Following that first loss, Saban noted his club still was the only team to have an undefeated regular season in a "real BCS conference."

The comment clearly motivated Utah, much to Saban's chagrin.

"I apologize if anybody was offended by that. We had a tremendous amount of respect for Utah," Saban said. "I certainly misstated that. ... So if that's what gave them all their intensity, then I guess I'm responsible for the way they played and I'm responsible for the way we played."

Alabama could have used suspended All-America left tackle Andre Smith, but even he might not have been enough to stop an Utah defense that played with speed, ferocity and discipline.

Utah held an Alabama ground attack that was averaging 196.5 yards to 31 net yards.

The Utes' array of stunts and blitzes appeared to upset Wilson's rhythm. He overthrew a couple of open receivers downfield and finished 18-of-30 for 177 yards and a touchdown

By contrast, Johnson adeptly spread the ball around to seven receivers, hitting Freddie Brown 12 times for 125 yards.

Johnson's touchdowns went for 7 yards to Brent Casteel, 18 yards to Bradon Godfrey and 28 yards to David Reed. Matt Asiata ran for a 2-yard TD, a score set up by Reed's leaping catch at the 2. Louie Sakoda capped Utah's scoring with a 28-yard field goal.

An Alabama comeback appeared to be brewing early in the second half, when Dont'a Hightower stripped Johnson and Bobby Greenwood recovered at the Utah 30. Soon after, Wilson hit Glen Coffee for an easy 4-yard score on a rollout to close the gap to 21-17.

Unfazed, Johnson opened Utah's next drive with a 33-yard pass over the middle to Brown. The completion kick-started a 71-yard scoring drive that ended with Reed's touchdown.

Alabama drove back into Utah territory, but Mark Ingram was stuffed for no gain on third-and-2 from the Utah 32. Leigh Tiffin then missed his second long field goal of the game, hooking a 49-yarder just left of the upright.

Utah's 21-0 lead, the largest deficit the Tide faced all season, stood until Tiffin hit a 52-yard field goal on the first play of the second quarter. Alabama did not score an offensive TD in the half, but pulled to 21-10 when Javier Arenas returned a punt 73 yards for a score.

"They jumped ahead of us early in the game. I don't think we gave them their due respect coming into the game," Coffee said. "That's something we never should have allowed to happen."