The Cincinnati football team is heading West this week for its first Big 12 road trip as it takes on BYU on Friday night (10:15 p.m. ET on ESPN) at LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo, Utah.

The Bearcats are coming off a hard-fought 20-6 loss to No. 14 Oklahoma in their first conference game at Nippert Stadium, and will have only six days between games as they travel more than 1,500 miles to face the Cougars.

Cincinnati head coach Scott Satterfield said the Bearcats will focus on rest and mental reps during a light week of practice leading up to the contest.

"(The altitude) is something that we can't control, can't worry about, our guys just have to go out and prepare," Satterfield said. "I think the big thing we've talked about this week is getting rest. Really just getting your mind and body rested well this week as much as we can prior to going out there to help us on that Friday night." 

Satterfield also remarked on the defense's performance so far. The Bearcats have allowed 20.5 ppg in their two Power 5 games, including 20 to an Oklahoma team that averaged 55.7 ppg heading into Nippert Stadium.

"We work really hard in the offseason, particularly in the spring and in August camp," he said. "Every day we're doing turnovers. I think anything you emphasize in practice; you get that back when you start playing games. So, the No. 1 thing on defense is to chase the football and if you chase the ball, a lot of times the ball will bounce your way and you'll end up getting it."

Thinner air will hopefully provide some inspiration for an offensive rebirth, even if BYU is dead-even with Cincinnati in the national rankings for scoring defense and five spots better in total defense. Satterfield specifically addressed a question about a lack of "splash plays," (20 yards or more) that were in abundance over the EKU and Pitt wins.

"They were there last week," he said. "We just didn't finish the plays. You go back and watch the film, and we had some. We had guys running wide open and a couple of times we were getting pressured and getting hit as the ball was getting thrown. We need a little bit more protection on those particular plays and if you hit those, that's 14 points and now it's a different game. That's what we talked to our guys about. It comes down to a few plays. You can't just go ahead and change a whole lot. We're going to keep doing what we're doing because there's plays to be made out there."