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One by one, BYU's coach and players sifted through what had transpired the other night, after the Cougars' third straight victory to start the season. They squirmed a bit as they answered postgame questions, chucking the proper responses back and forth in their minds before verbalizing them. Maybe squirmed is too strong a word. They looked unsettled and dissatisfied. And, for them, that's a positive sign.

When BYU does what it had accomplished only one other time in Bronco Mendenhall's 10 years atop Cougar football, going unbeaten in those first three games, and that third win is taken by eight points in a game that never really seemed in doubt, and the coach and players are irked and hungry for more, that is an explicit indication of better things to come.

In that way, BYU's flawed showing in its home-opening win over Houston, a match during which it gave away ground after gaining an early 23-point lead, it gagged up three turnovers, it committed 11 penalties, it yielded 307 passing yards and three touchdowns, and its quarterback flashed back to last season's tendencies, relying too heavily on his legs, totaling more rushing attempts than completions, could actually be beneficial.

Whew. Take a deep breath. It could give the Cougars a good shake.

BYU's biggest obstacle this season won't be any of those shortcomings, although they, if uncorrected, will make its climb much more difficult than it should be.

The Cougars' main challenge is making absolutely sure they dial in minute by minute, quarter by quarter, half by half, game by game, week by week. If they have the drive and discipline to do that, to take nothing for granted, to live the one-game-at-a-time mantra, to make that cliché real, they could do what none of Mendenhall's previous teams have done: make their quest perfect.

They can't do that via the hubris of wearing T-shirts and openly talking about winning all their games or even striving to live perfect lives. That doesn't — didn't — work. They can do it by following the advice and example of a former Utah defensive back and current Ute safeties coach — Morgan Scalley.

I can't remember what I did yesterday, but I remember with exactness Scalley talking about his and his teammates' approach to the 2004 season before the first game was played. He hammered the cliché big time. He knew the Utes that year were going to be good. He knew they had terrific athletes on both sides of the ball. He knew they could ill-afford to make any kind of room for satisfaction's creep. He knew there was a chance — maybe even a strong likelihood — Utah could and would win every one of its games.

But he never said it.

It was easy to conclude from what he did say and what he went ahead and did that there was no way that last sentiment would be allowed to pollute and sabotage his brain, his attitude, his approach to the task at hand, or into the brains of his teammates. They had work to do, and it didn't matter who was on the schedule, who wasn't on the schedule, what tougher team was coming up in a few weeks or what weakling the Utes were facing that particular week. They simply found the focus and fortitude, just like Scalley said, to prepare for what was currently on the docket.

Though that team was the most talented I've ever seen from any of the Utah schools, it was the players' unified attitude that made certain the fulfilled potential and that dressed out its unbeaten season. Nobody remembers the easiness of that team's path, its weak schedule. Everybody remembers how great that team was.

And that's the key to BYU finding greatness in a season during which it faces less-than-great competition. Those opponents don't have to define or limit the Cougars. Only they themselves will do that. Perception at the national level might block how high they climb as far as postseason opportunity. But it's up to Mendenhall's team to force outsiders to draw their own conclusions, without enabling them to look down upon a team that somewhere along the path betrayed itself by way of pride and presumption.

It's a compliment to Taysom Hill on a night when he ran for 160 yards and passed for 200 more that we wondered about his attention to detail. Likewise for a Cougar defense that allowed Houston, a prolific offensive outfit, 325 yards while the BYU O rolled for 523.

Still, for the Cougars there can be only small bits of satisfaction in any and all things.

That's what Scalley said a decade ago.

"We can't worry about anything but what's right in front of us," he said, squinting into the sun that day. "We have to concentrate on the work we have to do."

Those of us on the outside, then, can all go ahead and guess and project what BYU football is capable of this season, what the level of its talent is, what kind of chance a sked that includes UNLV, Nevada, Middle Tennessee and Savannah State, a slate in which the Cougars could very well be favored in every game, provides for them. But to pull it off, they have to live the cliché.

It's up to them.

Focus and fortitude earns wins. Pride and presumption reaps defeat.

Morgan Scalley knew all that.

He went 12-0.

GORDON MONSON hosts "The Big Show" with Spence Checketts weekdays from 3-7 p.m. on 97.5 FM/1280 and 960 AM The Zone. Twitter: @GordonMonson.