Utah Utes football: Johnson on verge of tying Smith's mark

Brian Johnson's career is in position to come full circle.

As a freshman, he backed up Alex Smith on Utah's Bowl Championship Series team. Now, as a senior, he's quarterbacked the 14th-ranked Utes to a 7-0 start. Five more victories and another trip to the BCS is all but assured. The journeys include Mountain West Conference titles, the program's primary goal each year.

It's an accomplishment that had eluded Utah since 2004, when Smith concluded his career with a school-record 21 victories as a starter.

He'll have company if the Utes are able to get past Colorado State today at Rice-Eccles Stadium. Johnson enters the game with 20 wins.

"I knew that coming in, and that was one of my goals that I had written down for myself in the season," Johnson acknowledged. "We've put together a nice little run here over the past couple of games. So it's a good thing."

With BYU's loss to TCU on Thursday, Utah now holds the nation's longest active win streak with eight straight triumphs dating back to last season. It's a mark the Utes share with Penn State and Texas Tech.

Overall, Johnson has guided Utah to a 15-1 record since coming back from an injury to reclaim his job as the starter.

"Brian Johnson is a winner. He's competitive. He's our team leader. That hasn't changed. That's been the case all season long," head coach Kyle Whittingham said. "No one is better prepared for a football game

than Brian Johnson. He studies film constantly."

Johnson, he added, is very hard on himself when things don't go well. His expectations are high and team-oriented.

"I think at the end of the day you know that the measure of a solid team and a solid quarterback is the win-loss record," Johnson said. "To have 20 wins in a college career is a good thing."

To have two quarterbacks do it in the same era is even better.

"That's a heckuva deal for both those guys," Whittingham said of Johnson and Smith.

The latter, he continued, had quite an influence on the other.

"Having that opportunity to be the understudy as a freshman was huge for Brian," Whittingham said. "I think that was a great, great learning ground for him. He did a great job just observing what Alex did — following him around and just watching everything Alex did — and that has definitely paid off."