Mendenhall already looking toward '06

LAS VEGAS — Moments after BYU's 35-28 loss Thursday night to California in the Las Vegas Bowl, coach Bronco Mendenhall turned his thoughts toward 2006.

His first season as the Cougar head coach had just ended, but, in his mind, his tenure has only just begun.

"This is a solid beginning to this football program," he said. "I look forward to getting the players back immediately after Christmas and I'm looking forward to next season."

Certainly, there is work to do. While BYU snapped a streak of three consecutive seasons with a losing record in 2005, it did not record a winning season. At 6-6, the Cougars know they need to improve.

"When we play well, we're a very good team," said BYU linebacker Cameron Jensen. "Cal was a very good team. We can play with a team like that. Going into summer, that's our goal — we want to be conference champions next year and come here and win a bowl game. I come away from this bowl game knowing we could have won. That will be the goal next year."

The loss to a talented Golden Bear team exposed a number of Cougar weaknesses. For starters, BYU's special teams struggled with bad kickoffs and dismal coverage.

"The most significant factor that changed the outcome of the game was the special teams play," Mendenhall said. "Not only the change of field position that happened through poor coverage, but the penalties that happened on the coverage as well."

The Cougars also committed 12 penalties for minus-103 yards, including 11 penalties in the first half alone.

"I have to take responsibility for that as a first-time head coach preparing for a bowl game," Mendenhall said. "Clearly, I didn't emphasize special teams enough nor the execution. Anytime there's that number of penalties, that's reflective of coaching. That's on me and a hard lesson learned — a hard lesson learned in terms of preparing this team for postseason play."

BYU's defense had numerous missed tackles, allowing Cal's offense to turn ordinary plays into big plays for touchdowns. Bear running back Marshawn Lynch, who was named the bowl's MVP after rushing for 194 yards and three touchdowns, bounced off tackles in the first half en route to a 23-yard TD. In the second, he broke more tackles on a 35-yard touchdown jaunt. Wide receiver DeSean Jackson caught a relatively short pass and blew by the Cougar defensive secondary on a 42-yard catch-and-run for a touchdown just three seconds before halftime.

The Cougars showed spunk and resiliency, fighting back from a 35-14 second-half deficit to pull to within seven points with 5 1/2 minutes remaining. But their final drive ended with a John Beck interception.