PROVO — Following an season-opening victory at home against Georgia Tech; a respectable loss at No. 4 ranked Southern California; and a hard-fought conference win at New Mexico, it looked as though the BYU Cougars were on their way to a successful campaign.

However, Saturday's 18-14 setback to Stanford cast serious doubts on that early assessment.

For the Cougars, this must seem frighteningly reminiscent. A year ago, they suffered their first losing season since 1973 and were last in the league in scoring offense in conference games.

One-third of the way through the 2003 season, they have a 2-2 record, just as they had a year ago at this time. And, like last season, the BYU offense is running on empty. The last two weeks, it has scored a total of 24 points.

Now, the Cougars head into a stretch that will see them play five consecutive Mountain West Conference games, beginning with Saturday's contest against Air Force (1 p.m.) at LaVell Edwards Stadium.

The Falcons, who drubbed BYU last season, 52-9, at Colorado Springs, are 4-0 on the season and 1-0 in the conference after a 35-29 victory at home Saturday against Wyoming.

The Cougars and Falcons are in a first-place tie atop the MWC standings. However, if BYU doesn't figure out a way to jump-start its sputtering offense, it could be another difficult season. There's no doubt that coach Gary Crowton's focus this week will be on the offense. "We're not where we can be. That's the thing that gets me excited about the future. If we can start playing good on offense and continue to play good on defense, we're going to be tough to beat, especially in our conference," he said. "But if we don't play good on offense and if our defense starts slacking off, it's going to be tough for us to win, that's the thing.

"I'm trying to get this team playing good on offense. I know we're working hard, but we've got to find the answers on offense to open these games up."

Against Stanford, freshman quarterback John Beck made some good plays, but his inexperience also showed in his first start. A couple of times, he overthrew open receivers on deep patterns. Those were cases of being so close, yet so far.

"All those plays that could have been are rushing through my head," Beck said. "I'm going to learn from every one of them and do the best I can next week."

Freshman tight end Daniel Coats, who exploded on the scene for BYU early on, has seen opposing defenses key on him. He failed to make a single catch at New Mexico. Coats caught three passes for 45 yards and a touchdown from Lance Pendleton against Stanford. But now, foes are double-teaming him.