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A few days before Oregon met BYU in the 2006 Las Vegas Bowl, Ducks coach Mike Bellotti was asked to assess BYU's undefeated run through the Mountain West Conference.

"Um, remind me again who's in the Mountain West Conference," Bellotti told a sports-radio inquisitor.

Bellotti would have been better off saying "BYU is a girls' school."

At least then the Cougars would have assumed he was joking.

Before he was off the air, Bellotti further impugned the Cougars by saying "they have some fine players who could play anywhere in the Pac-10, but collectively, no, they couldn't compete at the highest level in the Pac-10. They lost to Arizona this year."

Thus motivated, BYU clobbered the Ducks 38-8, prompting the following dialogue in Bellotti's post-game media session:

Reporter: "Have you changed your mind about BYU being able to compete against mid-level Pac-10 teams?"

Bellotti: "We didn't play like a mid-level Pac-10 team, either, but, no, my opinion hasn't changed."

The debris from Bellotti's provocative assessment belies Las Vegas' TV marketing campaign. What goes on in Vegas does not necessarily stay in Vegas. Not when motivation-seeking college football coaches ache for someone like Bellotti to say something stupid.

Enter Arizona. Those words spoken in Vegas still have some juice.

UA linebacker Spencer Larsen heard all about Bellotti's blunder. He understands how the psychological game works and expects the Cougars to be "especially geared up to play a Pac-10 team."

Or, as UA cornerback Antoine Cason suggested, "We expect nothing but their best shot."

BYU seldom recruits from the same pool as do Pac-10 teams. Here is what I mean: BYU has received commitments from 19 high school seniors, the Class of '08. Of that group, only one player, tackle Michael Yeck of Keller, Texas, can truthfully be termed a semi-national recruit. Yeck had offers from Arizona, Houston, Kansas and Utah.

The other 18 BYU recruits either committed early to the Cougars, before any amount of maneuvering could occur, or according to rivals.com, included not-so-mighty competition from Colorado State, Boise State, SMU, Idaho State and Stanford.

Doesn't mean they can't play. BYU has always recruited that way, and it has beaten Miami, Notre Dame, UCLA and Oklahoma in recent years.

By comparison, the Wildcats went against offers from Michigan, Cal and Arizona State to get a commitment from Fresno, Calif., cornerback Robert Golden, and they succeeded in landing Chandler back Gerell Robinson after he said no to Florida, Notre Dame and UCLA.

Doesn't mean they will be stars someday, either.

What Bellotti missed in his BYU-can't-play memo is that the Cougars don't duck anybody, and they have consistently been able to get their two-star recruits to beat programs blessed with four-star recruits.

"They're tough kids, mature kids, and I disagree with Bellotti," said the UA's Larsen. "They might not be as physical or as deep as some Pac-10 teams, but that doesn't mean they're not a good football team.

"BYU is very demanding and selective in who they recruit. So that means they have a different approach than a lot of other teams. They have a lot of intangibles. They're smart, they put the right guys in the right spots, and they're very disciplined.

"What I remember from last year is that they really play hard. They were tough to put away."

Besides, hasn't college football grown so broadly, creating so much sameness, that the definition of an upset no longer applies as it did in the 1990s and 1980s?

In this century we have seen Boise State and TCU beat Oklahoma, Fresno State topple Wisconsin, Wake Forest shut out Florida State and Troy stun Missouri. Among many others.

"What I remember from BYU is that they executed so well," said Cason, Arizona's All-Pac-10 cornerback. "Sure they can compete in the Pac-10. They're solid. I don't know if they're as physical and as fast as some other teams, but they can beat you."

One thing that Bellotti failed to consider: Over the last 10 years, given its resources and its base in a so-called "mid-major" setting, BYU has probably played the most difficult non-conference schedule in the country.

The Cougars have played home-and-home series with USC, Notre Dame, Virginia, Syracuse, Georgia Tech, Boston College, Boise State, Stanford, Cal and Arizona State. In that same stretch, they have played Florida State, Alabama and Washington.

A week after opening against Arizona, the Cougars play UCLA at the Rose Bowl.

Mike Bellotti should have done some homework.