DICKSON: The biggest takeaway I have from BYU’s second season in the Big 12 is that while its national profile is bigger, it’s not by much.

We all know that in smaller conferences (WAC, MWC) and independence, the Cougars were always one loss away from becoming pretty much irrelevant. Now, BYU still has control of its own destiny if it keeps winning. But the loss to Kansas clearly reveals the biases on the CFP committee, where all wins and losses are not created equally. The Cougars probably should have lost to SMU instead of beating them back on Sept. 6. If BYU was 9-1 with that loss, it would still be in the CFP top 10. Kind of reminds me of my wife playing volleyball in the Utah Senior Games. Teams will sometimes sandbag to get into an easier division. They take home a medal while other teams punch above their weight and go home without a medal. It’s not fair, but it’s what happens. When you lose is more important than when you win.

The bottom line for BYU football is it has to keep winning. The Kansas loss was really, really bad in a lot of ways. The good news is the Cougars have a big opportunity to erase some of that badness at Arizona State this weekend.

LLOYD: As has been noted many times, in years past the defeat would’ve been devastating. Any hope the Cougars had at making a big-time bowl game or the four-team playoff certainly would’ve been out the window.

This year, though, pretty much everyone gets a mulligan. But it eliminates the margin of error for most teams, including BYU.

The Cougars can still win the Big 12, earn a spot in the playoff and win a national championship. It’s pretty straightforward: Don’t lose again.

In that sense, the loss didn’t have that big of an impact. The real questions, though, are whether it made BYU lose confidence or exposed weaknesses other teams can exploit. If either of those things are the case, we’ll see it in the next couple of weeks.

2. What is wrong with the Cougars’ red zone offense?

LLOYD: I feel like BYU has gotten a little passive and lost some of the creativity that has been so effective near the goal line.

The only Cougar offensive TD against Kansas came when the scheme set the players up to have openings. BYU used a fake block that allowed Hinckley Ropati to get open behind his defender. It was well-designed and well-executed.

Too often on other red-zone trips, though, BYU appears to think it can just bull its way into the end zone with the run game or just throw up the fade route. Those plays haven’t been working.

I think the Cougars have to get three of their best players in Chase Roberts, Darius Lassiter and Keelan Marion more involved inside the 20-yard line, which means trusting the offensive line to pass block effectively and Jake Retzlaff to make the right throws.

DICKSON: Coaches and players always talk about execution on offense and how critical it is in being successful. In the red zone, everything gets condensed because the defense doesn’t have as much turf to defend. So execution has to be even better in that area. That’s exactly why the Cougars have struggled. Chase Roberts admitted after the Kansas loss that the offense struggled in practice in the red zone. My guess is things were not as precise as they should have been and there was a lot of frustration on the offensive side. I think the play calling can be a little better, too, but the execution in the red zone will have to be much better at Arizona State.

3. The word now is that the loss to Kansas will help BYU refocus for the road trip to Arizona State. What’s going to happen in Tempe?

DICKSON: I’ve been seeing a lot of talk about how the loss to Kansas will help the Cougars refocus and they will play much better in Tempe on Saturday.

Maybe. There’s also the counterargument, that we’re 10 games into the season and this is who BYU is right now: A flawed team that escaped some tough situations against SMU, Oklahoma State and Utah and couldn’t do the same against Kansas. Your optimism for the Cougars against Arizona State depends on which side of the discussion you believe is more true. I know one of the common themes we hear all the time from coaches and players is they are just trying to get a little bit better every day. The offense has not done that for probably three weeks now. I think we’re going to need to see a 30-plus point output by the Cougars if they want to beat a Sun Devils team that is playing really well. Last week, Arizona State went up 24-0 at Kansas State and won 24-14. I feel like BYU’s defense can slow down the Sun Devils but if the offense is only putting up field goals, it could be a long afternoon for the guys in blue.

LLOYD:  Honestly, I don’t really know how the Cougars are going to respond to defeat but I’m looking forward to finding out.

BYU had been playing with fire, eking out too-close-for-comfort wins in games against Baylor, Oklahoma State and Utah. If you leave the door open for an opponent like the Cougars did for those teams and Kansas, the odds often catch up to you.

So just how good is this BYU team?

It’s been knocked down. Does it stay down or does it come back and perform better?

My expectation is that the Cougar veteran leadership will right the ship quickly and we’ll see a much more effective performance on Saturday. But BYU definitely has something to prove.

4. BYU men’s hoops plays the lowest-ranked NET team in the country in Mississippi Valley State on Saturday, so we’re going to look ahead. The Cougars will play three difficult games: At the Rady Children’s Invitational in San Diego against Ole Miss, then Purdue or North Carolina State and on the road at Providence. What will BYU’s record be in those three games?

LLOYD: Just like for the Cougar football team, I’m looking forward to seeing just how resilient and effective the BYU hoops team can be when it is really challenged.

There is no doubt that the Cougars have some talented athletes who are fun to watch, whether that’s Egor Demin orchestrating the offense, Ritchie Saunders flying all over the floor or Kamon Catchings getting to the rim.

But there have been some glaring flaws to this BYU team early in 2024-25, most notably the poor free-throw shooting and the number of open 3-point looks opponents have gotten.

I think those will come back to bite the Cougars at least once and probably twice during the three-game stretch against good competition, so I’m going to say BYU goes 1-2 and learns some key lessons that will help for when it gets to Big 12 play.

DICKSON: Certainly BYU presents all kinds of problems for opponents offensively. There are plenty of options and freshman Egor Demin has already shown he can do whatever is needed for the Cougars to score points. I have yet to see BYU really figure out what they are doing defensively, though, and that could be a real problem against better competition. It’s one thing to watch Idaho get open 3-pointers but entirely another defending team in the Top 100 of the NET. For the Cougars to be successful in that critical three-game swing, there needs to be better defense on the perimeter. My guess is that Dallin Hall will get his first action of the season on Saturday against Mississippi Valley State. He hasn’t played yet this season and Kevin Young keeps saying its not a season-ending injury that is keeping him out. If Hall doesn’t play on Saturday I would think the injury is more serious than we’re being led to believe. Anyway, Hall back in the lineup could vastly improve the perimeter defense for those three games. So I’ll say probably 2-1 in those three games, which would be excellent for BYU’s NET ranking and a good ramp into the Big 12 schedule, which will be brutal.

5. What are the chances that the BYU men’s and women’s cross country teams, both ranked No. 1 in the nation, will win national championships on Saturday?

DICKSON: BYU is a football or men’s basketball school in many fan’s minds but in reality, it’s a women’s soccer, women’s volleyball, men’s volleyball and cross country school, as well. Ed Eyestone is a master at bringing together rosters that have many quality runners that can break into top 10 finishes. While the Cougars may not have an individual champion on Saturday, there is sufficient depth for both teams to compete with other powerhouses such as Oklahoma State, Arizona, Iowa State and New Mexico in the men’s race and Oregon, Northern Arizona, West Virginia and Notre Dame for the top spot. In cross country, winning a team championship is all about your fourth and fifth runners. That’s where you get athletes who finish the race and win the title.

LLOYD: Sure, the Cougar football team has a big game, but the cross country national championships are really the biggest event for BYU this Saturday.

Both the Cougar women’s and men’s teams have the talent and the depth to emerge victorious at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Course in Madison, Wisconsin. That’s a really exciting prospect.

With the men being led by senior Casey Clinger and the women paced by senior Lexy Halladay-Lowry, this looks like BYU’s year. They’ve done well throughout the season and put the target on their backs with their performances.

The weather in Madison is supposed to be cold and cloudy, which could play a role in how things shake out. But everyone has to deal with it, so no excuses.

The field, as always, is filled with the best collegiate runners in the country, so the Cougars will need to be at their best and execute their game plan. If they do, don’t be surprised to see two new national championships trophies coming to Provo.