 Mendenhall led BYU to a third-place finish in the MWC at 6–2 and yet another bowl berth in Las Vegas where the team lost to Arizona by a score of 31–21.BYU became one of only nine schools nationally to be ranked in the top 25 of the final BCS standings each of the past three seasons, with only five teams winning more games than the Cougars over that same time span.While stressing the need for balance in life, Mendenhall began a string of Academic All-Americans at BYU in 2008 as three Cougars—Matt Bauman, Kellen Fowler and David Oswald—were named "ESPN the Magazine" Academic All-Americans, a program record.