Oklahoma is BYU obstacle

First-year Wyoming coach Dave Christensen has seen Oklahoma's talent up close -- a bit too close for comfort -- and isn't confident of Brigham Young's chances of beating the Sooners in the teams' season opener Saturday.

No. 20 BYU plays No. 3 Oklahoma in the new Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. As Missouri's offensive coordinator, Christensen got a good look at the Sooners last season when Oklahoma routed the Tigers 62-21 in the Big 12 Conference Championship.

No wonder Christensen left for Laramie.

He called the Sooners "the biggest, fastest players I've ever seen in my life. I know one thing, we had a pretty good football team at Missouri a year ago, and we couldn't play on the same field with them. But we might not have been as good at Missouri as BYU is right now."

Cougars coach Bronco Mendenhall hopes that's true, and he understands his team will be carrying the Mountain West Conference's banner into the game. The league is still getting mileage out of Utah's trouncing of Alabama in last season's Sugar Bowl.

But Mendenhall also knows there has been push-back, with critics saying a Mountain West school couldn't compete on a weekly basis in the Big 12 or Southeastern Conference.

"I think we would be competitive week in and week out, from beginning to end," Mendenhall said. "That's speaking as someone who hasn't coached in one of those leagues. But that's my opinion at this point."

Mendenhall played and served as a graduate and full-time assistant at Oregon State of the Pac-10.

• GOING FORWARD -- Despite the wildfires raging around Los Angeles, San Diego State's game at UCLA on Saturday is still on for now.

"We have to focus on the task at hand," Aztecs coach Brady Hoke said. "I'm sure as we get closer to game time there will be decisions made by people with a lot more information than I have."

• IT'S GOING AROUND -- A flu bug, possibly H1N1 or swine flu, has hit Texas Christian hard. Horned Frogs coach Gary Patterson said 12 to 14 players have missed practice in the past 10 days, and six or seven are out now.

Asked if the players had H1N1 or a more common flu, Patterson said: "Probably a little bit of everything. Probably some are tired of two-a-days. I wish I could get the flu."

His tongue was clearly in cheek, but no doubt Patterson would retract that statement if he got H1N1.

Contact reporter Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2914. Read the latest UNLV football updates at lvrj.com/blogs/unlv_sports.