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PROVO, Utah (Ticker) -- For more than 56 minutes, Utah shut down Brigham Young. But it was not enough for the Utes to spring the upset. Luke Staley scored a pair of touchdowns in the final 3:22 as eighth-ranked BYU rallied from an 11-point deficit to clinch the Mountain West Conference title with a 24-21 victory. "This is a special game," BYU coach Gary Crowton said. "It's always good to beat rivals. It gives you a year to breathe before you have to think about it again." Assuming BYU (11-0, 7-0 MWC) does not qualify for the Bowl Championship Series, it will face Conference USA champion Louisville in the Liberty Bowl. The Cougars, one of three undefeated teams left in Division I-A, are 13th in the latest BCS poll and need to be in the top six to advance to a BCS bowl. "We're excited to go to the Liberty Bowl," Crowton said. "No matter how it works out, we're happy to be in the Liberty Bowl." The Cougars conclude their regular season with road games against Mississippi State and Hawaii. "It's hard to continue to win," Crowton added. "The pressure keeps building on these players." BYU missed the extra point after Staley's second touchdown, leaving the Cougars ahead by only three points. Utah (7-3, 4-2) moved into field goal range at the BYU 30 after a 13-yard completion to Jordan Gross on fourth down on a tackle-eligible play with 16 seconds left. But cornerback Jernaro Gilford sealed the victory with an interception on the next play. "You play 60 minutes," Crowton said. "The team with the most points at the end of the game wins it. Utah can never get that game back." The Cougars ended the home-field jinx in the heated series, becoming the first home team to win in seven years. BYU beat Utah in Provo for the first time since 1991. "When you go into the fourth quarter and you're ahead, you should win the ballgame," Utah coach Ron McBride said. "We needed two first downs to win the game and if you can't make the two first downs, you don't deserve to win the game." The Cougars appeared headed for their first loss after Adam Tate scored on a one-yard TD run to give Utah (7-3, 4-2) a 21-10 lead. But BYU began its comeback on Brandon Doman's seven-yard TD pass to Staley with 3:22 left. Staley scored on the conversion run to make it 21-18. After Utah went three-and-out, the Cougars went to work again. Doman pitched to Staley, who raced 30 yards down the right sidelines to give BYU the lead with 1:16 left. It was the 26th touchdown of the season for Staley, the nation's leading scorer, who set a BYU record for rushing yards in a season despite missing a game. He ran for 169 yards on 17 carries to raise his total to 1,448 yards and surpass Pete Van Valkenburg's previous mark of 1,386 in 1972. Reno Mahe, BYU's leading receiver who was not expected to play after undergoing an emergency appendectomy on Monday, caught a 24-yard TD pass from Doman to bring BYU within 14-10 with 18 seconds left in the third quarter. BYU captured its 21st conference title since 1976 and first since 1996. The Cougars came into the contest averaging 48.8 points per game, the highest total in Division I-A. But they were held to one field goal for nearly three quarters by a defense that came in ranked ninth in scoring defense (15.8 ppg). Defense has been a problem for BYU this season and it hurt the Cougars again Saturday as the Utes put together scoring drives of 82 yards and 80 in the second half. But BYU had success when it went to the option on its final two possessions. Doman, who completed 21-of-42 for 270 yards, engineered scoring drives of 92 and 59 yards. "Our defense played well all day, but we let them out," McBride said. "In a game this important, you just can't let that happen." Utah opened the scoring on Lance Rice's 13-yard TD pass to Dennis Smith with 3:02 into the first quarter. BYU closed to 7-3 at the half on Matt Payne's 35-yard field goal with 4:14 left in the second period. Utah made it 14-3 on Dameon Hunter's 15-yard TD run with 2:21 left in the third quarter. Hunter, also a 1,000-yard runner, rushed for 106 yards on 21 carries.
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