Upon further review ... 3's were wild card in 2007 college football campaign

While discussing pigskin over pepperoni pizza in Salt Lake City one July afternoon, Deseret Morning News college football writers and editors centered their discussion on a simple yet prominent theme.

The number three.

At the time, a trio of stories stood out as the most significant. First, there was the return of No. 3, Utah quarterback Brian Johnson, from a major knee injury. Then there was BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall, who approached his third season intent on "raising the bar" rather than rebuilding. And finally, there was the fan frustration over having to fight the three-headed TV monster in order to see Mountain West Conference football.

Upon further review, we were three-for-three on that front.

But, in a season of college football that will be remembered for its unpredictability, there were a number of misfires.

So here's a look back at our 2007 college football preview with some of the hits and misses — what we thought then and what we know now.

THE RETURN OF BRIAN JOHNSON: Our college football staff knew that the man wearing No. 3 would ultimately define the Utes' season. We just didn't know that it would be in such up-and-down fashion.

The junior quarterback called his recovery from an ACL tear a "long journey," but it didn't take long for him to suffer another setback. In Utah's season-opening loss to Oregon State, Johnson separated his shoulder late in the second quarter. He didn't step back onto the field until the second half of the Utes' 27-0 loss at UNLV, a defeat that left Utah 1-3 and staring at the possibility of the school's first losing season since 2002.

Once healthy enough to start, Johnson led a Utah resurgence. The

Utes won their next seven games, with Johnson's best performance coming at Louisville, where he completed 24 of 31 passes for 312 yards with no interceptions. His overall offensive output didn't come close to approaching what he accomplished as a sophomore, but Johnson posted a good pass-efficiency rating during the win streak and helped manage a Utah offense that leaned heavily on running back Darrell Mack.

That resurgence ended in Provo, however. In a 17-10 loss to BYU, Johnson managed just 129 yards passing and threw two interceptions. He finished the regular season ranked fourth in the conference in pass-efficiency (126.4) and seventh in passing yardage (162.1) and total offense (170.2).