Cougars-Beavers: BYU Makes Massive Statement for Mountain West with Blowout Win

It has been an up and down year for Bronco Mendenhall's BYU Cougars. After upsetting No. 3 Oklahoma, BYU lost devastating home games to Florida State and TCU.

But since that TCU loss, BYU has responded with five straight wins, including victories over four teams with winning records: Wyoming (7-6, 52-0), Air Force (7-5, 38-21), Utah (9-3, 26-23), and now Oregon State (8-5, 44-20).

It truly has been an incredible year for the Cougars and the Mountain West conference.

Make no mistake about it, BYU was the underdog in this one. People thought it would be a close, heartbreaking loss for the sons of Provo. Instead, BYU made a statement, for its program and its conference.

BYU was better in every phase of the game—offense, defense, and special teams.

There were 45 mph wind gusts throughout this game, and BYU did a much better job of handling the elements than Oregon State did.

In the second quarter, Oregon State punter Johnny Hekker booted two high punts into the air. The wind caught both of them and each only went for six yards. For the game, Hekker averaged 25 yards on four punts, and that's including a 60-yarder he booted with the wind at his back. Two of his punts were into the wind, two were with the wind at his back.

BYU's punter, on the other hand, averaged 37.5 yards on four punts. The impressive thing is that three of those were into the wind. Kicking into the wind, he kicked a 36-yarder in the fourth quarter which stopped at the OSU eight.

BYU was up 37-7 before OSU scored 13 points in garbage time.

After Wyoming's dramatic double-OT upset over Fresno State, the MWC is 2-0, with three matchups to go.

If Cal, Houston, and Boise State don't want to be sent home with their tails between their legs like Fresno State and OSU, they better come ready to play.

The Mountain West has already made a strong case for becoming a BCS auto-bid conference.

This win is just another statement.

In the last three years, the MWC has beaten Alabama, Oklahoma, and Oregon State (twice). They are playing like a BCS conference.

This is just another indicator of why TCU, which beat this BYU team 38-7 in Provo, deserves to be playing Alabama for the national title.

With this victory, BYU will certainly finish in the top 10 for the first time since 1996.

Max Hall caps off a great legacy at BYU, with a 32-7 record overall, including victories over Utah (twice), UCLA (twice), TCU, Oklahoma, and Oregon State.

He won a conference title (in his sophomore year) and was 2-1 in bowl games.

He had a great year and a great career.

Over the last four years, only three FBS teams have won more games than BYU—Boise State, Texas, and Florida.

Under Bronco Mendenhall, BYU has been the model of consistency, going 11-2, 11-2, 10-3, and 11-2 the last four years.