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FORT WORTH, Texas - Injuries have blown away the senior leadership along Brigham Young's offensive line.

Right tackle Jake Kuresa went out early in Thursday's 31-17 win over Texas Christian. He suffered a sprained knee in last Saturday's win over Utah State and barely practiced this week.

The Cougars already are without Eddie Keele, who suffered a season-ending knee injury two weeks ago against Boston College. Keele and Kuresa have started throughout their four years in college.

Reserves David Oswald and Ryan Freeman were part of an offensive line that gave a gimpy John Beck enough time to throw for 321 yards and three touchdowns. Travis Bright, Ray Feinga and Sete Aulai also blocked well enough to help the Cougars amass 393 yards in total offense.

TCU's vaunted defense, which held Texas Tech without a touchdown for only the second time in 79 games two weeks ago, sacked Beck twice. And one of those came off a failed trick play.

"Our guys came out and played great," Beck said.

With eight days to rest until BYU plays host to San Diego State, Kuresa might not have to miss any time. He's already suffered two knee injuries this season.

Aulai resumed his starting center's position after serving a one-game suspension for violating team rules. After struggling in shotgun formations against Boston College, he only had one bad snap to Beck in this game.

Foreign concept

The Horned Frogs were in the unusual position of dealing with a loss, something they haven't had to do since falling to crosstown rival Southern Methodist in the second game of last season.

After the SMU loss, the Horned Frogs won 10 consecutive games. They went through the Mountain West undefeated in their first season.

"You have to give BYU all the credit," said coach Gary Patterson. "For some reason, this program does not know how to handle success. Last year, we beat an Oklahoma team and came back and lost to SMU.

"This year, we beat Texas Tech and look what happened tonight. This ballgame was the most important game on our schedule up until this point."

After once being ranked No. 15, the Horned Frogs face the possibility of falling to 0-2 in the conference. They travel to Utah for another Thursday game next week.

A two-loss team probably has no chance at a Mountain West championship.

"We have to be able to go to somebody else's house and win," Patterson said. "You don't want to be 0-2 in the conference. It's going to be tough to make that up. The bottom line to it is, you have to go find a way to win."

Quarterback Jeff Ballard also suffered his first loss in 12 starts. He came off the bench to rally TCU to a 51-50 overtime win over BYU last season in Provo.

Briefly

TCU junior kicker Chris Manfredini had made 19 consecutive field goals in his two years before missing a 39-yarder in the second quarter. The transfer from Cincinnati is 30-for-32 in his college career. . . . BYU broke TCU's streak of getting points 13 consecutive trips inside the opponent's 20-yard line. David Nixon's hit on Ballard caused a fumble, which Russell Tialevea recovered.