BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall described his team's 44-0 victory over Wyoming on Saturday as "methodical."

BYU fans might have chosen "slow start" instead.

Neither Mendenhall nor the fans could have been too disappointed in the end result. BYU led just 7-0 after the first quarter but scored 20 points in the final six minutes of the first half to take a 27-0 lead at the break.

"Wyoming did a really nice job of altering their offense and changing some of their tendencies, especially on first down," Mendenhall said. "They changed the rhythm and tempo, how they were getting the ball and to whom. It took a little while for us to catch up.

"It was the same defensively. They changed some of their coverage tendencies on third downs and kept the game close for a quarter and a half."

So what got things back on track for BYU? One big turnover (Scott Johnson touchdown return of a Wyoming backward lateral) and the Cougars' running game.

"If you took a look at just what Wyoming was doing, they played with high safeties quite a bit," Mendenhall said. "They were more patient than what they normally are. They usually blitz quite a bit. My guess is that this was the least aggressive they've been this season or even the past two years.

"That simply allowed our offense to capitalize on that scheme and run the ball more effectively. That really settled us in. It really was in response to what they were doing."

Harvey Unga picked up 72 of his game-high 95 rushing yards in the second quarter as BYU scored three times. Unga had seven carries for 27 yards on the Cougars' first offensive scoring drive, which he capped with a 1-yard plunge. A 62-yard touchdown pass from Max Hall to Austin Collie was set up with a punishing 17-yard run by Unga, with fullback Fui Vakapuna leading the way. Just before the half, Unga had six carried for 28 yards to set up a 9-yard Hall to Collie scoring connection.

As for the slow start, Hall was resolute.

"We did not start how we are supposed to and that can't happen again," he said.

• The Big Three: For the first time ever, the Mountain West Conference has three teams in the Top 25. After its victory Saturday, BYU (4-0) moved from No. 14 to No. 11 in the AP poll and stayed 11th in the USA Today Coaches poll. Despite its last-minute win over Air Force, Utah (4-0) jumped three spots in both polls to No. 17. TCU (4-0), which destroyed SMU 48-7, made its first appearance on this year's polls: No. 24 in the AP Poll and No. 23 in the Coaches poll.

• BCS watch: BYU, Utah and TCU remained unbeaten and among those non-BCS conference teams that could earn an automatic BCS bowl bid at the end of the season. To earn that bid a team from a non-BCS conference must finish at least 12th in the final BCS standings -- and, if history is a teacher, undefeated.

East Carolina, which began the year with wins over ranked teams in West Virginia and Virginia Tech, lost 30-24 in overtime to North Carolina State on Saturday. The loss dropped the Pirates to 23rd in the AP poll, out of the Coaches poll and likely from BCS bowl consideration.

But ECU's place is the non-BCS conference picture was taken by Boise State, which upset No. 17 Oregon 37-32 in Eugene on Saturday. BSU is 19th in the AP poll and 20th in the Coaches poll.

• The big target: For the second straight game, Collie broke the 100-yard receiving mark in the first half and sat most of the second. Dennis Pitta, who had 21 catches for 361 yards the first two games, has only eight catches for 71 yards in the past two as teams have schemed to take him away.

"They're double and triple teaming him," Hall said. "Dennis has drawn a lot of attention with how he has played in the first three games. In my opinion, he's the best tight end in the country."

The extra attention on Pitta has opened things up for Collie, who has 18 catches for 232 yards and four touchdowns in the past two games.

"No. 9 had a big game," Hall said. "You can't play one-on-one with this guy."

• Long wait: BYU has a bye week and won't play again until Oct. 3 against Utah State in Logan. The Aggies (1-3) got their first win of the season on Saturday, rolling Idaho 42-17 to open Western Athletic Conference play.

BYU will practice today through Thursday, then the players will have Friday, Saturday and Sunday off.

"The first thing we want to do is recovery and re-establish the health of this football team," Mendenhall said. "The second is a chance for self-scout and analysis. And then we want to allow the players to have some extra emphasis academically."

• Big enough? The BCS and the national polls seem to reward wide margins of victory, even though that isn't a component in the computer rankings anymore. Mendenhall was asked if he thought about margin of victory before pulling his starters in the past two blowout wins.

"I think notoriety comes in a lot of different ways and certainly that's one way to do it," Mendenhall said. "That's not the way we'll do it. Our hope is to impress in our consistency and execution, really honoring the game, maybe in defiance of the system. We will win with class and integrity. If that's at the expense of polls or rankings or points, it's at that expense."

• Stampeding: The Cougars have experienced success against Wyoming in the last three years, rolling up a 134-17 point differential. BYU added Saturday's 44-0 win to a 35-10 victory last year and a 55-7 blowout in 2006.

• Hall-ing along: Hall threw a touchdown pass in his sixth consecutive game when he connected with Collie late in the second quarter. Hall has tossed at least one TD in 16 of the 17 games he's played in. He finished Saturday's game with 189 yards on 16-of-27 passing with three touchdowns and no interceptions. He left the game with almost six minutes remaining in the third quarter.

• Early bird gets the win: Defensive back Johnson's fumble recovery for a touchdown in the first quarter marked the fourth straight game in which BYU has scored first, a feat it has enjoyed in 26 of the past 29 games (tallying a 24-2 record). BYU has also scored on its first offensive possession in 12 of its last 15 games but failed in Saturday's game against the Cowboys.

• Streaking in the win column: The Cougars notched their 14th straight win by knocking off Wyoming, the longest active winning streak in the country. It's the longest such streak for BYU since it did it in the 2000-01 seasons. LaVell Edwards Stadium has been the site of many of those wins as the Cougars extended their home success to 15 straight games, dating back to the 2006 season. The last time BYU won more than 15 straight home games was during a stretch from 1989-91 when the team won 17 in a row.

• Late comebacks nearly non-existent: Since Mendenhall took over at BYU, the team is 30-4 when leading at halftime and 29-1 when leading in the fourth quarter. BYU has led at the break in 14 of the past 15 games, a stretch in which the Cougars have gone 14-1.

• Turnover success: The Wyoming passing game had trouble against the ball-hawking BYU defense as the Cougars intercepted three passes. It was the most picks in a game for BYU since they had three in a 42-7 win over Eastern Washington on Oct. 20, 2007. The Cougars have also recovered eight fumbles so far in 2008, six of them coming against UCLA and Wyoming.