PROVO — Since the conclusion of BYU's 55-14 victory over UNLV on Saturday, coach Bronco Mendenhall and his team have been preparing for and studying film of Wyoming. From what Mendenhall has seen of the Cowboys, there's one obvious explanation for their four-game losing streak.
"It's turnovers," he said. "Clearly, turnovers."
The 'Pokes have turned the ball over 17 times during the losing streak. They surrendered three turnovers in their 43-13 loss at Utah last Saturday.
The Cougars and Cowboys meet in Laramie on Saturday (4 p.m., Ch. 5). Wyoming began the season with a 4-1 record, but its high volume of turnovers has contributed significantly to an 0-4 mark since.
"They appear to be the same team other than just that — turning the ball over in critical times, or in poor field position," Mendenhall said. "That's reflective of the points their defense is giving up with short fields, and it's reflective of the number of wins. The struggles they've had recently is not in terms of how their team is performing in other areas. To me, it's just turnovers.
"I'm sure they're frustrated anytime the ball is turned over at this point," he continued. "I'm sure they know that's being tied to their success or lack thereof recently."
Meanwhile, the Cougars have become adept at causing turnovers in recent weeks. They forced Air Force into five turnovers, and UNLV gave the ball away three times. BYU's much-maligned secondary has six interceptions to its credit the past two games.
Prior to that, BYU had recorded only one interception — in the Eastern Illinois game.
Those eight turnovers the past two weeks helped the Cougar offense score 117 points in two games.
"We've been working on (causing turnovers) hard the entire year," Mendenhall said. "It's nice to have it show up on game day to add momentum to the coaching we're giving our players."
SPECIAL TEAMS WOES: Just as Wyoming has been vexed by turnovers, Mendenhall has been vexed by blocked punts.
BYU has had one blocked punt in each of its past two games.
"Anytime you've been working on something and then it doesn't appear to be fixed the next opportunity, it leads to frustration," Mendenhall said. "They were exact same — excellent effort from the players from Air Force and UNLV completely selling out, going up and over the shield with tremendous effort. Our punter (Derek McLaughlin) is too close to the shield. We have our most responsible people in the shield — Cameron Jensen, Daniel Coats and Justin Maddux. When you have players like that, you have to look at the scheme they're being given. They're doing what they're coached to do."
Punt protection, once again, has been a main priority in practice.
"We're working on it. We'll continue to work on it all week until we get it fixed," Mendenhall said. "I'm frustrated and disappointed that we had punts blocked on consecutive weeks. You've seen what it does to the momentum of the game. It's inexcusable."
COUGARS GO INDOORS: For one of the few times this season, BYU moved practice inside to the indoor practice facility — for a few good reasons.
For starters, the grass fields outside have been taking a beating all season due to frequent use, Mendenhall said. Also, the playing surface at War Memorial Stadium is FieldTurf, which is the same surface as inside BYU's indoor practice facility.
And, finally, the lighting for the outdoor practice field comes from the Smith Fieldhouse, which was flooded over the weekend due to broken water pipes. That has yet to be fixed.
"We could be inside all week," Mendenhall said. "They might have them up and running, but my plan is to come inside for the turf and for the lights, if possible."
NOT CHECKING THE WEATHER CHANNEL: Laramie is notorious for bad weather in mid-November. But Mendenhall said he's not worrying about such things.
"It doesn't matter," he said. "It doesn't matter whether we're playing in a parking lot or in the snow or what time of day. It's our next football game and it's our next challenge."
According to weather.com, the forecast Saturday for Laramie calls for sunny skies and a high of 55 degrees.
GAME TIME ANNOUNCED: The Mountain West Conference announced Monday that kickoff for the BYU-Utah game on Nov. 19 is set for 1 p.m. It will be broadcast on KJZZ, Ch. 14.
It will mark the fourth time this year that BYU has appeared on ESPN-Plus, along with the TCU, Air Force and UNLV games.
E-mail: jeffc@desnews.com