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Provo • The BYU Cougars have faced three of the country's top quarterbacks in their first three games, but neither Washington's Jake Locker, nor Air Force's Tim Jefferson, nor Florida State's Christian Ponder has disrupted coach Bronco Mendenhall's sleep.

This week's opposing quarterback, Nevada's Colin Kaepernick, has.

"I am seeing him in my sleep," Mendenhall said. "Man, this quarterback is very good."

And seeing as how the other three hurt the Cougars significantly, especially Jefferson and Ponder, there's no surprise that the WAC's Nevada is favored to roll past BYU at LaVell Edwards Stadium on Saturday.

"It's a role that we have earned to this point," Mendenhall said of the Cougars' underdog status. "We haven't played at a high enough level yet to be considered a favorite."

Injury woes

Mendenhall said at his news conference Monday that no fewer than 13 players have injury issues, according to e-mails he received from trainer Kevin Morris over the weekend.

"Based on the report yesterday, not good," he said of the injury situation.

Matt Reynolds (ankle), Terence Brown (knee), Andrew Rich and Brian Logan (shoulder) were scheduled to have MRIs on Monday. Free safety Steven Thomas suffered a concussion and will have to pass protocol by midweek in order to play Saturday.

"The number [of injuries], and maybe the significance of key players on [the list] is maybe the highest so far this year," Mendenhall said, noting that Morris will detail the injuries after practice today.

Tight-end tales

Receiver O'Neill Chambers was moved to tight end so he could get more touches and will likely stay at that position the remainder of the season, Mendenhall said. Chambers caught two passes for 27 yards against Florida State. Three other tight ends — Austin Holt, Mike Muehlmann and Devin Mahina — played roughly eight to 12 plays each but did not catch a pass.

"When you consider that [passes to tight ends] having been the core of what we've done offensively over the past five years, and now looking at breaking in young tight ends with most of the experience happening more out of wide receiver, it seemed to make sense to take one of our more experienced receivers, and put him into a position that has received more touches in the past, and been more of a focal point, to try to alleviate some of the pressure off of younger quarterbacks and get more experience closer to the quarterback in positions where we have had some success before," Mendenhall said.

drew@sltrib.com Twitter: @drewjay