BYU moving up ladder in quest for BCS game

Brigham Young football coach Bronco Mendenhall is puzzled by the polls.

His Cougars fell three places to No. 18 in The Associated Press' rankings after beating Washington on Sept. 6. They moved up three spots to No. 8 this week despite having a bye.

There is an easy explanation. BYU's drop came after a controversial one-point victory over a struggling team, and it moved up this week because ranked teams in front of the Cougars lost.

Not so easy to explain or predict is what happens if BYU keeps winning and teams above it keep losing.

SI.com's Stewart Mandel pointed out Utah in 2004 entered the Bowl Championship Series standings at No. 7 on Oct. 16 that season, and rose only to sixth even with losses to three teams ranked ahead of the Utes.

BYU is No. 9 in the initial Harris Poll and No. 7 in USA Today's poll, both components of the BCS rankings, which will be released for the first time Oct. 19. The AP vote does not factor into the equation.

The Cougars have plenty of work to do before making a case to play in the BCS title game, but they might be stuck even if they continue to dominate the opposition.

"I think it very well could happen," Mendenhall said Tuesday. "I'm not sure the perception of our program and our league is strong enough even if we do go undefeated that we might be considered that way. And really those thoughts I really can't control and nor do I have much influence over other than trying to help our team win and play to the best of their ability."

He wasn't sure what it would take for BYU or another non-BCS school to get into the national title game.

Maybe back-to-back Fiesta Bowl or Orange Bowl victories followed by a similar run in the third year?

"At that point, I think the country at large would be saying, 'How come this team doesn't get a chance and how come this is so exclusive?,' " Mendenhall said. "But it might take something as extreme as that to play out for it to work out."

• COWBOY JOE NEAR THE END? -- Wyoming athletic director Tom Burman told The Denver Post he would evaluate Joe Glenn's status after the season, seldom comforting words for a coach whose team is not even at the midway point.

"We're focused on winning this game with New Mexico, and that's all that matters right now," Glenn said. "This isn't about Joe. This isn't about the coaches. This is about the kids. All I can do is come to work with a smile as I've done over the years."

Glenn went back to Karsten Sween at quarterback. He lost his starting job before the season to Dax Crum.

"He was never negative," Glenn said of Sween. "He worked hard to win the job back when he didn't have it."

• OTHER QB NEWS -- After considering making a change at quarterback, Colorado State coach Steve Fairchild will stick with starter Billy Farris for Saturday's 11 a.m. PDT home game against UNLV.

Fairchild thought about making a switch after the Rams' 42-7 loss at California on Saturday. Farris completed 12 of 25 passes for 96 yards while taking four sacks. Klay Kubiak went 6 of 9 for 130 yards in mop-up duty.

Contact reporter Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2914.