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Provo • The last time BYU's football team had a bye, well, things didn't go as planned.
After beating Virginia to improve to 4-0, the Cougars enjoyed a break when they were relatively healthy, then lost their next four games, their outstanding starting quarterback, and their hopes of putting together a special year.
The nightmare ended Saturday afternoon at Middle Tennessee with a workmanlike 27-7 win over an average Conference USA team, but the Cougars are still a banged-up, fragile shadow of their former selves without Taysom Hill making plays, moving the chains and masking deficiencies on both sides of the ball.
So here comes another bye week for coach Bronco Mendenhall's squad, before the stretch run begins Nov. 15 for the 5-4 Cougars against UNLV (2-7) at LaVell Edwards Stadium. Kickoff time and television broadcast plans for that game should be announced Monday.
Quarterback Christian Stewart, who played well against the Blue Raiders by completing 28 of 45 passes for 316 yards and two touchdowns, said he would just as well keep playing, personally, but realizes some of his teammates need the time to heal.
"Honestly, I want to be out there," Stewart said after posting a passer rating of 135.9, a career-high. "I felt great, but I am excited for the bye week for our guys. We have a lot of people banged up. It has been a rough year that way, but hopefully with an extra week we can get some guys healthy and be ready to roll in our home games."
Stewart added that BYU is "sitting good right now" and that he is "happy with where we are at," but the scars from that 0-for-October and four-game plummet from respectability remain and probably will stay there until the season finale at California. The Bears (5-4) have a bye this week before playing at USC and hosting Stanford, so they will probably be playing for bowl eligibility (six wins) when they host BYU on Nov. 29.
Mendenhall was a relieved man, and admitted as much, after Nick Howell's defense shut out MTSU in the second half and held an offense averaging 461 yards per game to 228, a season-low for the Blue Raiders. He even called Howell, who took over the play-calling duties again after losing them for the Boise State debacle, "an excellent, excellent football coach."
Mendenhall said he now considers himself "an assistant coach to help" with the defense, and thinks the unit has turned the corner after getting blistered by the Broncos. High-scoring California will be a huge test, but before then the defense should be able to get safety Craig Bills (concussion) and linebacker Alani Fua (ankle) back and feast on UNLV and Savannah State.
"They believe they are a good team, and they have had a close loss [to Nevada] an overtime loss against Central Florida. They were driving to come back against Nevada," Mendenhall said. "They've been close. It is fun to see a team growing up and developing, and those that stay with us in heart and in spirit, and [realize] how hard our coaching staff is working [will be rewarded]. It will be fun to see how we finish."
Whether the bye week gives star Jamaal Williams time to recover remains to be seen. The running back's injury plagued junior season continued Saturday when he left the game with a sprained right knee.
Twitter: @drewjay U
Nov. 15 at LaVell Edwards Stadium
O UNLV at BYU, TBA TV • TBA