The Cougars were led by head coach Bronco Mendenhall and played their home games at LaVell Edwards Stadium.

The Cougars finished the season with a record of 11–2, 7–1 in Mountain West play and won the Maaco Bowl Las Vegas 44–20 over Oregon State.

[18] The 2009 Beehive Boot began with the Battle for the Old Wagon Wheel as Utah State visited the Cougars.

With a 42-23-3 record in one of the longest rivalries in the nation, BYU looked to try to continue to show the FSU game was a fluke.

[24] The final home stretch began with an old match-up against everybodies favorite run-and-gun squad, the Air Force Falcons.

The winner would take a 2-1 lead in head-to-head football since the Holy War became sponsored by Deseret First Credit Union.

[26] With both teams at 6-1 in conference play, and with TCU likely headed to a BCS game, BYU and Utah came in knowing the winner would be getting a berth in the Las Vegas Bowl.

His running back, Harvey Unga, would leave the school as the all-time leading rusher.