No more BYU-in-BCS B.S., time to think bigger

Let's stop talking about BYU shooting for a BCS bowl. Think higher. Much higher.

BYU is the one of the few non-BCS schools that has the history, brand name and cash to get to the BCS title game. Unlike TCU, Utah, Boise State and the rest of the non-BCS challengers, BYU has won a national championship in the modern era. That alone should remind voters of the school's commitment to major college football. That commitment is something the haughty BCS commissioners keep telling us is the difference between their schools and the great unwashed of the MAC, WAC, Conference USA, Mountain West and Sun Belt.

Remember BYU? That Heisman, all those NFL quarterbacks, that national championship in 1984?

"I don't think there's any question of the history and tradition," BYU AD Tom Holmoe said. "It's not like we're a Johnny-come-lately. Most people recognize that name and it won't be foreign like, 'Wow, what are they doing here?'"

If BYU going from unranked in the preseason to winning the national championship 24 years ago was unlikely, think about these Cougars in the BCS age. They're in much better position having started No. 16 in the AP preseason poll and moving up to No. 11 this week following back-to-back shutouts of UCLA and Wyoming. The Cougars are the highest ranked of the four 4-0 teams from non-BCS conferences (BYU, TCU and Ball State are the others).

A quarter century ago, it took the perfect storm for BYU to win its only title. Contenders kept falling by the wayside. The Cougars moved up to No. 1 late in the season after a win over Utah, but were locked into the Holiday Bowl as WAC champions. There they rallied to beat unranked Michigan 24-17.

Today, a championship run for BYU is almost easier, even with the accursed BCS in the way. At least there are a set of achievable goals. If BYU (or any non-BCS team) finishes in the top two, it plays for the national championship. Voters in the human polls already have shown BYU the most love.

The problem is, there is only one automatic qualifier allowed among the 55 non-BCS schools. The chances for an at-large non-BCS school to get in for the first time diminish when you consider BYU plays at Utah on Nov. 22 in what could be a play-in game for a BCS berth. The loser could be out of BCS bowl consideration.

That would be Utah's ultimate revenge, hearing all this BYU talk. The No. 17 Utes haven't done too badly themselves lately under Urban Meyer and now Kyle Whittingham, a former BYU linebacker.

It will be interesting if both teams keep winning to see where they debut in the first set of BCS standings next month. Utah debuted at No. 7 in 2004, the year it went to the Fiesta Bowl, Boise State was at No. 15 in 2006 (Fiesta Bowl) and Hawaii was at No. 18 in 2007 (Sugar Bowl). The big difference is that none of them were BYU, a former NFL football factory that produced a Heisman Trophy winner (Ty Detmer, 1990).

Harris poll voter Blair Kerkhoff of the Kansas City Star might sum up how the Cougars are regarded in the college football consciousness.

"I don't look at BYU as a team from a non-BCS conference but the 11th-ranked team, which advances as long as it keeps winning and teams ahead of it lose," Kerkhoff wrote in an e-mail. "Making that easier this year is the strength of the Mountain West and three ranked teams and the number of quality victories by the conference."

Max Hall is the latest standout at QB for the Cougars. (AP)

BYU got this corner of the world's attention by posting back-to-back shutouts for the first time since 1985. Checking around the nation, that's somewhat of a rarity. That has never been achieved by a Sun Belt or Conference USA team. The last time it happened in the Big 12 was 1997.

Coach Bronco Mendenhall has bought in to thinking big.

"It does help (our chances) as long as your play substantiates your branding," he said. "It is beginning to help again as long as our play warrants the BYU name. We're returning to that. We're not there yet."

It's a different BYU. Mendenhall was Holmoe's second choice. The AD originally pursued Whittingham, who had made a name as rival Utah's defensive coordinator. Holmoe further went against the grain when he hired a former defensive coordinator from New Mexico, although Mendenhall had been in Provo two years as BYU's D-coordinator.

It finally took a bum rush by Cougars defenders.

"One day some players called and asked if they could come up and talk about Bronco. I said sure," Holmoe said. "There must have been 25 players come into my office. ... I said, 'Where are all the offensive players?' They said, 'They don't want him to be head coach, he's too hard.'"

In that moment BYU was changing some of its culture and tradition. The current Cougars have more grit and rely on defense more than most BYU teams and current West Coast teams. There isn't a ton of NFL talent, but draft guru Gil Brandt raves about the offensive line that averages 6-feet, 5½ inches and 326 pounds, specifically left tackle Dallas Reynolds, left guard Ray Feinga, right guard Travis Bright and right tackle David Oswald.

"They're all big strong guys with long arms," Brandt said. "They all have NFL measurables. All four of them will get a chance to go into training camp with the NFL."

Of course there is Max Hall, the Arizona State transfer quarterback and a Mormon who sought the religious comfort level of BYU. Hall is sixth nationally in pass efficiency and one of only 12 starters to have completed more than 70 percent of his passes.

His efforts have helped the Cougars accomplish something even USC hasn't this season -- beat two Pac-10 teams (Washington and UCLA). That marked the 11th time in the last 12 years BYU has defeated at least one BCS conference school

"We're capable of playing with anybody," Hall said.

Mendenhall quickly proved his worth by leading the Cougars to back-to-back 11-win seasons in 2006 and 2007, going 16-0 against Mountain West competition. The current 14-game winning streak leads the nation heading into the Oct. 3 game against Utah State.

"Still, to this day people say it didn't count," BYU AD Tom Holmoe said of 1984. "You say, 'What?' At the time people thought it was strange."

Not 24 years later.

See Dennis Dodd's blog, Dodds and Ends , for the rest of the national notes