PROVO — BYU's Michael Reed has never been to Laramie, but he's heard plenty of stories about the town from teammates who have.
The freshman receiver will get the chance to experience it for himself Saturday, when the Cougars visit Wyoming.
"The guys are telling me the trip's going to be horrible. But I've never been to Wyoming so I have to see it firsthand," said Reed, who hails from Baytown, Texas. "To me, on film, it looks nice. It looks like Texas maybe a little bit. I'm looking forward to going out there. I know it's not going to be an easy game. Wyoming has a lot of great athletes on their team."
While BYU needs a win to be bowl-eligible, the Cowboys need two victories in their final two games to be bowl-eligible.
BYU's Kelly Poppinga, who is redshirting and is the younger brother of former Cougar star linebacker Brady Poppinga, is from Evanston, Wyo., and he has told his teammates not to expect a hospitable welcome from fans.
"I've heard so many stories I don't know which ones to believe," Reed said. "I'm just looking forward to seeing for myself what Wyoming's all about."
Senior defensive lineman Vince Feula hasn't played at Wyoming, either, but he's also looking forward to this weekend's game.
"It's one of the most harsh environments to play at. They don't like us," he said. "They say a lot of things to get into our minds. We're just trying to stay focused and not worry about that."
NO CUTTING CORNERS: Whoever said, "no man is an island" obviously never played cornerback.
BYU's cornerbacks have been tested throughout the season, facing talented receivers like Cory Rodgers, Jeff Webb, Hank Baskett, David Anderson, Maurice Stovall and Jason Brown. This week, they face another challenge in Wyoming's Jovon Bouknight, who has caught a conference-high 11 touchdown passes and averages 98.4 receiving yards per game.
Senior Breyon Jones, who was switched from receiver to cornerback this season, knows how hard it is to play corner. The transition has been an eye-opening experience.
"At first, it wasn't too overwhelming. You understand concepts, you understand zones, you understand responsibilities," he said. "It was more of learning your technique within your responsibility as a cornerback. That was the difficult part. Translating from paper as opposed to doing it on the field is completely different. If you wrote it down on paper, I might be a starter. I'd lock anybody up on paper. When we get onto the field, it's all about game-speed and timing. I'm almost at a high school level, trying to convert to college. I'm picking it up."
Jones and tight end Daniel Coats were arguing recently about which position was tougher, cornerback or receiver. Jones said corner was much more difficult. Last week, after practice, Coats played cornerback while Jones ran a route and beat him.
"(Coats) said it was easier being a corner and he couldn't cut it," Jones said, laughing. "It's a whole lot tougher. The transition is completely different, when you're reading and reacting as opposed to running out for the ball. If I was a walk-on, I'd rather play receiver than a corner. The fundamentals are a lot easier at receiver to pick up."
FINISHING STRONG: BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall said that his team had its best Tuesday practice of the season this week.
Cougar players say practices have been going very well and that has a direct correlation to BYU's four-game Mountain West Conference winning streak.
"The way we practice is the way we're going to play," Reed said. "These last few weeks, we've been practicing really hard, busting our tails and it's starting to show in games. We're not fatigued like other teams are. It just shows us how hard we've practiced and we're prepared to go the length of the game if we have to."
SPECIAL TEAMS CHANGE: When asked if the punt protection will look different this week after giving up blocked punts in each of the last two games, Mendenhall said it will be different. But he wouldn't elaborate.
"You'll see on Saturday," he said.
UTAH GAME: BYU announced that 500 tickets were remaining for next week's game against Utah (1 p.m.). School officials say they expect the game to sell out sometime today.
Cougars on the air
BYU (5-4, 4-2) at Wyoming (4-5, 2-4)
Saturday, 4 p.m.
TV: Ch. 5
Radio: KSL 1160AM, 102.7FM
E-mail: jeffc@desnews.com