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Utah blows out BYU to gain BCS bid

Nov 23, 2008 - 5:41 AM SALT LAKE CITY (Ticker) -- For the second time in five years, Utah will be crashing the BCS bowl party.

Brian Johnson threw four touchdown passes Saturday as the seventh-ranked Utes routed No. 14 Brigham Young, 48-24, to win the Mountain West Conference title and secure a BCS bowl berth.

Utah (12-0, 8-0 Mountain West) completed the third perfect regular season in school history and the first since 2004, when the Utes went 11-0 before beating Pittsburgh in the Fiesta Bowl.

"I do think we've proven to be an elite team in this country," Johnson said.

The 2004 Utes, guided by current Florida coach Urban Meyer, became the first team from a non-BCS conference to reach a BCS bowl since the system was implemented prior to the 1998 season.

The Utes, who entered this weekend ranked seventh in the BCS standings, could be headed for a return trip to the Fiesta Bowl. The BCS will release its official bowl schedule on December 7.

"We won't worry about anything we can't control," Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham said. "We are very pleased and feel very fortunate and blessed to be where we are right now."

Playing in front of a raucous crowd at Rice-Eccles Stadium, Utah forced five second-half turnovers to turn what had been a tight contest into a laugher.

BYU's Max Hall threw his career-high fifth interception with just over two minutes remaining to punctuate a festive day for Utah, which claimed its first Mountain West title since 2004.

Utah's perfect season was capped by a near-perfect performance from Johnson, who completed 30-of-36 passes for 302 yards without being intercepted. The senior accepted the Mountain West championship trophy while being serenaded to chants of "BCS!"

"Everyone's talking about how explosive BYU's offense is and how inconsistent we were throughout the entire year," Johnson said. "We wanted to come out and show people that when we put it together, we can be pretty good."

"Brian's a competitive kid," Whittingham added. "He had aspirations to play very well tonight, and he did."

Hall, an early season Heisman Trophy contender, ran for an 11-yard touchdown run midway through the third quarter to draw the Cougars (10-2, 6-2) within 27-24.

But Utah forced Hall to turn the ball over on BYU's final five possessions and capitalized by scoring off three of those mistakes.

With 14 seconds left in the third quarter, Hall's fumble was recovered by defensive end Paul Kruger at the BYU 31-yard line.

Four plays later, Johnson threw his third TD of the contest - an 8-yarder to Brent Casteel that made it 34-24.

Kruger intercepted Hall on the ensuing possession and rumbled for a 29-yard return down to the BYU 4. Utah used a little trickery on the next play when running back Matt Asiata lofted a 4-yard TD pass to tight end Chris Joppru.

After moving the ball to the Utah 19 on their next drive, the Cougars saw their comeback bid end when Hall was picked off by Sean Smith, who raced for a 38-yard return.

Johnson capped a nine-play drive with his fourth TD pass, a 1-yarder to Colt Sampson that made it 48-24 with 2:48 remaining.

Freddie Brown finished with 97 yards on eight receptions for Utah, which won the annual "Holy War" rivalry game for the first time since 2005.

"Everything was on the line tonight," BYU defensive end Jan Jorgensen said. "To lose the way we did was crushing."

Hall completed 21-of-41 passes for 205 yards while Harvey Unga ran for 116 yards and two TDs for BYU.