Can two-win BYU halt downward plunge? Fresno State has the blueprint

Provo • There is hope for BYU football fans who may be thinking that there is no way the program can rebound quickly from this abysmal season and return to its winning ways next year.

The Cougars will see it first-hand Saturday night.

The Fresno State Bulldogs, who went 1-11 last year, are 5-3 in 2017 and will play host to the 2-7 Cougars at 8:45 p.m. MDT time at 41,031-seat Bulldog Stadium. The 11th meeting between programs that split their first 10 matchups 5-5 will be televised by ESPN2.

Fresno State played in the 2014 Mountain West Conference championship game, then hit a rough patch that locals had a hard time explaining. Observers in Provo can relate. The Bulldogs went 3-9 in 2015, then were 1-7 last year when coach Tim DeRuyter was fired on Oct. 23. Former Cal coach Jeff Tedford was hired last November, and the turnaround has been impressive.

“From an offense, defense, special teams standpoint, they are the most sound football team that we have faced,” said BYU assistant head coach Ed Lamb. Tedford “is a 20-plus year coaching veteran, NFL, college ranks, and you can see that throughout their team.”

It would have been accurate to contend that the programs are heading in different directions — until last week happened. The Cougars snapped a seven-game skid with a dominating 41-20 win over San Jose State, while the Bulldogs inexplicably lost 26-16 at home to lowly UNLV.

Before that upset, fueled by special teams blunders, Fresno State had won four straight, including a 27-3 win over once-ranked San Diego State. FSU’s other losses were to No. 1 Alabama and No. 12 Washington.

“Well-coached team,” said BYU coach Kalani Sitake. “I mean, they have a lot of experience on that staff. … They have a lot of great experience and great coaching going on. You can see it on film. They have been able to turn it around pretty quickly.”

The question for BYU, a two-touchdown underdog, is whether it can do likewise, or if the big win over SJSU was just a function of the Cougars running into a team far worse than them. BYU is still clinging to the hope that it can run the table from here and get a bowl bid with a 6-7 record.

Fresno State represents the biggest obstacle in that pipe dream; The next three opponents — UNLV, UMass and Hawaii — have losing records.

“The theme will still be the same — work to get better,” Sitake said. “It worked last week, so let’s do it again this week and amp it up a little bit more and try to have as perfect a game as we can.”

Sitake and Lamb both spoke this week about the confidence the Cougars gained from getting their first win over a Bowl Subdivision team this season, and how much of a factor momentum plays in college football.

“We are playing to be as good as we can be,” Lamb said. “We are playing to enjoy every moment. … We hope it will continue to be authentic and organic and come from the players.”

To continue that momentum, BYU will have to win on the road for the first time since Nov. 5, 2016 — a 20-3 victory at Cincinnati.

“It feels good to have that [hard work] pay off a little bit, to see some of the fruits of our labors, so to speak,” said quarterback Tanner Mangum. “It is motivating us. Now that we have done that, we have seen the progress and seen how much more there could be. A win always does a team good.”

Good enough to spark a major turnaround?

Saturday’s late-night special will tell the tale.