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The University of Utah Athletics
Utah Sweeps MWC Weekly Awards
11/24/2008 12:00 AM | Football
Nov. 24, 2008
SALT LAKE CITY - Utah swept the Mountain West Conference Player of the Week awards this week after beating No. 14 Brigham Young 48-24 last Saturday to win the conference title outright. Senior quarterback Brian Johnson took the offensive honor, sophomore defensive end Paul Kruger shared the defensive award with San Diego State's Luke Laolagi and senior kicker/punter Louie Sakoda was the special teams pick.
Sakoda now has a league-record 12 career weekly MWC awards, including five this season. It is the fourth career award for Johnson, who has won it three times this year. Kruger collects his first career MWC weekly award.
Johnson completed 30-of-36 passes for 303 yards and four touchdowns against BYU, averaging 10.1 yards per completion and finishing without an interception. He completed 15-of-18 passes for 143 yards in the first quarter to help the Utes jump out to a 10-3 lead that they never relinquished. Johnson's 83.3 percent completion rate in the game is the third-best single-game effort in school history, while his 303 yards moved him into third place all-time at Utah for 200-yard games (20). Johnson also rushed for 28 yards to finish with 331 yards of total offense in the game.
Kruger finished with six tackles, including three solo stops, a fumble recovery, an interception and two pass breakups. His fumble recovery came late in the third quarter with Utah hanging onto a 27-24 lead. The Utes scored on the offensive series that followed his fumble recovery to take a 34-24 lead. Kruger then intercepted a pass on the Cougars' next possession, returning it 30 yards to the BYU 4-yard line to set up another Utah touchdown and give the Utes a 41-24 advantage with 12 minutes left to play in the game.
Sakoda made both of his field goal attempts from 37 and 35 yards and was also a perfect 6-of-6 in PATs in the game. His two field goals gave him 21 this season, breaking his school record of 19 set last year. His six PATs gave him the school single-season PAT record (52), breaking the old mark of 48 set in 1994. Sakoda also averaged 44.2 yards on four punts (177 yards), with one inside the 20, a 51-yarder and a 50-yarder.
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