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Provo • This time, BYU football coach Bronco Mendenhall didn't use words like successful, satisfactory or momentum-building to describe the Cougars' season after a second-straight bowl loss.
The first word he used was "tough," followed by a heavy sigh. In fact, he said that word three times, when asked to frame the season after the Cougars fell 55-48 in double overtime to Memphis in a Miami Beach Bowl shootout marred by an ugly brawl.
Not only did the melee that included sucker-punches and swinging helmets used as weapons continue to go viral the day after it happened, it crept onto mainstream national television programs such as "The Today Show" and "Good Morning America" and "CBS This Morning."
That's not exactly what Mendenhall had in mind when he started the season, saying it presented a golden opportunity for his football program to garner the national exposure and recognition it craves. Nor did the season go as planned, Mendenhall acknowledged at Marlins Park, flanked not by injured stars Taysom Hill, Jamaal Williams or Craig Bills, but role players Mitchell Juergens and Zac Stout, both of whom scored touchdowns in the loss.
Mendenhall's statements after another 8-5 season were quite different than after last year's 31-16 loss to Washington in the Fight Hunger Bowl in San Francisco, when he insisted it was a success despite five losses.
"A lot of opportunities and a lot of growing and a lot of maturing," Mendenhall said Monday "Yeah, tough. Ups, downs and a swing of one or two plays changes the outcome. One or two plays in this game, and my answer might have been different to you."
It was just one loss, but it felt like five to the Cougars, who are suddenly in danger of repeating the four-game losing streak they suffered in October. They open the 2015 season at Nebraska, followed by a home game against Boise State and then road games at UCLA and Michigan. Due to the brawl, they could be missing several key players.
The Cougars painted the bowl game in the weeks leading up to it as a make-or-break affair, and they broke down just enough to lose to a Memphis team that was favored to win by two points, but one most BYU fans expect the Cougars to beat.
"I mean, it was kind of like our season," said receiver Jordan Leslie. "It was up and down. At the end I thought we had it, but we didn't finish."
As for the brawl, BYU football spokesperson Brett Pyne said there would be no new official statement and referred to athletic director Tom Holmoe's declaration on Twitter: "We expect better of our athletes, even in the face of a difficult loss. We intend to fully review this matter."
Pyne said the school doesn't have a timetable for completing the review that Holmoe mentioned.
There is certainly precedent for disciplinary action.
For instance, an in-game brawl during a season-ending game pitting South Carolina State and Norfolk State of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference in November resulted in 21 suspensions, 10 for SC State and 11 for Norfolk State. The MEAC didn't punish players who have exhausted their eligibility, but ruled that all underclassmen involved will sit out their 2015 season openers.
BYU does not belong to a football conference as an independent, so whatever disciplinary measures taken will seemingly have to come from the school itself.
A freshman, offensive lineman Tejan Koroma, and a sophomore, defensive back Kai Nacua, were the BYU players who were most heavily involved in the brawl.
In a statement Tuesday, Memphis athletic director Tom Bowen said he and head football coach Justin Fuente will review video and take "appropriate disciplinary measures" in the next few days.
"Hopefully, it will be a learning lesson for both teams," Bowen said.
Twitter: @drewjay