From Deseret News archives:
Utah, BYU football: Breaking down the QBs and special teams
Brian Johnson has won more games than any starting quarterback in Ute history. Nineteen of his 24 victories have come over Utah's past 20 games, when he returned from an injury to reclaim his role as the starter. The surge moved him past Alex Smith's team record of 21 triumphs.
Johnson, who is one of five finalists for the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award, threw a career-high five touchdown passes in last week's 63-14 win over San Diego State. He completed 27-of-38 passes for 283 yards in the Utes' most lopsided victory of the season, guiding an offense that netted 520 total yards.
Pass efficiency is Johnson's greatest strength this season. He enters the BYU game ranked second in the Mountain West Conference and 19th in the nation with a 143.5 rating. Johnson's passing yardage and total offense numbers also rate in the upper echelon of conference quarterbacks.
Utah coach Kyle Whittingham, however, favors a different statistic when it comes to measuring the value of a quarterback — a team's win-loss record. And that's the bottom line.
Johnson is closing in on a full-circle career with the Utes. As a freshman in 2004, he backed up Smith on the Fiesta Bowl championship squad. Now, this time as the starter, Johnson is two wins away from finishing the same way — on an undefeated team that reaches the Bowl Championship Series.
Corbin Louks is Johnson's backup. The speedy sophomore, who ran the 40 in 4.42 seconds, runs certain offensive sets and is the team's third-leading rusher with 218 yards. Louks has scored three touchdowns and averages 8.1 yards per carry.
—Dirk Facer
BYU quarterbacks
Through 11 games of his junior season, Max Hall has put up numbers that are comparable to, if not better than, his legendary predecessors at BYU.
The Heisman Trophy, Davey O'Brien Award and All-America candidate is ranked in the top 10 nationally in total passing yards (fourth), passing (sixth), pass efficiency (sixth), and total offense (ninth). Hall has completed 71 percent of his passes (279-for-390) for 3,424 yards, 34 touchdowns and eight interceptions. In BYU's 59-0 rout of UCLA, he tied a school record with seven touchdown passes, including six in the first half.
Hall, who is 21-3 as a starter in his career, is a confident, fiery competitor who has led his team on several game-winning, or game-clinching, touchdown drives the past two seasons, including recent wins over UNLV, Colorado State and Air Force. The Cougars like their chances when the game is close and the ball is in Hall's hands.
Hall's weakness is his propensity to force plays at times, resulting in interceptions and fumbles (he's fumbled eight times, losing six).
