Over the past three seasons, folks with knowledge of Utah football have come to know the 6-foot-2-inch, 224-lb. linebacker from Las Vegas simply as "Sly."

Utah quarterback Brian Johnson is being mentioned in the same realm as NFL legend Johnny Unitas. Johnson was named to a list of five finalists for the 2008 Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award.

The Utes (10-0, 6-0) are ranked No. 7 in the Bowl Championship Series standings, which were released Sunday, with two weeks left of football to play.

he game felt like volume two in a series. Against Oregon State, the Utes looked baffled for 58 minutes. The offense couldn't move the ball. The defense built dams the Beavers couldn't break. And then, Johnson put together one miraculous drive for the win.

There isn't anything worse for a defense's or a fan's morale than an offense converting on third down attempts. For the Utes, that rule doesn't apply.

Not only did the student body have a good turnout, but the entire stadium only had a few spots of red in it. The reaction from the blackout also seemed to be very positive.

With TCU hanging onto a 10-6 lead late in the fourth quarter, all Utah's defense wanted to do was give its offense a chance. Two empty TCU drives deep into Utah territory and a game-ending interception later and Utah's defense did all it could to keep Utah's BCS hopes alive.

With college football in the last month of the regular season, TCU is within reach of its first conference championship since 2005. But in order to reach their destination, the Horned Frogs will first need to get by the fastest guns in the Mountain West.

Georgia did it and lost to Alabama. Nebraska put the thought in the air and lost to Virginia Tech. Now another team is taking the speculative step and wearing black uniforms in a football game. There might be a curse behind the "Blackout" game this season, so is this something an undefeated team should mess around with?

No. 11 TCU and its petrifyingly fast defense knock at the door of Rice-Eccles Stadium in a matchup that will give the victor a giant step forward and leave an alarmingly big hole for the team absorbing the loss to fall into.