Want to know how the BYU football team will play this afternoon at Wyoming?

So would Cougar coach Bronco Mendenhall.

Mendenhall admitted this week that he's been wrong more often than he's been right when it comes to guessing how his team will perform on any given Saturday.

Coming off a bye week and before that a miserable loss at home to TCU? That just complicates things even more.

"I sit in the locker room and look and I have no idea," Mendenhall said. "I can usually tell in the way we practice if we're prepared or not. The games I've been most confident in haven't really gone the way I thought. I think this week the team is well prepared because of the way they've practiced. But to say that I know what's going to happen? I never know. I haven't known when we're going to win big, lose big or in between."

BYU has dominated the series with Wyoming lately, with the last Cowboy win coming in Laramie in 2003. In addition, the Cougars are 4-1 coming off a bye week under Mendenhall. But this year's Wyoming team, under new coach Dave Christensen, has different schemes and a new energy.

"It's nerve wracking as I watch the game unfold," Mendenhall said. "If I'm shaky about the week's preparation, I would have a lot of anxiety coming into it, but that hasn't happened in a long time. The program is running so efficiently and the kids are working so hard, I go into most games optimistic."

After last week's close 22-10 loss at Utah, Wyoming is 4-4 overall and 2-2 in MWC play.

"We struggled a little bit in our offense," Christensen said. "It's not a secret that when you play top-20 teams in the country and top defenses in the country week in and week out, there will be some struggles, especially when you have the youth that we have."

Freshman quarterback Austyn Carta-Samuels has given the Cowboy offense a shot in the arm, though Wyoming has only scored 10 points in the past two weeks against Air Force and Utah.

"They've got a lot of good athletes and their quarterback has been really good with his feet and his arm," BYU junior safety Andrew Rich said. "We're gonna have to be able to contain him and stay alive in their routes, because once he gets out of pocket, you never know if he's going to run or throw. Things like staying in coverage and containing him will help us win and we need to be physical up front."

BYU's offense managed only seven points in the loss to TCU, but junior running back Harvey Unga said he thinks the Cougars will be fine.

"People think the offense is probably down right now, or mad or frustrated or whatever, but that's not the case," Unga said. "The guys build off each other. We know we made mistakes, but we're not a team to dwell on it. Guys are busting their butts to get back into the groove of things."

The return of sophomore wide receiver McKay Jacobson, who missed the past four games with a hamstring injury, should inject some new life into the Cougars' offense.

"He looks good," Mendenhall said. "It's hard to remember what 100 percent looks like, but he certainly looks ready to play."

Wyoming played Utah tough but wants more.

"I've talked with our guys, and sticking with a top-20 team is not a moral victory," he said. "In our program, losing is not acceptable. That's not what we are out here to do."

• Enjoy your visit: While the weather is supposed to be unseasonably warm in Laramie, BYU expects the Cowboy crowd to be as unwelcoming as ever.

"I always enjoy playing in hostile environments, that's what it should be," Rich said. "People in Laramie shouldn't like BYU, so we're looking forward to it. They are a good football team and we're excited."

• Out: BYU lost three special teams players to injury this week. Tucker Lamb (hamstring) and Carter Mees (foot) will miss the Wyoming game. Landon Jaussi had shoulder surgery on Thursday and is out indefinitely.

• More wins: A victory today would give quarterback Max Hall a total of 28 career wins, only one game behind Heisman Trophy winner Ty Detmer, who currently tops the BYU record list with 29 wins.

• Ode to the familiar: BYU defensive coaching intern, former Cougar Kelly Poppinga, is a native of Evanston, Wyo.

• Good support: Mendenhall said having former Cougars Poppinga and Shaun Nua on the coaching staff has been a big plus.

"It's so much fun now to have players that wanted to come back and coach, that they were inspired by their experiences here and want that again," Mendenhall said. "It's great to see to the young players looking up to them. It's a different feeling for the players with the knowlege coming from them (Poppinga and Nua) instead of the coaches. It might get in deeper and faster than when it comes from us."

• The history: The Cougars lead the series 42-30-3, which dates back to the 1922 season. The two teams first met in 1922 when BYU handed Wyoming a 7-0 defeat. That first meeting also marked the first win for a young BYU program, a team that until that point in the 1922 season was 0-3. The Cougars have defeated the Cowboys in eight of the past nine meetings, losing only twice since the inception of the MWC.

• Daily Herald Sports Editor Darnell Dickson can be reached at 801-344-2555 or by e-mail at ddickson@heraldextra.com

BYU (6-2, 3-1) at Wyoming (4-4, 2-2)

• When: Today, noon

• Where: War Memorial Stadium (30,514)

• TV: The Mtn. (James Bates, Todd Christensen, Andrea Lloyd)

• Radio: KSL 1160 AM and 102.7 FM (Greg Wrubell, Marc Lyons and Nate Meikle)

• The Word: BYU is 4-1 following bye weeks under Bronco Mendenhall. ... The last time Wyoming beat BYU was Oct. 18, 2003, by a 13-10 score in Laramie.