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.