Aside from giving up a kick return for a touchdown for the first time since 2005, getting burned on a 75-yard touchdown pass and suffering through a string of false-start penalties, BYU was close to flawless in Saturday night's 59-21 pounding of UNLV.

But as the Cougars begin preparations for another road game against one of the Mountain West Conference's lesser teams, coach Bronco Mendenhall says there is no chance coaches will let the players believe they are perfect.

BYU (2-0, 5-1), which remained No. 18 in the Associated Press Top 25 on Sunday and moved up to No. 19 in the USA Today Coaches Poll, takes on San Diego State (0-1, 2-3) at Qualcomm Stadium on Saturday.

The Aztecs had a bye over the weekend and have not played since beating New Mexico State at home on Oct. 3.

"We have made a lot of strides on our team so far," Mendenhall said. "[But] you can hear enough chatter back and forth on the headsets [from the coaches], in terms of adjustments and different things that we are seeing [that need to be corrected]."

Throw out the way UNLV's Deante' Purvis flew past them en route to his 94-yard kickoff return, and Mendenhall liked the way his special teams units played, "especially in terms of our return game, which we have been focusing on."

The Cougars almost had their first kickoff return for a touchdown themselves for the first time since Mike Rigell took one back against Hawaii in 1998, but sophomore O'Neill Chambers was forced out of bounds at the UNLV 2.

"Everybody was running, and I saw the cutback out of the corner of my eye. So I just went with it. And it was open. My eyes got wide open, and I couldn't believe it was happening. But it was happening," Chambers said after taking a considerable amount of teasing from his teammates for not being able to close the deal.

"I guess need to go run some gassers when I get back," he continued. "My chest has been a little congested. I have been a little sick all week. I couldn't catch my breath. I was trying my hardest to catch my second wind and turn it on, but I couldn't turn it on for nothing."

So as the Cougs get ready to face another team they will be heavily favored to beat, Mendenhall's job is similar to last week: keep the Cougars focused on SDSU and not looking ahead to the Oct. 24 showdown in Provo against TCU, which dropped to No. 12 in the AP poll, from 10, after knocking off Air Force 20-17 in Colorado Springs.

BYU is expecting another big contingent of blue-clad fans in San Diego.

"There are a lot of experiences that are beneficial, going out on the road," Mendenhall said. "They are not fearful of it. .... I think they also like the fans that do travel with us. I think they view them as kind of the die-hard ones, and that they are coming to support them," Mendenhall said.

drew@sltrib.com