BYU’s struggles evident

Brigham Young’s issue this week, following a second consecutive blowout loss, is gaining momentum before the Mountain West football season begins in 13 days.

After Stanford routed the Cougars, coach Gary Crowton preached that his team needed to improve its composure.

His emphasis changed after Saturday’s 42-10 loss to USC, saying BYU would use this week’s game against Boise State to prepare for the conference schedule that begins Oct. 2 at Colorado State.

“What we want to do is just continue to progress so that we are ready for our conference play,” Crowton said. “This is an important game to try and get some momentum going into our conference play because our conference is playing outstanding.”

That’s not quite true, considering only Utah has a winning record against Divison I-A teams. But the point to have a positive before the Mountain West season is duly noted.

It won’t be easy, though. Boise State, which embarrassed BYU 50-12 last season, is 3-0 and ranked No. 21. The Broncos, who are averaging 55 points a game, have the nation’s longest winning streak at 14 games.

“We want to make sure we progress in these non-conference games,” Crowton said. “Next week we’ve got a Boise team that’s playing very, very well. It will be a different type of team. Their team is kind of running on all cylinders.”

Three games into the season, the Cougars already are reeling. In the last two games against Pac-10 teams, they have been outscored 79-20.

It is reminiscent of last season, when BYU sputtered to the end. Another crushing loss Friday could spell serious trouble.

“I feel our team is maturing,” Crowton said. “It’s hard to see because we faced such a worthy opponent.”

Crowton willingly admitted BYU was outmanned by USC, the nation’s top-ranked team. Except for one big play, John Beck’s 69-yard touchdown pass to Todd Watkins, USC’s defense dominated the Cougars.

The Cougars are averaging 13.3 points in their 1-2 start, down a field goal from the last two years.

“It’s not a major concern yet, based on our opponents,” Crowton said.

BYU’s defense played well for most of the game but eventually wore out. The Trojans had the ball for nearly 37 minutes, compared to BYU’s 23 minutes. USC’s Reggie Bush and LenDale White both rushed for more than 100 yards.

“We need to play a lot more physical,” said linebacker Cameron Jensen. “I’m just really disappointed that they ran the ball on us. That should never happen.”