No. 15 BYU will travel Saturday to face its toughest foe of the last few years. Not just the Washington Huskies - BYU has yet to win in three tries in Seattle. When the Cougars take the field Saturday, they will be looking to win their first non-conference game on the road since Utah State in 2002.

The streak includes nine straight regular season non-conference road losses.

"The fact can't be lost that our early road games haven't been our best games," BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall said. "I'm anxious to see if the model we have in place works, and not so much as a program victory, but a personal victory in trying to prepare the team early. ... We're addressing the early non-conference BCS games, but I think that our program is gaining momentum, confidence and maturity, as is the head coach."

This year, BYU brings the nation's longest winning streak into the first road game of 2008 against a Pac-10 opponent. There is reason to believe this time around might be different.

"I think our program, our staff and our team is more prepared this time, and we'll see how things work out after we play," Mendenhall said.

Washington is coming off a very difficult trip to Eugene, Ore., where they lost 44-10 to Pac-10 rival and No. 21 Oregon, a game that was closer than the score indicates.

This year's team is led by sophomore quarterback Jake Locker. BYU had difficulties at times last week containing the mobility of Northern Iowa quarterback Pat Grace, who rushed for 72 yards in his first collegiate start. Locker looks to build on last season when he set Washington freshman and Pac-10 quarterback records for rushing.

Locker's speed, physicality and decision making create a combination that could cause problems, Mendenhall said.

"He's physical with the football, he makes great decisions when he is running the football, difficult to tackle, he might be the fastest player on their team, and he'd certainly be the fastest player on our team," the BYU coach said.

BYU needs to contain Locker and limit his ability to use his athleticism to create time in and out of the pocket. This pressure figures to come from ends Jan Jorgensen, Ian Dulan and Brett Denney as well as a linebacking core led by David Nixon and Matt Bauman, who led BYU's defense against Northern Iowa with 11 tackles.

"Locker's a great athlete," Jorgensen said. "We've had a general scheme of trying to keep guys like him in the pocket and making them throw the ball, not really letting them get out and run around and make plays that way. That's when they'll really hurt you.

"So I think that's what we're going to work on this week - to try to keep him in the pocket and make him throw the ball, get some pressure on him and hopefully bring him down a few times."

A running game limited to 77 yards on 28 carries must also improve, considering that tight end Dennis Pitta likely won't have the same mismatches which allowed him to gain 213 yards on 11 receptions. But the Cougars still have other potent options on offense.

"It's going to be tough for them to guard them all," quarterback Max Hall said. "Northern Iowa focused on Harvey and Austin, and Dennis had a good game."

BYU and Mendenhall are looking to these early season encounters to gain momentum heading into a difficult conference schedule.

Any aspiration BYU has of competing in a BCS game come January makes every game a must-win.

"Any time we play a non-conference team, especially in the Pac-10, it'll be good for the ranking in the polls," Hall said. "It's an important game, and one we should win."



Copyright Brigham Young University 5 Sep 2008