to 19th, and from 22nd to 19th.
More on the BCS Standings and Harris polls when the new standings come out later today.
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What follow are some more anecdotal indications the MWC is slipping on the "national relevancy scale:"
-there are 21 teams nationally with 2 losses or fewer. BYU is one of only two such teams (Cincinnati) not ranked in the Top 25 AP/Coach's polls.
-Air Force is the only 7-win team in the country not to receive a single Top 25 vote in either poll.
-Utah is one of fifteen 6-3 teams in the country. The Utes are also one of three such teams not to get a vote (New Mexico is one of the other two).
-there are three teams with records worse than 6-3 which received votes. They are: Houston (5-3), South Carolina (6-4), and Oklahoma State (5-4).
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BYU has attempted 6 field goals in 8 games. No team in the FBS has fewer field goals attempted, and only two teams have fewer field goals made (BYU is 4 of 6). You won't see field goal numbers like these for the next 6 years or so, since Justin Sorensen and Riley Stephenson will return the field goal to its status as an actual offensive option.
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Flag facts: of BYU's 63 penalties (ranking 106th nationally in penalties per game), 41 have been called against the offense, 12 against the defense, and 10 others on special teams. BYU has been called for "holding" more than any other infraction (18; 14 offense, 4 special teams), with "false start" against the offense (16) the highest single infraction tally against a particular unit.
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