Related Links: Game summary No. 15 BYU cruises past San Diego State Top 25 roundup MWC roundup Forum: Will BYU finish the season in the top 10?
	T O P   N E W S

Their 30-7 victory over meek San Diego State ensured that the 15th-ranked Cougars (8-1, 5-0 in the Mountain West Conference) will retain their title as Best in the West for at least another week, and in the process they gained a comfortable two-game cushion in the league over Utah (6-3, 3-2) and Colorado State (6-3, 3-2).

If it can defeat Wyoming (5-3, 2-2) in Laramie or Utah at home in Provo in the next two weeks, BYU will clinch the first MWC crown outright and earn a vaunted berth in that grand bowl game in ...

Memphis. The Liberty Bowl. On New Year's Eve. Against likely Conference-USA favorite Southern Mississippi.

That's a fitting way for a team considered the best in the Western states to end its season -- ringing in what is widely acknowledged as The New Millennium in the chill of a city on the other side of the Mississippi.

"Go figure," said BYU junior right tackle Hans Olsen, whose return of a fumble for a touchdown early in the second half all but sealed the win over the Aztecs and served as a career highlight.

Against a defense ranked among the nation's top 20, BYU senior quarterback Kevin Feterik completed 21 of 32 attempts for 262 yards and two touchdowns. The stars of the game for the Cougars, though, played defense.

SDSU quarterbacks Jack Hawley and Lon Sheriff were sacked nine times by the Cougars, and seventh-year senior middle linebacker Rob "Freight Train" Morris, with three, would have made Chris Spielman proud. Spielman is the former Ohio State linebacker who seemed to hang around Columbus for six or seven years.

Every season, a few college football players seem to fit into that category. But Morris, like many Cougars, has (figuratively) been around that long, courtesy of the Mormon mission.

Morris is the only Cougar on the front of his team's media guide and the sole BYU player who actually played against San Diego State the last time BYU visited here, in 1993. That's when the building was named Jack Murphy Stadium, and the Cougars won a thriller 45-44.

Since then, Freight Train learned Saturday, rails have been added to the west of the stadium to accommodate fans with a trolley line. They need not have showed against the Cougars, though, because of the way Morris disrupted the action inside the stadium.

"SDSU's offense is kind of smash-mouth," Morris said. "They have a lot of misdirection and slow-developing plays, and our defense is quick this year. So they play right into our hands, into our strength. It was just an old-school football game."

Morris played as a freshman, served a two-year mission in Toronto and then redshirted upon his return to Provo. Now 25 years old, his Butkus Award campaign was abandoned when he missed a month with a lower-abdominal strain, but he returned two weeks ago and is back playing with abandon.

A former Eagle scout, he was recruiting out of Nampa, Idaho, by Stanford, Washington and Arizona State -- three programs that happen to still be in the running for the Rose Bowl, and like to think they might be able to slip into the Top 25 this week. The 15th-ranked Cougars, meantime, hope to get into the Top 10 before long.

And with their impressive defense supporting their always-productive offense, they would have to lose to both Wyoming and Utah in the final two regular-season games not to make their first MWC title their own.

They had no problems disposing of the Aztecs on Saturday, especially once Morris plopped on a fumble by SDSU running back Larry Ned at the BYU 8-yard line in the second quarter. The Cougars quickly drove for the first of Owen Pochman's three field goals, taking a 10-7 lead, and San Diego State never caught up.

Morris was just warming up, though, and he came out of the locker room at halftime like a dragon. Less than two minutes into the third quarter, he fired across the line and chased down Hawley, forcing a third-down fumble deep in SDSU territory.

Olsen, a 6-foot-5, 290-pound junior right tackle for BYU, picked the ball up and rumbled 24 yards for a touchdown that gave the Cougars a 20-7 lead. Sheriff replaced Hawley for the rest of the game.

"I've been starting for three years," Morris said. "Maybe I'm a bit older, but I feel like I'm a mature player who has been through a lot, and I think I'm a leader."

Olsen could not believe his good fortune.

"The first thing I knew, I had the ball in my hands," Olsen said. "I gave it everything I could to get into the end zone, because I knew if I got hit it would come out like a banana."

Without a trace of sarcasm or levity, Morris said he was glad to oblige Olsen, since defensive linemen get so little glory.

"I'm sure I'll hear it from all the guys when they see my name in all the papers," Olsen said. "We all do a great job of keeping each other humble."

The Aztecs always seem to slip and trip on banana peels whenever they play the Cougars. SDSU has won only once in its last eight games against BYU, and when the Aztecs suffered a shutout in Provo last year it represented their first goose egg since 1985 -- when they were shut out in Provo.

From 1980 until last season, both teams were Western Athletic Conference members. BYU played in 16 bowl games, won 12 league titles and earned a national championship in that stretch, while SDSU appeared in three bowl games and won only one conference crown.

"A lot of the guys know each other," BYU coach LaVell Edwards said. "They've played against each other in high school, and we've just always respected each other. It just means a lot when we play San Diego State."

To San Diego State, too, which is why coach Ted Tollner raged in practice leading up to Saturday. There was a lot of sound and fury and the tossing around of his black SDSU cap, which ultimately signified nothing more than another loss to BYU.

It is the Best in the West by virtue of its season-opening victory over Washington, which has emerged as the team to beat in the Pac-10 Conference. The Cougs have only lost to rapidly improving Virginia, a 45-40 shootout at home in late September.

There has been some rumbling about BYU trying to pry itself free of its Liberty Bowl commitment, but that seems to be a highly unlikely scenario.

"You know, we're proud of what we've accomplished," Morris said. "But we're not making any statements. We won't run onto the field and yell, 'We're Number One!' and say that we want to play in the Sugar Bowl."

That's not entirely true. Olsen sheepishly admitted that he was happy no officials were looking at him after one of his two sacks, when he executed a 360-degree turn while firing off imaginary six-gun pistols in each hand.

The rest of the college football teams in this region know about shooting blanks this season, but Olsen and his teammates are the ones who have been stockpiling the ammo.

Just don't laugh when you see all of them, even the seventh-year seniors, wearing mittens in Memphis.