In what was billed as the game of the decade, No. 7 Utah took advantage of six Cougar turnovers to turn a close contest into a 48-24 victory over No. 14 BYU. Before a crowd of 46,488 at Rice-Eccles Stadium, the second largest in Ute history, the two nationally ranked teams matched field goals, touchdowns, punts, but not interceptions and fumbles. Quarterback Max Hall completed 21-of-41 passes for 201 yards, but had a career-high five interceptions. A bright spot for the Cougars was the performance of wide receiver Austin Collie, whose 104 yards receiving gave him his 10th consecutive 100-yard performance. He also surpassed Eric Drage to become BYU’s all-time leading receiver, setting a new school record with 3,136 receiving yards. Sophomore running back Harvey Unga had 116 yards rushing on 15 carries to go over 1,000 yards for consecutive seasons. Utah got the scoring going early with a field goal, countered by Collie’s 70-yard kickoff return, setting up a 40-yard field goal by Mitch Payne to knot the score, 3-3. Utah scored a touchdown next, putting the Utes up 10-3. After Utah scored again, Unga rushed for a touchdown, which closing the gap to 17-10. After forcing Utah’s first punt of the game, BYU went on a nine-play, 75-yard drive to tie the score at 17-17. With 1:41 left in the first half, a field goal gave the Utes a 20-17 lead. On the next BYU possession Collie broke the BYU all-time career reception record, but a Hall interception ended the drive, allowing the Utes to score and tally a 10-point lead at the half (27-17). With 6:36 in the third quarter, Hall scrambled up the middle for an 11-yard touchdown to draw within three at 27-24. BYU’s defense stiffened, forcing a third consecutive Utah punt, this time three-and-out. Utah, however, forced a Hall fumble, recovering it and ending the Cougar scores for the night. The fourth quarter was all Utah as three BYU interceptions led to three Ute touchdowns in a game that was much closer than the 48-24 final score.