Bye week just what the Cougars need

PROVO — The way BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall sees it, the upcoming bye week couldn't come at a better time.

The Cougars, who dismantled I-AA Eastern Illinois, 45-10, last Saturday, have two weeks to prepare for their Mountain West Conference opener against Texas Christian.

"We've played a very, very strong Division I football team (Boston College) and we've played a solid I-AA team," said Mendenhall. "Now we have two weeks worth of assessing our own team. When you're talking about a new staff and a new program, it's a great chance, if I organize it correctly with our coaches, for us to be further ahead as we start game prep for TCU."

"It was good to get a win, but it's also good to see things that we need to work on before we head into the TCU game in two weeks," said quarterback John Beck.

The Cougars will be able to watch the Horned Frogs play against Utah on Thursday before hosting them on Sept. 24. Mendenhall, whose players presented him with the game ball after the Eastern Illinois game to commemorate his first victory as a head coach, wants his team to make the most of the bye week.

"We don't intend it to be a few days off," he said. "We're going to get better. My No. 1 goal is to improve our football team, regardless of who we play."

BYU will practice today, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, then the players will have Friday and Saturday off while some coaches will hit the recruiting trail.

While the Cougars rolled to a 31-0 halftime lead against Eastern Illinois, the victory still revealed some weaknesses.

After not giving up any turnovers against Boston College, BYU surrendered two interceptions and two fumbles against the Panthers. Meanwhile, the Cougars were penalized fewer times than last week but still had seven penalties for 42 yards.

"The penalties aren't gone and I didn't say they'd be gone, either," Mendenhall said. "I said it was a work in progress and it is. Our football team has work to do to become clean, efficient, sharp and play at the level it's going to take to win this conference and ultimately reach our goals. This was one more step in a positive direction to those goals, but we're not there yet."

Another concern? BYU's listless third-quarter performance. The Cougars were not only outscored, 3-0, in that period, but they seemed to lose focus and they struggled to execute offensively.