LARAMIE -- The conversation felt awkward, if not silly.

Here the Wyoming Cowboys were, merely minutes from suffering a 52-0 shellacking against BYU on Saturday, talking about achieving goals and earning bowl berths.

Yet, technically, they couldn't be argued with.

UW endured its worst loss in nearly a quarter century, has lost three consecutive games and has been shut out three times this season, yet the Pokes could still win two of their final three games to reach bowl eligibility.

"We have three weeks left where we can decide how we want this team to be remembered," UW junior wide receiver David Leonard said. "That's either as winners or not finishing games like we did [on Saturday].

"It's up to us."

It was up to the Pokes on Saturday as well and they laid an egg in their biggest conference home game of the season.

The Cowboys gained just 225 yards of offense, allowed more than 500, lost the turnover battle 3-0 and generally showed little heart against their second-biggest rival.

"Obviously we have not come as far as maybe we think we've come," UW coach Dave Christensen said. "But we will get it straightened out. We will not make drastic changes. ... We'll get them going, we'll bounce back and be ready to play again next week."

And watching their self-destruction against the Cougars will be part of that process.

While some coaches may be inclined to throw out the film from such a dismal performance, Christensen and the Cowboys will take a close look at their downfalls.

"We can't get better if we don't watch it and correct it," UW's first-year coach said. "There are a number of things that happened out there [on Saturday] that we've got to get corrected and we're going to have to look at the film to get it corrected.

"We're going to try to find ways to get better."

On Saturday, they'll face a San Diego State team in an identical predicament.

Both teams are 4-5 overall and 2-3 in league play and the Aztecs are coming off a thrashing at the hands of TCU.

The winner will be one victory away from postseason eligibility. The loser will face the daunting task of winning back-to-back games to get there.

"You have to be optimistic and you can't dwell on anything," Leonard said. "Obviously we are disappointed about [Saturday's] game. There's nothing exciting or happy about how we performed ... but at the same time, we still have games to play."

As bad as the Cowboys have been, their season is still far from over.

Undefeated TCU is still looming on the schedule, but UW's other two games will come against teams with losing records.

And, after showing they can bounce back from ugly stretches -- the Pokes followed a 1-2 start with three straight victories in which they scored nearly 100 points -- a beacon of hope remains, even after one of the worst home games in program history.

"We understand that we've been faced with hard competition and haven't answered it," UW quarterback Austyn Carta-Samuels said. "But our goals are still in order. Our goals are to get a bowl game and you need six wins to get a bowl game, which means win two out of the last three.

"While the current trend would show we're not going to win two out of our last three, we hope to defy the odds."

Contact sports reporter Eric Schmoldt at eric.schmoldt@trib.com. Check out his blog at tribtown.trib.com/ESchmoldt/blog

COWBOYS TRACKER

SATURDAY: No. 25 BYU 52, Wyoming 0.

CLINGING TO HOPE: The Cowboys endured their worst loss since 1985, but remained optimistic with two of their three remaining games coming against teams with losing records.

HE SAID IT: "Our goals are still in order." -- UW quarterback Austyn Carta-Samuels.

NEXT: Wyoming at San Diego State, Saturday, 8 p.m., on the mtn.