If Wyoming really is the second-best team in the Mountain West Conference, the gap between No. 1 and the rest of the league is a considerable one. Like, the size of the Grand Canyon, maybe.

A showdown of the MWC's top two teams turned into a beatdown on Thursday night as league-leading BYU routed Wyoming 55-7, clinching at least a tie for the league championship.

With two games left (New Mexico and Utah), there appears to be no doubt BYU is the Alpha Dog in the Mountain West Conference. From the moment BYU won the toss and elected to receive, the Cougars (8-2 overall, 6-0 MWC) dominated the Cowboys in nearly every aspect of the game, which has become a recurring theme against MWC opponents.

Here's a stat to chew on: In six MWC games, BYU has outscored its league opponents 242-65 overall and 144-16 in the first half.

If you can't stop the Cougars early, you probably won't stop them at all.

"Coming in I thought the game would be real close," BYU junior safety Quinn Gooch said. "They had a good defense, but we were pretty amped to play. I was on the sideline near the end of the game and I was thinking we must either be really good or the other teams are coming in not ready for what we're bringing."

So which is it, Quinnfi

"That's undetermined," Gooch said. "We haven't won a league title and we haven't won a bowl game yet."

Not yet, but if BYU keeps playing like it did Thursday night, those two milestones might be inevitable.

Wyoming (5-6, 4-3) entered the game in second place looking like a threat to BYU with the league's top-ranked defense and winners of four of five.

Instead, the Cowboys gave up an 84-yard kickoff return to BYU's Nate Meikle to start the game and, like most of BYU's MWC opponents this season, didn't have the horses to play catch-up football. Meikle returned the ball to the Wyoming 2-yard line and Curtis Brown scored on a 1-yard run three plays later.

"Nate started the game fast for us," BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall. "I was pleased with the special teams right from the beginning. We've worked really hard on special teams and it was great for the team to see some tangible results."

In fact, freshman McKay Jacobson put an exclamation mark on BYU's scoring by taking a fourth-quarter punt and racing 77 yards for a touchdown, the first Cougar punt return for a score in nine years.

In between was the "John Beck Show" against the nation's No. 4 pass defense, Wyoming had been giving up only 140 yards passing per game; Beck had 139 by the Cougars' first possession of the second quarter. The senior moved into second place in the BYU record books in career passing yards and career total offense (see notebook).

Beck had scoring tosses of six yards to senior tight end Jonny Harline (six catches, 104 yards) and 33 yards to sophomore Michael Reed in the first quarter and added a pair of 1-yard runs for scores in the second half. Beck finished 20-of-26 for 313 yards and no interceptions.

"Right now," Beck said, "I feel like I'm playing for the BYU I chose to play for."

Beck's touchdown pass to Reed gave BYU a 21-0 first-quarter lead and a 15-play, 93-yard drive in the second quarter was capped by a 1-yard Curtis Brown run for a 28-0 advantage. Jared McLaughlin kicked a 32-yard field goal with 31 seconds left for 31-0 halftime lead.

"I would just be speculating, but I think what happens is other teams see week in and week out we jump out to a commanding lead," Mendenhall said.

"When it plays out like that on them as well, there would be a psychological element to it."

It would have taken an army of therapists to get Wyoming's heads back in the game. BYU kept pounding away in the second half with Beck's two quarterback sneaks -- one set up by Quinn Gooch's 38-yard interception return -- a short field goal by McLaughlin and Jacobson's exciting punt return, where he spun out of a tackle near midfield and outraced Wyoming's John Wendling, leaping into the end zone for the score.

Only Devin Moore's 71-yard scoring run with 6:25 to play kept Wyoming from becoming a shutout victim.

Mendenhall said the BYU defense was tired of hearing about Wyoming's good defense, and it showed. Other than Moore's long run, BYU held the Cowboys to under 200 total yards and had two interceptions. Senior linebacker Cameron Jensen led BYU with nine tackles, including three for losses.

"There was a lot of talk about their defense," Jensen said. "We believe we're the best defense in the conference. The philosophy of the offense is to start fast, and that's rubbed off on the defense. We talk about coming out on the first series and set the tone."

BYU clinched at least a share of the MWC title, but the players said that's not worth much until the trophy is in their hands. And that will take a win next week at home against New Mexico or the following week at Utah.

"It feels great to know we're right where we want to be," Beck said. "We don't want it to end here. We want to be finishers."

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

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This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page C1.