And brought as its reward a perfect trip back to a BCS bowl.

The score, too, as far as the Utes were concerned, was as close to perfect as slightly imperfect comes: Utah 48, BYU 24.

"It's a fairy-tale ending," said Brian Johnson. "We wanted to come out here and show people, when we put it together, we can be pretty good."

And, as Paul Kruger put it, "It all came together. It's been kind of a dream. It's been an amazing season."

A perfect 12-0.

Ironic, considering the Cougars were the ones fixated enough on perfection to make its pursuit part of their team motto.

It might be just shy of a cheap shot, but BYU was far from flawless this year, and this night.

And Utah made the Cougars pay for their shortcomings.

Max Hall was the least perfect of the bunch. He threw five interceptions and fumbled once. And those mistakes made the difference in a game that might have had an alternate ending without them.

"Their defense played outstanding," Hall said. "They caused me a lot of trouble tonight."

Piped in Austin Collie: "You have to give it up to Utah."

That's exactly what the Cougars did.

They gave it up, again and again and again.

"Max made some plays," Collie said. "He was put in some tough positions."

Actually, it was the other way around, Hall's interceptions regularly tossing BYU's defense into vulnerable spots. One of his picks, near the end of the first half, immediately followed by an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Hall, led to a potential 14-point swing, giving Utah a 27-17 lead at the break.

"It was a stupid mistake," Hall said.

One of many that, rolled together, killed the Cougars' chances. BYU outgained Utah, 419 yards to 415. It got nearly as many first downs. It came back from an early 17-3 deficit, threatening to take the lead before Hall's screw-up just before the half. It closed the gap to 27-24 midway through the third quarter.

And then . . . the Cougars blew gaskets and crankshafts and pistons in every direction, leaving debris all over creation.

Hall got picked. Hall fumbled. Hall got picked again. Hall got picked one more time, and, by then, it was 41-24, and BYU's fate was sealed.

"Without the turnovers," Bronco Mendenhall said, "it's a completely different game."

With the turnovers, it was the Utes' game to own, and own it they deserved to do.

They happily took advantage of both varieties of turnovers: the ones they forced and the ones they were gifted.

"I'm grateful," said Johson, who was about as perfect as any quarterback ever was, hitting 30 of 36 passes for 303 yards and four touchdowns. "Grateful for the opportunity to play with this team."

Fair enough, then.

As Johnson and Kruger at the end lifted the Mountain West Conference championship trophy over their heads, smiles all around, they knew what they had just done was the stuff of dreams, a properly finished 12-0 fairy tale that will send them now to one more big game - in New Orleans or Miami or Glendale.

"This feels sweet," said Johnson. "It is the perfect way to go out."

A world away, the guys in the other locker room, the ones suffering defeat, were headed elsewhere, their quest blown to pieces back on the road someplace, hoping next year's pursuit will be one within their grasp, bringing a lighter load and a happier ending.