They did it again.
For the second time in five seasons, the original Bowl Championship Series busters are poised for another trip to college football's promised land. Saturday's 48-24 win over BYU at Rice-Eccles Stadium sealed the deal for Utah.
The Utes, who defeated Pittsburgh in the 2005 Fiesta Bowl, entered the game ranked seventh in the BCS standings. They completed the regular season with a 12-0 record and an outright Mountain West Conference championship after defeating the No. 14 Cougars (10-2).
BCS pairings will be announced on Dec. 7.
"I couldn't be more proud of the guys on this team," Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said. "We had a great season."
Great was a word Whittingham used frequently after the Utes defeated the Cougars for the first time since 2005.
"We played great in every phase of the game today — offense, defense and special teams — so I'm happy with our effort," he said.
"Brian (Johnson) played a great game. All three coordinators did a great job.
"Now, all we can do is sit back and let the rest of the season unfold. It would take a perfect storm for us to get (into the BCS title game), but there are a couple more weekends of football left and it will be interesting to watch," Whittingham added.
Utah sharpened up its resume against the Cougars.
Johnson led the offense by completing 30-of-36 passes for 303 yards and four touchdowns.
"If he's not an all-conference quarterback," Whittingham said, "I don't know who is."
Johnson, one of 18 seniors playing his final home game for the Utes, acknowledged a BCS-clinching win over BYU was the perfect way to go out.
"Tonight was a tough challenge and we stuck together and played well," Johnson said. "It's always a big challenge for me to play against other great quarterbacks and try to be the best at my position on the field."
Johnson certainly had a better outing the Max Hall. The Cougars' quarterback was 21-of-42 for 205 yards. He was intercepted five times and lost a fumble that Utah recovered.
"I think that without the turnovers it would have been a completely different game," BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall said after congratulating Utah on its victory. "In a game like this when there is a championship on the line, you have to play cleaner than we did."
The bulk of the Cougars' woes came after they pulled to within 27-24 midway through the fourth quarter.
Utah's defense seized control of the game with four interceptions and a fumble recovery down the stretch.
"Our defense rose to the occasion when it mattered most," Whittingham said.
The decisive turnovers came after an 11-yard touchdown run by quarterback Max Hall gave BYU the game's only third-quarter score.
Safety Robert Johnson got things started on the Cougars' next possession by intercepting Hall on the Utah 22. The next miscue came when defensive end Koa Misi forced Hall to fumble and Paul Kruger recovered it on the BYU 31.
Utah's offense cashed in on the latter. An 8-yard touchdown toss from Johnson to Brent Casteel provided some much-needed breathing room.
The Cougars' next three drives also ended with turnovers.
On the first one, Kruger picked off a pass from Hall and returned it 30 yards to the BYU 4. Matt Asiata then took a direct snap and connected on a 4-yard scoring strike to Chris Joppru.
Less than four minutes later, Hall was intercepted by cornerback Sean Smith. A 38-yard return was accompanied by a 15-yard penalty on the Cougars, giving the Utes possession on the 29-yard line. Johnson capped a nine-play series with a 1-yard TD toss to Colt Sampson.
BYU's final possession ended with safety Joe Dale's second interception of the game.
Seconds later, fans stormed the field for the conference trophy presentation at midfield.
"We competed hard and settled in to take this team to the next step," Johnson said. "We're on the verge of another BCS season and it was a great job by the coaches, seniors and all that are a part of Utah football."
The Utes came out determined to show what they could do.
Johnson completed 16-of-19 passes for 154 yards as the Utes jumped out to a 17-3 lead early in the second quarter.
After guiding a game-opening, 12-play series that ended with a 37-yard field goal by Louie Sakoda, Johnson led Utah on a pair of touchdown drives.
BYU, however, evened things up first. A 70-yard kickoff return by Austin Collie put the Cougars in scoring position on the ensuing possession. They wound up capitalizing on the field position with a 40-yard field goal by Mitch Payne.
With the score knotted at 3-3, Johnson moved the Utes downfield with precision. He was 6-for-6 passing in a drive that concluded with a 16-yard scoring strike to Brent Casteel.
It took less than 11 minutes for Utah to rack up nine first downs on BYU's defense. The Utes added five more on their next possession, which was capped by a 4-yard touchdown run from Matt Asiata with 13:44 left in the half.
Leading by 14 following Sakoda's PAT, Utah faced some ups and downs before the intermission.
Adversity crept in a couple of minutes later. On a third-down play where Hall was sacked out of field-goal range by Misi, Kruger was flagged for being offsides. The Cougars wound up with a fourth- and-1 situation and responded with a 23-yard touchdown run by Harvey Unga to close the gap to 17-10.
Utah went three-and-out on the ensuing series. BYU's offense responded to the defensive success by putting together a sustained drive that covered 75 yards on nine plays. A third-down pass interference call on Utah's Brice McCain gave the Cougars first-and-goal on the 2-yard line. Unga ran into the end zone on the next play.
Payne's extra-point kick followed as BYU pulled even at 17-17 with 6:26 to go in the second quarter.
It didn't stay that way for long. Before the half was complete, Utah scored 10 unanswered points to regain the lead. Both scores came in the final 1:41 — on a 35-yard field goal by Sakoda and a 32-yard touchdown pass from Johnson to David Reed.
The latter followed an interception by Dale and a personal foul on Hall that gave the Utes possession on the Cougar 44. Three plays later, Johnson connected with Reed in the end zone.
E-mail: dirk@desnews.com