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25 points. 24 points. 26 points. Astute Cougar fans will know that those numbers represent the margins of defeat in BYU's last three regular season setbacks--at TCU and Utah last season, and home to Florida State on Saturday.
The last time BYU suffered three sequential regular season losses by 24 points or more: 1955, when BYU lost three consecutive games by 47-21 (Utah State), 49-6 (Idaho), and 35-0 (Colorado A&M) scores.
Including the Las Vegas Bowl loss to Arizona, BYU's last four losses have all been by 10 points or more. The last time BYU lost four sequential games by double digits: 1997, when BYU opened the season with a 22-point loss to Washington. The ensuing three losses were by 13, 11 and 10 points.
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BYU has allowed 30 points or more in six of its last 10 games. In the preceding 32 contests, the Cougars allowed 30 or more only twice.
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History says BYU's BCS hopes bit the dust on Saturday. The only non-AQ BCS entrants have been undefeated teams, so on that note alone, the Cougars' big-money bowl hopes are shot. However, considering BYU's top 20 status and overall schedule strength, the Cougars retain an outside shot of breaking into Top 12/Top 16 territory by the end of the season.
Granted, a lot would have to happen for BYU to slip back into the BCS conversation, not the least of which is BYU running the table from this point forward. BYU also needs Boise State to lose a game and drop behind the Cougars in the BCS Standings.
Assuming TCU comes into Provo unbeaten and highly-ranked (14th and 15th currently), BYU still has a shot to count at least two marquee wins on its resume--so while the loss to Florida State stings, there is still time to recover and be in the mix when it matters.
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All six BCS Conferences have members who are ranked ahead of the highest-ranked MWC team in the AP poll (Big East member Cincinnati trails TCU in the Coaches' Poll). For non-AQ teams, a BCS bid is assured for the highest-ranked squad if it finishes in the Top 12 of the final BCS Standings, or in the Top 16 if that team finishes ahead of an automatically-qualifying conference champ. Boise State, of course, is 8th in both surveys and it's likely that an undefeated Broncos team would play in a BCS bowl game--unless TCU were to also go 12-0, in which case the Frogs would potentially pip the Broncos on strength of schedule.
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It was not a good weekend for the Mountain West Conference's national profile. In addition to BYU and Utah's high-visibility losses, Wyoming was blanked by a Colorado team that looked terrible in the first two weeks, while San Diego State lost at Idaho.
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