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Provo • As reporters waited for BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall and selected players in the interview room next door, the celebratory sounds coming from the Cougars' locker room in the bowels of 100,000-seat Darrell K. Royal Stadium after another beatdown of Texas grew louder and louder.
BYU's national stature and confidence grew on Saturday night as well, thanks to the 41-7 pummeling of one of college football's bluebloods, weakened as it is, and another eye-popping performance from quarterback Taysom Hill. Ball-hawking, shutdown defensive play, albeit against a backup quarterback making his first start, also buoyed 2-0 BYU's hopes for a special season in 2014.
"There are so many good vibes with this team, and comparing us to last year, everyone is so confident," Hill said after throwing for 181 yards and rushing for 99 yards and three touchdowns, including the dazzling 30-yarder - "A leap of faith," he called it - that made all the highlight shows.
"I would say it is a quiet confidence," Hill continued. "There was media and everyone else hyping this game, and we were going to be playing in front of 100,000 fans, and all this stuff. Honestly, our mindset was we should be the favorites, and we are going to go in and win this football game. And we did."
Emphatically.
The Cougars cracked the national rankings with the impressive display, landing at No. 25 in the Associated Press Top 25 and just missing in the Amway Coaches Poll, where they received the second-most votes of any unranked team.
It will rank as one of the top road wins of Mendenhall's 10-year tenure, but a lot of that depends on what Texas does from here on out. The Longhorns have a long way to go to get back to respectability, coach Charlie Strong said after his club managed just 258 yards and committed four turnovers.
"It's an embarrassment," Strong said. "It's an embarrassment to this program. It's an embarrassment to this university, and I knew it and I didn't do anything about it. … I called the team up [before the game] and told them we're not ready to play. Our focus isn't there. We're getting ready to play a really good football team and we're going to get embarrassed if we don't watch out."
Prophetic.
The Cougars were sort of in an unwinnable situation with Texas missing starting QB David Ash and more than half its starting offensive line, but the Longhorns' defense that manhandled North Texas was intact, and again it couldn't slow down Hill. Had BYU cut down on penalties in the first half and executed slightly better in the red zone, it would have laid a 50 spot on burnt orange nation.
And the Cougars seemed unfazed by the hostile environment, playing well on the road against a big-name opponent for one of the rare times in the Mendenhall era.
"Well, just look at the attention it gained before we played them. It is BYU vs. Texas, and that's being viewed as a signature game for the Longhorns, as well as us. It would be fun to do that every week," Mendenhall said. "Certainly, it would be a tremendous challenge, but I feel like we are making growth and progress as a program, and I am really excited about this particular year, and our future."
Mendenhall was uncertain about what kind of message the win sent, but again talked about the importance for BYU as an independent to schedule quality opponents.
"I don't intend to go from AD's office to AD's office lobbying and hold up posters and signs, I would just like to schedule and play. I think that's the best thing to do," he said.
Obviously, winning those games does wonders.
Now the Cougars face a short week.
Thursday night (7 p.m. MDT, ESPN) they play host to Houston, which blasted Grambling State 47-0 on Saturday night with 477 yards of total offense after opening the season with a 27-7 loss to Texas-San Antonio. The blue Cougars eked past the red Cougars 47-46 last year at Reliant Stadium.
"We will watch the film only long enough to learn from it," Hill said. "And that will be our mindset. Monday is going to be a tough practice. I am assuming that we will pad up and we will get after it. Houston is a good football team, so I don't think there is one guy in our locker room who is overlooking them, after what happened last year. And we are excited to host them."
Twitter: @drewjay —
Houston at BYU
P Thursday, 7 p.m.
TV • ESPN —
AP top 25
Record Pts Pv
1. Florida St. (38) 2-0 1,463 1
2. Oregon (16) 2-0 1,415 3
3. Alabama (1) 2-0 1,334 2
4. Oklahoma (2) 2-0 1,303 4
5. Auburn 2-0 1,236 5
6. Georgia (1) 1-0 1,201 6
7. Texas A&M (2) 2-0 1,101 9
8. Baylor 2-0 1,043 10
9. Southern Cal 2-0 1,039 14
10. LSU 2-0 1,029 12
11. Notre Dame 2-0 815 16
12. UCLA 2-0 779 11
13. Michigan St. 1-1 751 7
14. Mississippi 2-0 703 15
15. Stanford 1-1 592 13
16. Arizona St. 2-0 570 17
17. Virginia Tech 2-0 532 NR
18. Wisconsin 1-1 391 18
19. Kansas St. 2-0 285 20
20. Missouri 2-0 237 24
21. Louisville 2-0 234 25
22. Ohio St. 1-1 222 8
23. Clemson 1-1 206 23
24. South Carolina 1-1 199 21
25. BYU 2-0 179 NR
Others receiving votes • Nebraska 153, North Carolina 118, Oklahoma St. 92, Florida 70, Duke 43, Penn St. 35, TCU 31, Mississippi St. 29, Marshall 18, Tennessee 14, Iowa 10, Cincinnati 6, West Virginia 6, Washington 4, N. Dakota St. 3, Pittsburgh 3, Texas Tech 3, Utah 2, Arizona 1.