Las Vegas » Everyone associated with the BYU football team agrees that the Arizona offense the Cougars will see in the Las Vegas Bowl on Saturday is nothing like the one that then-new offensive coordinator Sonny Dykes rolled out in the 2007 season opener, a game BYU won, 20-7.

"They are so much better, it isn't even funny," BYU linebacker David Nixon said.

But the real question, as far as the Cougars are concerned this week, is centered around their defense. Can a unit that struggled to stop the other spread offenses it faced -- Utah, UNLV and TCU come to mind -- somehow rise up and shut down this one?

"We are going to have to," send BYU safety Andrew Rich, "or it is going to be another long night."

That said, the Cougars are going to come out with a bunch of wrinkles on defense, right? They will mix up things, perhaps blitz a little more and maybe go to the nickel package now that cornerback Scott Johnson is back in the mix.

Well, not exactly, BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall said, noting that he doesn't consider what Arizona does a true spread offense because Wildcats quarterback Willie Tuitama is not a big running threat.

"We are really not going to make any [adjustments]," Mendenhall said. "Arizona misses one component [of the spread], and that is a running quarterback. The way I categorize the spread is you get all the unique formations, and then the quarterback is integral in the running game. If the quarterback isn't part of the running game, then you are basically playing conventional offense."

Still, conventional offenses -- many not as explosive as Arizona's -- fared pretty well against the Cougar defense as well. For instance, Colorado State rolled up 401 yards on the Cougars in a 45-42 loss, although in fairness the Rams got a lot of those yards on trick plays.

Arizona's offense "is very similar to ours," Mendenhall said. "So it doesn't mean it will be easy to stop; they have been very, very productive."

BYU linebacker David Nixon said Wednesday that the Cougars are expecting Arizona to do what Utah did: utilize the short passing games and make BYU's defensive backs and linebackers make tackles in space.

"They have great speed, but scheme-wise, we have a great scheme going into it to hopefully negate that," Nixon said. "We have had a couple of extra days of practice on all their routes and runs and things. The biggest thing is, we have to be physical with them, so stopping the run first will also be important."

As maligned as it has been, BYU's defense hasn't been that bad statistically. It ranks 58th in the country in yards allowed per game, 350.92. Teams pass for about 206 yards a game against the Cougars.

But those numbers are skewed by the fact that BYU faced some inept offenses early -- UCLA and Wyoming. Utah's Brian Johnson torched them for 303 yards and completed 30 of 36 passes.

"I wouldn't be surprised if Arizona takes that approach and puts athlete against athlete in space and just sees if they can throw the ball and move the chains in small chunks as Utah did," Mendenhall said.

The defense Arizona sees on Saturday will be a little more healthy than the one that struggled against the Utes.

Safety Kellen Fowler says he is almost completely recovered from a dislocated elbow suffered in practice before the Utah game, Johnson figures to play about 20 plays as he continues to recover from a double groin tear, and Rich has seemingly recovered from a concussion sustained against Air Force.

"We'll have to be better at recognizing what they're going to do, be able to be one step ahead and take those things away before they start hurting us," Fowler said.

And the Cougars know they have to get some pressure on Tuitama, something they were not able to do against Utah's Johnson.

"We don't want to finish our season on a down note," said defensive end Jan Jorgensen. "We want to go out and win our bowl game and finish on a very, very positive note. [We want to go] out and show the country that this is a very good conference and that we deserve some recognition."

For something besides having a defense that can't stop the spread.

drew@sltrib.com