This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Bronco Mendenhall keeps talking about the improvement his team is making this season, starting out with two losses in the first three games, and now winning four straight. He hit the same theme last year, after BYU broke to a 1-4 start before finishing with six wins in the final eight games.

It's really a mirage, though.

It's bogus.

It's a $100 Giorgio Armani.

You think a victory this week against Idaho State will mean anything of real substance? It's nothing but another example of college football's version of prostitution. Pay a team to come in, do its job, lose big, collect its cake and disappear into the night.

Tawdry encounters are frequent, of late.

There were all kinds of reasons given for the Cougars' turnaround in 2010, everything from pitting the ones against the ones in practice to jack up the team's competitiveness to the players simply learning to carry themselves with a swagger. Near the end of last season, Mendenhall said the slow start "kind of puts you in a deeper place where you have to look and say, 'OK, what exactly do we have to do?'"

The answer: Play lousy teams.

It was true a year ago and it's true now.

BYU used a run of games against New Mexico, Colorado State, UNLV and Wyoming to get all healthy, to gain so much ground in 2010.

This season will end up being even more of an illusion.

The Cougars thus far have played two decent teams and five teams that have either struggled or that don't win. No big surprise, their record is 5-2.

They lost to Texas and Utah, and they've beaten Ole Miss, Central Florida, Utah State, San Jose State, and Oregon State. Even the two biggest names in that row, the Rebels and the Beavers, are among the worst teams in their leagues, having won just three games between them. Sacramento State beat Oregon State, so any reward in a win there — the Cougars triumphed by 10 in what Mendenhall called his team's most complete game — should be tamped down and tempered.

In the coming weeks, BYU plays Idaho State, TCU, Idaho, New Mexico State and Hawaii.

Tom Holmoe also put in a call to Cyprus High, but the Pirates were completely booked.

The intention here isn't to rip BYU for its schedule or for its compromised success. In the first year of independence, it grabbed what it could to fill out the schedule. We'll see how those schedules evolve, as they're completed, in the coming seasons. But a bit of reality, seeing what's happening for what it is, never hurts, or, at least, shouldn't hurt.

It just is.

A couple of things, then: 1) Don't buy into any kind of massive improvement talk, no matter how often you hear it, and 2) feel bad for BYU fans, who have to not only watch, but also try to find meaning and satisfaction in wins over mostly straw teams.

Some improvement should and will happen, just because the more a team plays, the more it practices … well, if it's not getting better as the days and weeks and months go by, then it should stop practicing. But drawing happy conclusions solely off of win-loss results, without considering the quality of opponents, is turning a blind eye to what's real for the sake of foolhardy gratification.

You have to feel for Cougar fans, being subjected to home games against San Jose State, Idaho State, Idaho, New Mexico State. That's just flat-out brutal. Playing Idaho State this week is a bad competitive joke. It's not a match, it's not fair, it's not fun. It is, however, an automatic win.

Bottom line: Whatever record BYU ends up with this year, you'll have to wonder how good it really is — or isn't. That's the benefit to playing in a conference like, say, the Big 12. That true test will reveal what you actually are, almost every time.

Instead, the Cougars are forced to settle for illusion.

Or, even worse, delusion.

Gordon Monson hosts "The Gordon Monson Show" weekdays from 2-6 p.m. on 97.5 FM/1280 AM The Zone. He can be reached at gmonson@sltrib.com. Twitter: @GordonMonson.