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Utah romps past San Diego State

Nov 16, 2008 - 6:14 AM SAN DIEGO (Ticker) -- Brian Johnson threw five touchdown passes all in the first half and No. 7 Utah remained in the hunt for a BCS bowl berth with a 63-14 rout of San Diego State on Saturday.

The Utes (11-0, 7-0 Mountain West) clinched at least a share of the Mountain West Conference title. They will look to put the finishing touches on an undefeated regular season when No. 14 Brigham Young visits next Saturday.

"This win guaranteed us part of the championship, but it isn't what we're going for, obviously," Utah wide receiver Bradon Godfrey said. "We want it solo and we have business to take care of . . . The beginning of the season the talk has been of BYU. We had it in the back of our minds and it's finally here. We have one more shot at them. No last-minute miracles. My senior year we are putting them down."

Johnson completed 27-of-38 passes for 283 yards and his career-high five TDs. He threw two TD passes in the first quarter and added three more in the second as Utah opened up a 35-7 lead at the half.

"One of our focus points this week was the shared Mountain West Conference title. We were able to win this game and at least guarantee a share of the MWC title," Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said. "I thought we handled ourselves very well. We did what we should have done as far as moving the football on offense, playing tough defense. Special teams was very good. I thought it was a game we should have won and we did."

San Diego State (1-10, 0-7) has lost eight of the last 10 matchups with Utah.

"I don't have much to say. I feel extremely bad for this football team. I feel bad for the guys on this team to have to go through something like this. This is a tough night," Aztech coach Chuck Long said. "Utah is good, but we also made them look good."

Johnson threw two TD passes to Freddie Brown and David Reed and also connected with Colt Sampson for a score.

"The atmosphere this week will be like anything any of us have seen before," Johnson said, already looking ahead to BYU.

Sampson and Brown each had short TD catches in the first quarter as Utah jumped to a 14-0 lead. Reed had both of his scoring grabs in the second quarter and Brown added his second of the game as well.

Deshawn Richard had two interception returns for touchdowns late in the fourth quarter. Both interceptions were off tipped passes from Ryan Lindley. Richard went 89 yards for the first TD and and his 38-yard return for a TD capped the scoring.

Lindley completed 23-of-41 passes for 247 yards and two TDs for the Aztecs.