Are the celebrations just beginning?

SAN DIEGO — Staid and stoic Bronco Mendenhall finally let his team whoop, holler and go a little nuts in the locker room after pounding defenseless San Diego State into the turf on Saturday.

And why not?

The 10-2 Cougars had just beaten the Aztecs 48-27 in Qualcomm Stadium to finish the regular season on a nine-game win streak. They finished undefeated in their league in back-to-back seasons for only the second time in school history.

The last time a BYU team did so was in 1983 and 1984.

Back then, Mendenhall was a senior at American Fork High, Ronald Reagan defeated Walter Mondale, the Soviets boycotted the Olympics, Lee Iacocca had a best-seller, offensive coordinator Robert Anae played center for LaVell Edwards, and quarterback coach Brandon Doman was 7 years old.

It's his level-headed way, that, if anything else, speaks volumes of the job Mendenhall has done with BYU football in this, his third year at the helm.

"He brought back that 'Return to Glory' phrase and, well, that's what we've done," said senior linebacker Bryan Kehl.

And Kehl should know.

In Kehl's first season as a Cougar, BYU finished 5-7. He then went on a mission while the program floundered at 4-8 and 5-6. He returned to a 6-6 campaign, then got to 11-2 and now 10-2 in a season he proclaimed will end 11-2.

"To be a part of that is just awesome and it's going to be that way from now on," he said.

Really?

Well, it could be in the works. The Cougars return nearly every soul on an offense that led the league. Defensively, most of the front seven return and on the back end, BYU will likely never start four walk-ons in the secondary again.

"This hasn't happened to BYU in a long, long time," said sophomore defensive end Jan Jorgensen, who padded his league-leading sack total against the Aztecs with one more takedown. "It's a credit to Mendenhall and the job he's done. All he's done is win and he's done an incredible job with us, with his coaches and with the program."

Going 21-4 the past two seasons, BYU owns a 16-game league win streak, having gone two times around the MWC circuit without a loss, and an 11-game win streak in league road games.

Jorgensen, who's got two seasons left to play, said people are going to get used to it.