FINAL: Utah 48, BYU 24

The Utes played a lot cleaner and deserved to win. BYU made way too many mistakes on the road, but twice had a chance to take the lead in the third quarter. Utah goes to 12-0 and will play in a BCS bowl game. BYU goes to 10-2 and will play in the Poinsettia Bowl or the Las Vegas Bowl.

FOURTH QUARTER, 8:02

Hall's fourth interception, he now has five turnovers. As good as he's been this year, this is Hall's worst game as a Cougar. It will be interesting how he comes back from this. Meanwhile, I get to go down and watch Utah fans storm the field again. I'm having 2004 flashbacks.

FOURTH QUARTER, 12:00

Wrap this one up and send the Utes to the BCS. Hall has had a disaster of a game and threw his third pick of the game to Utah's Paul Kruger. That set up a short TD pass from Asiata. BYU had its chances but too many mistakes. Utah 41, BYU 24.

FOURTH QUARTER, 14:31

Hall's fumble costs the Cougars. Utah scores on an 8-yard pass to Casteel. BYU missed out on a golden opportunity to take the lead in the third quarter. Playing catch-up in the fourth won't be easy. Utah 34, BYU 24.

END THIRD QUARTER, UTAH 27, BYU 24

BYU had all the momentum but forced a long throw to Collie, where it was picked by Robert Johnson, then Hall had his third turnover of the game on a fumble. He's trying to hard or something, but he's killing BYU. With the defense playing better in the second half, BYU needs the offense to play cleanly and it's not happening. Still, the Cougars are in the game and need to force a field goal on this Utah possession to open the fourth quarter.

THIRD QUARTER, 6:46

I called it, you can ask anyone sitting next to me in the press box. I said, "The quarterback draw is wide open," and sure enough, Hall scores from 11 yards out on a QB draw. Utah 27, BYU 24.

HALFTIME, UTAH 27, BYU 17

Cougars made a nice comeback after falling behind 17-3, but Hall self-destructed at the end of the half. At worst, BYU should have been down 20-17 at the break. But his interception hurt, as did his third personal foul of the season. The Cougars get the ball back to start the second half and the offense will have to score almost every time to keep in the game.

SECOND QUARTER,:14.5

Sometimes your best players make mistakes. But you can't compound it by picking up a stupid personal foul. That's exactly what Hall did after he threw an interception near the end of the half. Utah takes advantage with a long TD pass from Johnson to David Reed. If BYU loses, this will be where the game got away. Utah 27, BYU 17.

SECOND QUARTER, 1:41

Sakoda kicks another field goal. He's got an NFL leg, no doubt. On this drive, Andrew Rich just unloaded a huge hit on Freddie Brown. That will be on some highlight reels. Utah 20, BYU 17.

SECOND QUARTER, 6:26

BYU ties the game up on kind of gimmick play, a direct snap to Unga while Max Hall was directing some receivers. Drive aided by a PI on Utah on third down. BYU 17, Utah 17.

SECOND QUARTER, 10:38

BYU responds with a nice drive. On third and short, BYU breaks out the pitch to Harvey Unga, who races 23 yards for a score. The Cougars are back in the game. Utah 17, BYU 10.

SECOND QUARTER, 13:44

Is the BYU defense even on the field? Johnson looks like Peyton Manning and there are receivers running open all over the field. Matt Asiata runs in from five yards out for the score. Unless BYU's offense answers immediately, this one could be over. Utah 17, BYU 3.

END FIRST QUARTER: Utah 10, BYU 3

Utes are poised to score again on the BYU 11. Right now, the Ute offense is doing anything it wants and Brian Johnson is throwing strikes. Utah has fumbled twice but gotten it back both times. Unless there are some turnovers, Utah will win this game handily because right now, the Cougar defense is paper thin.

FIRST QUARTER, 4:25

Wow, that was easy. Ten plays, 80 yards, six straight completions by Brian Johnson, touchdown on a 16-yard pass to Brent Casteel. If BYU's defense doesn't get a little more stingy, this one could get ugly. Utah 10, BYU 3.

FIRST QUARTER, 8:27

Austin Collie returns the ensuing kickoff 70 yards to the Utah 30, partially thanks to a crushing block by O'Neill Chambers. But the Cougars only managed a 40-yard field goal from Mitch Payne. Are we in for a war of field goals? BYU 3, Utah 3.

FIRST QUARTER, 9:48

Utah takes the opening kickoff and drives to the BYU 23, then stalls. Louie Sakoda 37-yard field goal, Utah leads 3-0. Not a bad start for the BYU defense. Utah 3, BYU 0

PRE-GAME

I hate covering games at Utah, but not for the reason you think.

I hate how the Utah fans abuse any BYU fan that walks by in the parking lot with words I can't repeat. I hate that the Utah Sports Information Department is just about useless if you cover BYU for a living. I hate that Utah makes the BYU media park a mile away from the stadium. I hate that the old codger watching the gate wouldn't let me in unless my press credential was around my neck, not held in my hand. I'm not kidding; he wasn't going to let me in until I got into my bag, pulled out a lanyard, attached my credential to it and put it around my neck.

But hey, the grub was good (TGI Fridays) in the press box, so it wasn't all bad.

This would be the perfect beginning to the game: Jonny Harline carries the alumni flag out and plants it in the north end zone right where he caught the game-winning pass in 2006, then falls to his knees.

Overheard a conversation between a couple of Utah SID workers. Apparently, some guy flashed a BYU-Hawaii credential to try and get into the game today, telling some sob story about he'd traveled thousands of miles to get here. They escorted him out of the stadium.

It's a sellout, dude.

FRIDAY NIGHT

OK, couldn't wait until Saturday: This is the game both sets of fans have been looking forward to all year. I hope it's as close as the past three have been.

Did I think BYU would be 10-1 right now? Actually, that's exactly what I predicted in our special football section in August. I also picked the Cougars to beat the Utes, and I'm sticking to that. But it's going to take a very strong effort.

This is a chance for BYU to show it's worthy of national consideration. The defense has to force a couple of turnovers, because I don't see them stopping the Utes too often. On the other side of the ball, I think the Cougars can move the ball but the coaches are fooling themselves if they think they can establish any kind of a running game. Yes, run enough to keep them honest but I don't think BYU will get more than 80 yards on the ground. This will be a game for Max Hall and the passing game to win.

Once again, Austin Collie was magnificent. You'd think teams would have figured out a way to stop him but he just bides his time and gashes you when it's big. Nine straight 100-yard receiving games? That's just ridiculous.

This sets up a huge game next week with Utah, with both teams playing for big stakes. Should be fun. Bronco told his players not to talk about Utah yet, to enjoy the win over Air Force. He said there would be plenty of time to discuss Utah next week, though I think he'll probably limit access to the players.

So enjoy 10-1 for a while, fans. It's been a pretty good season for the Cougars.

Not a good half for the BYU wide receivers, between Michael Reed thinking he's Randy Moss and turning a 10-yard gain into a 3-yard gain, Reed costing BYU a scoring opportunity with an offensive pass interference and Reed White's stupid personal foul that took the Cougars out of scoring range.

BYU's offensive line should be ashamed of itself. If they aren't picking up needless false start penalties, they're giving up sacks and not making holes against players 60 pounds lighter. I don't know if I've ever been more mystified with any unit on the BYU team. Why is this happening? Ray Feinga was having back spasms so R.J. Willing has come in, picking up two false starts.

What's in store in the second half? BYU must stop AFA on the first drive of the half or things could get tough. The Falcons are very good playing with a lead. BYU has only 32 rushing yards but has lost 32 yards on sacks. Max Hall is 15 of 20 for 186 yards. The ball was tipped at the line of scrimmage on the interception at the end of the half.

The defense has got to do a better job with the fullback. Todd Newell has 94 yards rushing for AFA. Russell Tialavea has been a major disappointment this year at the nose. Maybe they should try someone else there.

Doman had successful surgery on Friday and a decision will be made about his status for the Utah game on Monday.

Junior Matt Ah You will start in Doman's place with Terrence Hooks backing him up.

Also, freshman linebacker Daniel Sorensen sprained his ankle in practice on Thursday and did not make the trip to Air Force either.

As far as the game today, I think BYU will take advantage of its size and wear down the Falcons. The key is for BYU to not give up big plays on play action. The Cougars will start three safeties (Tafuna, Fowler, Rich) and Brandon Bradley to try and control the AFA run game.

I called it a BYU win, but a close one, setting up a giant game next week against the team up North.

Sure, the Cougars aren't blowing anybody out anymore, but victories are hard-earned. A great fourth quarter by Max Hall, who came back from an interception, and a terrific finish by Dennis Pitta. Austin Collie was great in the first half and Harvey Unga had another 100-yard game.

The defense? Well, they're struggling. Right now they're not making plays and having trouble stopping anything. Should make the last part of the season exciting, right?

The whole press box here stopped working to watch the final seconds of Texas Tech's amazing victory over No. 1 Texas. Wow, what a finish! That's why college football is the greatest game ever.

Chow time. See you back in Provo for the beatdown of San Diego State next week. The Aztecs are truly a dreadful football team.

CSU is paying special attention to Collie now, so other things are open. Hall appears to be taking advantage of that. BYU threatening to start the fourth quarter and will have to keep the pressure on.

By the way: CSU has the darkest stadium lights in the country. The lights in the press box are so bright I can hardly see. Woe is me.

Cougars will get the ball to start the half. Hint: Throw the ball to Collie.

Fortunately, the BYU offense is moving the ball (when they're not committing penalties) so we could be seeing a shootout.

Every time CSU single covers Collie, I'm throwing it there. He's beating these guys like they stole something.

BYU is blitzing Farris but they are not getting to him, making the short passes easy.

Mild day in Colorado, just a few clouds and the sun is beaming down on the field right now. Expecting a crowd of around 30,000 today.

So does CSU have a chance? I think they do, but they'll have to get some breaks. I think BYU moves the ball pretty easily today and the Cougar defense will get a couple of turnovers to swing the momentum.

And I predict Dennis Pitta will have a huge game, just because he's been so quiet lately.

Wrap your brain around these tidbits: 23-0 is the biggest halftime deficit since BYU trailed Utah 24-3 in 2005. It's the biggest halftime deficit under Bronco Mendenhall and the Cougars first scoreless half since the Boston College game to open the 2005 season.

In other words, it is unprecedented.

TCU is simply on fire and the Cougars are nowhere near good enough right now. Can they make a comeback? Maybe, but EVERYTHING would have to break their way in the second half. So goes the "Quest for Perfection."

Bronco can say all he wants about how it's the mission of the university, it means to do you best in everything, blah, blah blah ... but I think it put way too much pressure on his team and they are finally folding under that pressure.

And that seems to be the key here early. Everywhere TCU has a speed advantage (and that's almost every position), the Horned Frogs are exploiting the Cougars. Jeremy Kerley is averaging 20 yards per run simply taking the ball from a direct snap. BYU has two turnovers but TCU seems to be able to do whatever it wants on both sides of the ball. BYU is backpedaling and has to find a way to stand their ground before it gets too far out of hand.