The last time the BYU football team earned a shutout, it played in a place called "Cougar Stadium" and assistant coach Brandon Doman was a sophomore, still trying to decide whether he was a safety or a quarterback.

BYU's 38-0 whitewash of Utah State on Saturday at LaVell Edwards Stadium sent sportswriters thumbing through the BYU media guide, looking for the last time the Cougars kept a team off the scoreboard. On Oct. 23, 1999, BYU was in the middle of a six-game winning streak when it traveled to Las Vegas for a Mountain West Conference meeting with UNLV. Owen Pochman kicked five field goals and BYU held the Rebels to just 118 total yards in a 29-0 victory. That defensive squad was led by future NFL first-round draft pick Rob Morris at linebacker, dynamic lineman Hans Olsen and hard-hitting safety Jared Lee.

Saturday's shutout against Utah State was a team effort. There were big plays from senior cornerback Justin Robinson (65-yard interception return for a touchdown) and freshman defensive lineman Russell Tialavea (blocked field goal, fumble recovery). There were tackles for loss by Aaron Wagner, Cameron Jensen, Bryan Kehl, David Nixon (who had two) and Markell Staffieri. Wagner led BYU in tackles with nine. Jensen added 8.5 and Kehl contributed seven.

"No points on the board is an accomplishment, and I praised the defense for that," said BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall, "but I think they can play better."

Utah State, which hasn't scored an offensive point in its first four games of 2006, moved the ball at times behind the running of junior college transfer Marcus Cross, who had 127 yards on 27 carries. The Aggies had a 19-play drive that chewed up 7:23 in the third quarter but came up empty when a field goal snap sailed over the holder's head.

"In the beginning they came out talking and with fire," Wagner said. "They were trying to get under Kelly's skin (LB Kelly Poppinga began his career at Utah State). It was hard for them to talk when they were so deflated later, that's what we did."

Mendenhall and his players spent little time talking about Utah State in the postgame news conference. Mendenhall said his program was in "two-minute drill" for TCU game prep. Thanks to MWC schedulers, TCU last played on Sept. 16 in a 12-3 victory over Texas Tech. The Horned Frogs will have had 11 days to prepare for BYU by the time Thursday's kickoff rolls around in Ft. Worth. BYU, which doesn't practice on Sunday, has today and Tuesday to get ready, with Wednesday a travel day.

"We're done with this game," said sophomore running back Fui Vakapuna, who scored three touchdowns. "We've got to be ready for TCU, that's basically it."

Injuries: Senior offensive lineman Jake Kuresa has a knee sprain similar to the one he suffered against Tulsa. Mendenhall said most players who suffer such a sprain sit out of practice until Thursday the following week. Senior defensive back Justin Robinson also sprained his knee when a Utah State player delivered a late hit on Quinn Gooch and Gooch fell into Robinson. Sophomore running back Manase Tonga (knee) was held out of the Utah State game.

BYU officials said on Sunday night that Kuresa, Robinson and Tonga are all probable for the TCU game. Mendenhall said his game preparation for TCU included senior quarterback John Beck (ankle) as the starting quarterback.

Just in case: Mendenhall said Beck, who sat out the Utah State game with an ankle sprain, could have finished the game if needed.

"He would have been taking snaps in the shotgun and just handing off or we would have thrown quick passes," Mendenhall said.

Top of the charts: BYU's offense is ranked 13th in the country (442 yard per game) and is No. 4 in passing (317.5). Defensively, BYU is ranked 55th overall (317.25) and 38th in scoring defense (17.5 points allowed per game).

TCU is ranked third in rush yards allowed nationally (37 per game) and 35th in overall defense (275.33 yards allowed per game). The Horned Frogs have allowed an average of 7.67 points per game, ranked sixth in the country.

Also, after averaging more than 10 penalties a game through the first three contests, BYU had just four penalties against Utah State.

A sea of white: The "white out" promotional campaign was largely successful as far as the student sections were concerned. Since both teams use the same shade of blue, white was chosen to provide a way to distinguish Cougar fans in this contest.

"I really appreciated those that wore white and hope that it continues," Mendenhall said. "I've been the head coach for a year and a half and I want to go up on campus and do a better job of reaching out to the students and creating a better bond between us. I want the whole stadium to be in white, knowing that it isn't just a student thing."

Let's do this again: Both Mendenhall and Utah State coach Brent Guy said they would like the series to continue because it would be good for the state. They favored the idea of restoring the former status of the rivalry by playing every year.

"Our fans want it," Guy said. "Do I want the same resultsfi No. When you play like we play, giving up 24 points at the half, no we don't want to play those kinds of games. We've got to be more competitive."

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

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This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page B1.