Now that spring practice has ended, Brigham Young's "Quest for Perfection" will start churning toward the fall.

The "perfection" motto for 2008 is coach Bronco Mendenhall's latest creation for a program that has re-established itself as the Mountain West Conference's elite program. The next step is to go national.

"The expectations were in place from the minute I was named head coach, and it would be that for whoever was coach, that we're expected to win conference championships and compete on a national level with the right young men representing the institution in the right way," Mendenhall says. "So now that that is happening, all that's done is make it more clear that more is out there and the expectations are even more."

Offensively, the Cougars have every reason to believe they can improve upon their averages of 442.8 yards and 30.1 points per game in 2007, which helped them finish 11-2 overall and undefeated in MWC play. BYU returns 10 of 11 starters, and the lone newcomer -- center Tom Sorenson -- is a transfer who started as a freshman at Vanderbilt and fell to second on the Cougars depth chart because of a knee injury that sidelined him in 2006.

Quarterback Max Hall now returns with a year's experience under his belt after earning first-team honors as a first-year starter in 2007 as a sophomore. Mendenhall expects his execution to improve with his experience and four starting linemen returning.

Despite losing three of four starters at linebacker, Mendenhall says he feels very good about his front seven. If the defense can retain the consistency it has shown the last two seasons, BYU should be the favorite for the '08 MWC race and the trendy pick for Bowl Championship Series buster.

"I would say trust has been established over time with our team and as the players have seen the results of that trust (in the coaches), we've had very few issues with discipline or players that don't believe what they're being told," Mendenhall says. "So really, the speed of the organization is moving much faster than it ever has because of that trust."

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