No healing Kehl's achy breaky heart

PROVO — A headline last Friday announced "BC beats Hokies in thrilling comeback," but BYU linebacker Bryan Kehl already knew that. He's been closely watching the No. 2-ranked Eagles and everyone else in the top 25.

To borrow a line from long-ago singer Ani DiFranco, Kehl has been wishin', and hopin', and thinkin', and prayin'; plannin' and dreamin' ... that the Cougars could be where Boston College is, challenging for a national championship.

"Yeah," said Kehl. "I think about it every day."

He thinks about a narrow loss to Arizona in 2006 and an overtime loss to Boston College — the same BC that is now 8-0. Then he thinks about this year, a winnable game at UCLA and an unexpected loss to Tulsa. It's all in the details.

Had it not been for the two letdowns last year, who knows where the Cougars would have ended up? As it was, they went 12-2, routing Oregon in the Las Vegas Bowl. Similarly, this year's team is on a four-game roll and leading the Mountain West Conference, yet unranked thanks to those early losses.

"Some players have forgot about it and moved on already," said Kehl, a senior. "Some players don't worry about it, some players think those games toughened us up or gave us experience. But I personally feel that if we had been a little better prepared, maybe in the offseason or fall camp, we would have beat Arizona, not lost to Boston College (in 2006). So I thought about that all last year, thought about it all offseason. I watched every single BCS bowl game and was not one bit intimidated by any of those teams. I would have been very, very pleased to have the opportunity to play one of those teams.

"Then this whole offseason we talked about (not) letting those things happen. I tell ya, I think about it every single day and definitely wish we could have those games back."

As Billy Ray Cyrus — another star of bygone years — sang, "It Could've Been Me."

As good as the Cougars have been since coach Bronco Mendenhall resurrected the program, as focused as he wants his team to be, there remains the problem of starting slowly. That hasn't always been the case. In 1984, the Cougars jumped on No. 3-rated Pitt in the first game and followed with a 47-13 win over Baylor. That season they won the national championship.

The 1979 Cougars surprised Texas A&M in the season opener, en route to an 11-1 season. There are plenty of other examples: a 1990 win against Miami, a 1987 win against Texas, a 1985 win against Washington and a 1996 win against Texas A&M.