BYU football: '08 loss still stings Cougars

PROVO — For BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall, the memories of his team's 32-7 thumping at TCU last season still sting. It was a painful learning experience for the Cougars, who were overwhelmed, shell-shocked and knocked off their pedestal that Thursday night in Fort Worth.

"I remember the losses a lot more than I do the wins, mostly because they hurt more, and then you learn more," Mendenhall said.

And there were plenty of lessons to be learned from that humbling meltdown.

The Cougars, who were the reigning two-time Mountain West Conference champions and sitting squarely in the national spotlight, entered the game ranked No. 9, riding a 16-game winning streak. But they ran into a purple-clad buzz saw at Amon G. Carter Stadium, falling behind 23-0 at halftime, then watched their perfect season and Bowl Championship Series dreams get dashed to pieces.

"I remember going into the game feeling that some of the attention was starting to affect not only myself as the coach but our players," Mendenhall said. "I remember just watching our team not perform well and realizing I hadn't prepared them to perform well. Those are always hard feelings to handle. ... I don't like that feeling very much."

As No. 10 TCU and No. 16 BYU prepare to collide again Saturday (5:30 p.m., Versus) the scenario is similar to last season — only the roles are reversed. This time, it's the Horned Frogs who are ranked in the top 10 and riding a winning streak — which stands at eight games — and chasing an elusive BCS berth.

A year ago, the hungrier, faster and more athletic Frogs exposed the weaknesses of a Cougar team that hadn't played any good teams to that point of the season.

"Maybe we had a false sense of security that we were a little bit better than what we were," Mendenhall said. "I think because we had beaten TCU the previous two years, possibly some of the luster had come off playing against them, where maybe our players didn't respect what they were capable of to the level necessary."

A review of last year's box score reveals the depths of BYU's struggles against TCU.

Cougar quarterback Max Hall was sacked six times — four by All-America defensive lineman Jerry Hughes — and he completed only 22-of-42 passes for 274 yards with two interceptions. The Cougars coughed up two fumbles and didn't score until late in the third quarter.