Bright, who broke his leg in that game, said he and his teammates have learned from that experience.

"We're a different team from last year. We're more sound and we execute at a little bit higher level than last year because we have more experience under our belts."

PITTA NO. 1: For the second week in a row, BYU tight end Dennis Pitta leads the nation in receiving yardage with 361 yards. He is No. 2 in receptions with 21.

"It's not my honor at all," Pitta said. "I give the credit to Max and the offensive line and the rest of the offense. You can't say it's my deal. You have to credit everyone on our team."

Coach Bronco Mendenhall agrees.

"Dennis has worked very hard from last season to this season. But I think he's being the benefactor of a good quarterback, a good running back another good tight end, and good receivers and a good offensive line," he said. "He just simply has become the most visible. I'm not sure how long it will last. At some point, with his numbers and his catches, something will be done to take him away. My guess is when that happens, we'll be talking about someone else and what's he's done the following week. I'm not sure who that will be, but I think that's coming."

Pitta expects opposing defenses to focus on him in the coming weeks in an attempt to shut him down. "I anticipate that, certainly," he said. "I'm sure teams will double-team me. But we have too many weapons on this team. It's really, pick your poison. If we don't throw to one guy, we'll throw to another."

After the Washington game, Mendenhall compared Pitta to former Cougar tight end Jonny Harline. "I'm starting to view him similarly in crucial situations like Jonny Harline. It seems like in critical situations, he has that size and range and speed where he's between a tight end and receiver. It's a hard matchup for an opponent."

EXTRA POINTS: BYU punter C.J. Santiago punted twice — both in the first half — for an average of only 27.5 yards per attempt ... The Cougars lead the country in third-down conversion percentage at 79.2 percent (19 out of 24) ... BYU is eying its eighth consecutive sellout for Saturday's game against UCLA. That marks the longest streak of consecutive sellouts since the 1991-92 seasons.

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E-mail: jeffc@desnews.com