High-flying Cougars proving doubters wrong, but how?

If you previously thought it was too early in the season to take BYU’s winning streak seriously — if you thought the odds would catch up with the Cougars and they would eventually live down to preseason expectations — now you’re forced to reconsider.
The Cougars, picked to finish 13th out of 16 teams in the Big 12 Conference, might be for real.
They’re FIVE AND OH.
That includes two Big 12 opponents.
And three road victories.
They are tied for first place in the Big 12.
They’re ranked No. 17 in this week’s national poll.
Among their best work: They went on the road and handed SMU its only loss of the season, a win that is looking better with each passing week. The Mustangs have beaten TCU and Florida State since the loss to BYU.
They gave Kansas State, ranked 13th at the time, its only loss of the season, another win that looks better and better. A week later Kansas State beat 20th-ranked Oklahoma State 42-20.
If you still can’t quite believe in the Cougars, it’s understandable. There’s nothing pretty about the way this team plays. You’d be hard-pressed to say WHY they are winning.
The Cougars were outgained by Baylor and Kansas State, the latter by more than 120 yards.
The Cougars didn’t do much on offense against Kansas State, at least not until the end zone was placed right under their noses. Their scoring drives were 29, 27 and 38 yards — thanks to two interceptions and a fourth-down stop. Their other scores came via a fumble return for a touchdown and a punt return for a touchdown.
The Cougars threw an interception that gave SMU the ball at the BYU 3-yard line. The Cougars ultimately claimed a 3-point win with a field goal with 1:58 left.
It took an interception with 59 seconds remaining to seal the 6-point win over Baylor.
When you get right down to it, it’s difficult to say what the Cougars do well (calm down, we’ll get to defense in a moment). The Cougars rank 74th in the nation in total offense at 385 yards per game — more than 200 yards behind Ole Miss and Miami. They are 14th out of 16 teams in yards per game among Big 12 teams.
There’s a lot of talk about BYU’s defense, and it certainly is the strength of the team, but the Cougars rank a good but not great 26th in the country in total defense.
What the Cougars do well is keep teams out of the end zone — they’ve given up only eight touchdowns in five games — and create scoring opportunities for an erratic offense — they’ve collected seven interceptions and caused six fumbles (recovering three). The Cougars have returned a kickoff, a punt and a fumble for touchdowns.
So the Cougars are winning. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Their second season in the Big 12 was supposed to go about the same way it went last season, when they finished in a three-way tie for 11th with records of 2-7 in conference play and 5-7 overall. They finished the season with a five-game losing streak. Now they’re riding a five-game winning streak and boast the best overall record in the Big 12.
There’s still a long way to go. After a bye this week, the Cougars play Arizona Oct. 12, which just manhandled preseason favorite/10th-ranked Utah in Salt Lake City. They play Utah, now ranked 18th, in Salt Lake City Nov. 9. They have road games against Central Florida (3-1) and Arizona State (3-1).
Now there’s much more at stake. The five highest-ranked conference champions and the seven next highest ranked teams will advance to the newly expanded national playoff.
The Cougars have had similarly fast starts in recent years. In 2021, they won their first five games, then lost two in a row. In 2020, in a dumbed-down pandemic-challenged schedule, they won their first nine games before falling to Coastal Carolina. Time will tell how far they can take this current streak.