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Provo • A couple times after his team pounded its way to a 24-21 win over San Diego State on Saturday, BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall tempered the first win in five tries by warning that the Cougars haven't arrived yet, that they still have a long, long way to go to get back to the position they once held as one of the top non-BCS teams in college football.

That's easy to do when one considers the next step on that path back to respectability.

Big, bad TCU, ranked No. 4 in the latest Associated Press Top 25 poll released Sunday, awaits the Cougars this week in Fort Worth. The Frogs (6-0) have crushed the Cougars (2-4) by a combined score of 70-14 the past two seasons, after BYU took wins in the heated series in 2006 and 2007.

This time, TCU isn't just looking for a win any way it can get it over BYU. The Frogs are talking about a shutout, which would be their third straight after they blanked Colorado State 27-0 and Wyoming 45-0 in successive weeks.

"Our coaches challenged us to see if we could do it again," defensive end Wayne Daniels told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. "And I'm pretty sure they'll challenge us next week to see if we can do it again [against BYU]."

And judging by how much coach Gary Patterson reacted when news broke that the Cougars were leaving the Mountain West Conference for football independence a few months ago, it is a given he would like to lay a colossal beatdown on the visitors — and not just for style points to impress the pollsters.

Obviously, it is personal for Patterson, who is already using personal pronouns.

"If I get beat by BYU next week, no one will care [about the shutout streak]," he told the Star-Telegram after the Frogs held Wyoming to just 191 yards and eight first downs. And he isn't even playing.

Despite their lofty ranking and undefeated status, the Frogs didn't even sell out Amon Carter Stadium for the Pokes, drawing just 38,081 in the soon-to-be-renovated stadium that seats more than 44,000. It will be interesting to see if that's the case this week, given how far BYU has slid.

At least the Cougars are no longer the worst team in the country at stopping the run. Now they are just the eighth-worst, ranking 113th. They are 90th in total defense, giving up 406.7 yards per game.

"It has been a point of emphasis," Mendenhall said after the Cougars held SDSU to 53 rushing yards, albeit on just 12 attempts. "I love run defense. I love that part of the game."

But it is BYU's offense that has struggled the most the past two years against TCU, even with Max Hall.

And with the Cougars starting a freshman, Jake Heaps, there's no reason to believe that won't continue, considering that the Cougars are 91st in total offense (329.3 yards per game) and 113th in scoring offense (16.6 points per game).

TCU is No. 1 in total defense, No. 2 in scoring defense (allowing just 10.3 points per contest) and No. 2 in pass defense.

"Now it is time to carry it over to the next week, and the next week and the next week," Heaps said after picking up his first career win Saturday. "There is still a lot of business to get taken care of, and we plan to do so."

Against TCU, obviously, that's easier said than done.

drew@sltrib.com Twitter: @drewjay, @sltribbyu —

Saturday's game

P BYU (2-4) at TCU (6-0), 2 p.m.

TV • Versus