Inside NCAA Football | Cougars could crash the BCS party after weekend upset

    Last Friday, the talk of college football was the 12th-ranked Boise State Broncos and how their easy dispatching of the Oregon Ducks could lead to an undefeated season and a potential Bowl Championship Series berth.
    By the end of the weekend, though, the Broncos were an afterthought due to the BYU Cougars, a small-conference compatriot who took down a perennial Big 12 giant.
    Led by senior quarterback Max Hall, who threw for 329 yards and a pair of touchdowns, the then-20th-ranked Cougars scored the biggest upset of college football's first weekend with their 14-13 win over the nation's No. 3 squad, the Oklahoma Sooners.
    Though Hall and the BYU offense will garner most of the accolades thanks to their game-winning touchdown drive with three minutes left in the game, the Cougars' defense was the driving force behind their victory. BYU knocked out the reigning Heisman Trophy winner, quarterback Sam Bradford, with a shoulder sprain and held the vaunted Sooners offense to just 265 total yards on the day.
    The victory was BYU's first over a top-10 opponent since 1990, and also their first over any ranked non-conference team since a 26-6 win over Arizona State in 1998. The win moved the Cougars all the way up to ninth in the Associated Press poll this week and could be the highlight win they need to pin their BCS berth hopes on.
    However, the Cougars' postseason hopes may hinge on whether or not the victory looks as good as it does now by the end of the year. If the Sooners can weather the storm of injuries that has led to the loss of its two top offensive players, Bradford and tight end Jermaine Gresham, they could maintain their status as a top-25 team and consequently boost BYU's status.
    Even if Oklahoma falters again and does not give BYU that one defining win, the Cougars have a few more chances to show that they are deserving of a spot among the country's elite.
    The Florida State Seminoles will come to Provo, Utah in two weeks, and despite a close loss to Miami last week, they could still be at the top of the Atlantic Coast Conference at the end of the season. In addition, the Mountain West Conference also contains two other top-25 teams in the TCU Horned Frogs and the Utah Utes, both of whom the Cougars will face at home.
    The potential for victories over quality teams makes BYU a realistic contender for a trip to one of this year's marquee postseason sites. While Boise State is expected to coast through the rest of its schedule and finish without a loss, the rest of its games do not feature single noteworthy team. And with Oregon's sloppy play last Thursday, particularly on the offensive end, there is no telling how good the Broncos actually are.
    Even if the Cougars slip up and drop a game to one of the better teams on their schedule, they could still have a more complete resume than the Broncos. Regardless, an undefeated BYU team should be playing in January, even if that means Boise State is on the outside looking in.
    It is still too early to jump to such conclusions — masked by the magnitude of the Cougars' win was a multitude of mistakes, including four turnovers and 10 penalties. But if coach Bronco Mendenhall can help remedy the errors, the Cougars could follow in the footsteps of fellow Mountain West member Utah and break through the major-conference barrier generally associated with the BCS.