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Provo • Six weeks ago, the BYU Cougars were 1-4, coming off a humiliating road loss to an instate opponent they had not lost to in 17 years, and owners of one of the most inept offenses in major college football.

The Cougars are now 5-5, on the verge of becoming bowl-eligible, and suddenly seen as having a legitimate chance to topple rival Utah next week in their regular-season finale at Rice-Eccles Stadium.

Aside from the obvious — a much easier schedule — a change in the way the Cougars practiced had as much as anything else to do with the revival, coach Bronco Mendenhall said in his weekly Monday morning news conference.

"We made a decision about five weeks ago in practice that really has generated momentum, where every single day we are throwing the football against each other, both offensively and defensively, either in seven-on-seven … certainly in one-on-ones, two-minute situations," he said.

Generally, once teams get into regular-season play, coaches never put their first-string offense up against their first-string defense in practice like they do in fall camp. Mendenhall said BYU's ones have been going against its ones since the 31-16 loss at Utah State. He also fired defensive coordinator Jaime Hill the week before the 24-21 win over San Diego State and gave himself that job.

"We did that against each other to hopefully increase the speed, execution and have the game slow down," he said. "And I think that's what is happening with Jake [Heaps] and our offense now, is the game is slowing down, because they are seeing fast looks in practice. Even though they are not seeing identical looks, they are seeing fast players and a competitive atmosphere, and that isn't now such a surprise when we hit Saturday."

BYU's passing offense actually dipped the past five games, mostly because the Cougars turned into a one-dimensional rushing team against TCU and Wyoming. But in the past two games, Heaps has thrown for 536 yards and six touchdowns with no interceptions.

Mendenhall said coaches had stopped having the ones battle the ones because of several years of having experienced quarterbacks.

"In retrospect, that was a mistake that I made from an organizational standpoint. So we added back in most of the competitive elements of throwing and catching the football, against our own defense. That, in a very short amount of time, has led to better decisions, more accuracy, and more success on the practice field than our offense was having prior to [five weeks ago]," he said. " That success on the practice field has now generated some confidence, and an increased level of execution now going into the game. And I think more accuracy and precision of the routes being run, and the protection being given, and where the ball is delivered and how, because it is having to be done at a higher level when we play against each other in practice.

The coach said the Cougars have sacrificed time preparing for their opponents to get more game-ready themselves.

"It was an oversight on my part maybe thinking we were a little bit farther ahead than maybe where we would have been. We had to retrace and go back," he said.

Of course, the defense's improvement was drastic almost overnight after Mendenhall became the defensive coordinator. Since then, the Cougars have gone from 101st in total defense to 47th, and from 87th in scoring defense to 49th.

He said it took a "significant event" to capture momentum that was lost during the four-game losing skid.

"I don't want to take credit, but just tracing back to where I became more involved, in just rolling up my sleeves and trying to do something to help our team, other than just trying to be the head coach. I think that signified that there would be change. … That's where it started," he said.

Briefly

Mendenhall said Monday that nose tackle Jordan Richardson suffered a torn ACL against Colorado State and is done for the season. Eathyn Manumaleuna will now be the full-time starter at that position and will be backed up by Simote Vea, a walk-on. Defensive end Graham Rowley will also get some training at nose tackle. … Mendenhall said a 6-6 or 7-5 BYU team would welcome a bowl bid. "I would love to continue to play football as long as I can this year with this team," he said.

drew@sltrib.com Twitter: @drewjay, @sltribbyu —

Saturday's game

P New Mexico at BYU, 4 p.m

TV • Versus —

Cougars showing gradual improvement

Where BYU ranked nationally after five, 10 games:

Category Through 5 games Through 10

Rushing offense 94th 47th

Passing offense 80th 87th

Total offense 96th 83rd

Scoring offense 114th 89th