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Provo • Four straight losses, including Friday's 55-30 humiliation at Boise State, has shown that there are no gimme games left on the BYU Cougars' schedule, with the exception of Savannah State, a Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) school.
Saturday's game at Middle Tennessee State looked like an easy one for BYU (4-4) a month ago, but obviously things have changed. The Cougars aren't good enough to beat any team, at least defensively.
The Blue Raiders (5-3) had a bye last weekend while the Cougars were getting trounced on the blue turf and last played on Oct. 18, a 34-22 win over Alabama-Birmingham in front of 18,717 at Johnny "Red" Floyd Stadium in Murfreesboro, which seats 30,788.
Both teams will have a bye week after Saturday's game, meaning the Blue Raiders will play just one game — against BYU — in a span of 28 days.
"We are in a difficult spot now, a challenging spot," BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall said.
Running back Jamaal Williams, who picked up 70 rushing yards on 16 carries against the Broncos despite not entering the game until the second quarter due to a nagging ankle injury, told BYUtv that the remainder of the season is a character test for the Cougars.
"Pretty much this is just a statement season for us now, just to see how far we are willing to go to play as a team, and how much pride we have not to give up," Williams said. "So it is just us playing now."
While Mendenhall and offensive coordinator Robert Anae took complete blame for the ugly loss, BYU's players who spoke after the game said it was on them.
"I trust our coaches," said safety Craig Bills. "I trust what they are doing for us. It is on us, on the players, to fix things and make plays. We're the ones out there."
Coaches and players looked downtrodden after losing four straight for the first time since 2010, but Mendenhall and the Cougars haven't whined about the injuries or wallowed in self-pity, at least publicly.
Given a chance to do that after a question about injuries in his post-game news conference after the loss to Nevada, Mendenhall said: "Sure, but it doesn't really do any good to talk about, nor does it matter. It is just part of the deal."
Added receivers coach Guy Holliday before the Boise State game: "[Injuries] are just one of those things you deal with. If you are around this game long enough, you are going to have some injuries."
Mendenhall took over the defensive play-calling duties from Nick Howell last week, but said Friday he is "not sure" if he will do that this week at MTSU. He said having the players ready and well-prepared on both sides of the ball will be the priority over anything else.
"Leadership and organization starts with the top," Mendenhall said. "It is my job to have our coaches and players ready, and I won't come off of that. That's what I am supposed to do, and that's what I committed to do from when I was hired here a long time ago, and that's how I will approach it."
His biggest task may be to restore some confidence in a fragile team. If the Cougars fall behind big at MTSU like they did last week, watch out.
"I do believe our team is good enough to rally themselves together to win a game," said Anae. "That is going to be our focus and our intent this upcoming week. There is not going to be a lot of fingers pointed — I don't think so.
"These are good kids. The resolve, though, needs to be way better than we have shown."
Twitter: @drewjay U
Saturday's game
O BYU at Middle Tennessee State, 1:30 p.m. MDT TV • CBS Sports Network