Utah Utes football: Johnson earns MVP honor with top game

Brian Johnson saved perhaps his best for the final game of his career in leading the Utah Utes to one of their biggest victories ever in a 31-17 Sugar Bowl victory over Alabama.

Johnson ran Utah's no-huddle offense to near-perfection in completing 27 of 41 passes for 336 yards and three touchdowns.

"We wanted to play fast and we jumped on them," said Johnson. "We felt we matched up well and we took advantage of some matchups. The guys did an unbelievable job up front in giving me a lot of time and the wideouts made plays on the perimeter."

For offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig, who is leaving for Kansas State next year, it was a fitting end to his career at Utah.

"It was better than I expected," Ludwig said as he glanced up at the scoreboard and Utah's 31 points. "Our guys just played lights out. I couldn't be more proud of them."

Ludwig said he called some of the no-huddle plays and gave Johnson the option of deciding when to use the no-huddle offense.

"We're good at it, so we thought if we could jump into some no-huddle early, it could take their coaches out of the gameplan a little bit," Ludwig said. "Brian does such a good job of running that drill and it put them on their heels."

The Utes came out firing with Johnson throwing five straight passes to five different receivers out of the no-huddle offense. It took the Utes just 1:19 to get in the end zone.

After hitting Jereme Brooks for 19 yards, Darrell Mack for 14 and Bradon Godfrey for 22. That put the Utes on the 13-yard line where after a 6-yard pass to Freddie Brown, Johnson found Brent Casteel down the left sideline for a touchdown.

The Utes pretty much abandoned the run game early because Johnson was so successful passing the ball and finished with just 13 net rushing yards.

But it didn't matter because of the success passing and at the end of the day Johnson had completed 12 passes to Brown for 125 yards, a career high for him, and six to Godfrey.

"We came out no huddle and I think we surprised them," Brown said. "A lot of people did not believe in us, but we did. We had no doubt we would win this game."

"We could not ask for anything else," said Godfrey. "This is a dream come true."

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