LARAMIE, Wyo. — As a rule, Wyoming hates losing to BYU.

What made Saturday's 52-0 loss to the Cougars even worse for the Cowboys was they were never in the game, they lost at home and they were shut out.

"Obviously, this was not our plan coming into this game. It's a tough one to swallow," said Wyoming safety Chris Prosinski. "I would definitely take back any of the tackles just to win this game or be more competitive. It was a rough game and we have a lot to learn from this."

The setback put a serious crimp in the 'Pokes postseason plans. Wyoming still needs two more wins to become bowl-eligible.

First-year Cowboy coach Dave Christensen has the program pointed in the right direction, but it didn't show against BYU.

"This is a disappointing performance by our football team. We came out and didn't compete from the beginning to the end of the game," he said. "It is so uncharacteristic of what this group has done the entire season. I'm searching and don't have a lot of answers right now. We've competed well even though we didn't win every game, but they played hard in those games. This was disappointing how our kids came out."

Christensen gave BYU credit for its performance, but added that his team's mistakes had a lot to do with it.

"BYU is a good football team and an established program. My hat's off to them," Christensen said. "They came out, executed plays and did what they needed to do to stop us. I would certainly say we had a hand in making it easy for them. We didn't do much to slow them down or move the football against them.

"They are a better team right now than they were at the beginning of the year," the coach added. "Their players understand their system and have a lot of experience. They are just a very good football team right now and we aren't a very good football team right now, and those two aren't a good combination."

Prosinski praised Cougar quarterback Max Hall, who threw for 312 yards and four touchdowns against the Wyoming defense.

"Max Hall is a veteran in this league and knows what to expect," he said. "He's an accurate passer and when he can sit back there, he'll pick you apart. Our coaches put together a good game plan. Unfortunately, we didn't execute."

e-mail: jeffc@desnews.com