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PROVO, Utah -- With BYU struggling against Utah's swarming defense, Luke Staley found a way to bail out the undefeated Cougars, keeping their hopes for a BCS bowl game alive.

Staley scored two touchdowns and added a 2-point conversion in the final 3 1/2 minutes as No. 8 BYU beat rival Utah 24-21 Saturday night in a dramatic comeback that gave the Cougars the Mountain West championship.

As for the BCS, first-year coach Gary Crowton thinks anything's possible.

``We're still on track,'' he said. ``We will be as long as we keep winning and we can't overlook anybody.''

His second TD came on a 30-yard run that was dangerously close to being a forward lateral from quarterback Brandon Doman, but Staley dodged two tacklers as he skirted along the sideline to put the Cougars (11-0, 7-0) ahead 24-21.

With the victory, BYU qualified to play Louisville in the Liberty Bowl on Dec. 31. Athletic director Val Hale encouraged fans to buy tickets to the Memphis game but said they could be traded for seats elsewhere, if necessary.

``We've struck a deal where if something else happens down the road, the amount of money paid for tickets can be exchanged for other tickets,'' Hale said.

Things got interesting when Matt Payne missed the PAT kick after Staley scored. Utah (7-3, 4-2) took over with 1:11 remaining and reached BYU's 30 before Jernaro Gilford intercepted a pass by Lance Rice to end the threat.

``I don't know what happened,'' Rice said. ``Our running backs were still hitting the holes well. Our line was doing a great job. They just keyed in on the run at the end and obviously we didn't make the plays.''

With representatives of two BCS bowl games, the Fiesta and Sugar Bowls, watching, fans stormed the field to celebrate. Players lifted Crowton onto their shoulders and paraded him around.

``It was pandemonium,'' Crowton said. ``More so than when we beat Notre Dame and they were No. 1 when I was at Boston College (in 1993).''

BYU has two games remaining, at Mississippi State on Dec. 1 and at Hawaii on Dec. 8, and the Cougars seem intent on crashing the BCS party. The Fiesta Bowl has expressed the greatest interest, possibly matching BYU against a Pac-10 school.

Staley finished with 169 yards to become BYU's career rushing leader but it was his late-game heroics that stymied an excellent Utah defensive game plan and broke Utah's four-game winning streak in Provo.

The Cougars' defense, heavily criticized after a series of poor performances, played its best game of the year.

Utah dominated the time of possession and controlled the tempo for much of the night, with backs Dameon Hunter and Adam Tate working the 3-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust offense.

Hunter scored on a 15-yard run in the third quarter to extend Utah's 10-3 halftime lead and Tate leaped over the goal line for a 1-yard TD run to make it 21-10 with 9:53 to play.

``That's why we play 60 minutes,'' Crowton said. ``The whole thing is who has more points at the end. It's up there now and nobody can take it away from us.''

Doman struggled and Utah's defense, ranked No. 13 in the nation, did a great job of wrapping up Staley for much of the day. But they came alive when it counted the most.

The Cougars made it interesting when Staley caught a 7-yard TD pass from Doman with 3:22 remaining, then converted the PAT run on an option to the left. That got BYU to 21-18.

Crowton turned to his defense, and BYU forced a punt after three plays. Taking over at their own 41, the Cougars needed only four plays to score.

Doman scrambled to find Soren Halladay for a 6-yard gain to Utah's 42, but D'Shaun Crockett missed the tackle and Halladay reached the 30 before he was brought down.

                            Box Score (Final)
  Score by Quarters     1  2  3  4   Score
  -----------------    -- -- -- --   -----
  UTAH................  0  7  7  7  - 21       Record: (7-3,4-2)
  Brigham Young.......  0  3  7 14  - 24       Record: (11-0,7-0)

  Scoring Summary:
  2nd 11:58 UU -  SMITH, Dennis 13 yd pass from RICE, Lance (KANESHIRO, Ryan kick),
                  4-41 2:14, UU 7 - BYU 0
      04:14 BYU - PAYNE, Matt 35 yd field goal,
                  9-40 2:57, UU 7 - BYU 3
  3rd 02:21 UU -  HUNTER, Dameon 15 yd run (KANESHIRO, Ryan kick),
                  13-82 6:22, UU 14 - BYU 3
      00:19 BYU - MAHE, Reno 23 yd pass from DOMAN, Brandon (PAYNE, Matt kick),
                  4-80 2:02, UU 14 - BYU 10
  4th 09:53 UU -  TATE, Adam 1 yd run (KANESHIRO, Ryan kick),
                  12-80 5:26, UU 21 - BYU 10
      03:22 BYU - STALEY, Luke 7 yd pass from DOMAN, Brandon (STALEY, Luke rush),
                  8-92 2:25, UU 21 - BYU 18
      01:16 BYU - STALEY, Luke 30 yd run (PAYNE, Matt kick failed),
                  4-59 0:55, UU 21 - BYU 24

                                       UU      BYU
  FIRST DOWNS...................       23       21
  RUSHES-YARDS (NET)............   46-168   32-180
  PASSING YDS (NET).............      189      270
  Passes Att-Comp-Int...........  32-16-1  42-21-1
  TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS.....   78-357   74-450
  Fumble Returns-Yards..........      0-0      0-0
  Punt Returns-Yards............     4-34      3-7
  Kickoff Returns-Yards.........     3-80     3-57
  Interception Returns-Yards....     1-28     1-50
  Punts (Number-Avg)............   7-37.6   7-45.4
  Fumbles-Lost..................      2-1      2-1
  Penalties-Yards...............     5-26     6-79
  Possession Time...............    34:14    25:46
  Sacks By: Number-Yards........     2-21      0-0

  RUSHING: UTAH-HUNTER, Dameon 21-106; TATE, Adam 20-64; FORTUNE, Thomas 1-8;
  ITA'AEHAU, Sam 1-3; TM 1-minus 1; RICE, Lance 2-minus 12. Brigham
  Young-STALEY, Luke 17-169; TM 1-9; DOMAN, Brandon 14-2.

  PASSING: UTAH-RICE, Lance 15-31-1-173; JACKSON, Paris 1-1-0-16. Brigham
  Young-DOMAN, Brandon 21-42-1-270.

  RECEIVING: UTAH-RUSSELL, Cliff 6-49; RICHARDSON, Mic 4-58; JACKSON, Paris
  3-32; LYMAN, Josh 1-24; SMITH, Dennis 1-13; GROSS, Jordan 1-13. Brigham
  Young-MAHE, Reno 5-94; HALLADAY, Soren 5-60; NEAD, Spencer 3-28; STALEY,
  Luke 3-28; JOLLEY, Doug 2-39; ORD, Andrew 1-9; RIGELL, Mike 1-8;
  CHRISTENSEN, To 1-4.

  INTERCEPTIONS: UTAH-DWINELL, CR 1-28. Brigham Young-GILFORD, Jernar 1-50.

  FUMBLES: UTAH-TATE, Adam 1-0; RICE, Lance 1-1. Brigham Young-DOMAN, Brandon
  2-1.

  Stadium: Edwards Stadium       Attendance: 66149
  Kickoff time: 5:06      End of Game: 8:33      Total elapsed time: 3:27
  Officials: Referee: Wright, Gerald; Umpire: Jenkins, Darrel;
  Linesman: Hettema, David; Line judge: Lynch, Jack; Back judge: Leyden, Terry;
  Field judge: Clark, Land; Side judge: Richins, Karl; Scorer: Media Relations;
  Temperature: 60        Wind: 1-3 S     Weather: Fair

  SACKS (UA-A): UTAH-DECKART, Sheldo 1-0; DWINELL, CR 1-0. Brigham Young-None.

  TACKLES (UA-A): UTAH-SANDERS, Antwoi 14-4; DECKART, Sheldo 8-1; DWINELL, CR
  2-4; KEMOEATU, Maake 2-3; SMITH, Garrett 2-2; PARKER, Arnold 3-0; REVILL,
  Dave 2-1; CROCKETT, D'Sha 2-1; BAHR, Brooks 1-2; ELLIOTT, Brett 2-0; SAVAGE,
  Josh 1-1; SCOTT, Yohance 1-1; KAUFUSI, Jason 1-0; TUNE, Zach 1-0; WHITE,
  Anthony 0-1; BRAND, Ryan 0-1. Brigham Young-DENNEY, Ryan 5-5; ENA, Justin
  4-6; STALEY, Dustin 3-7; KELLEY, Isaac 2-6; GILFORD, Jernar 5-2; MADARIETA,
  Levi 3-4; COWART, Jeff 1-5; WALKENHORST, Pa 2-3; HEANEY, Brandon 3-1;
  LAFITTE, Michae 2-1; GUNDERSON, Ryan 1-2; KEISEL, Brett 1-1; NEAD, Spencer
  1-0; WILSON, Derrus 1-0; AIONO, Aissac 1-0; WRIGHT, Bill 1-0; REID, Gabriel
  1-0; BOCKWOLDT, Colb 1-0; STEARNS, Ned 0-1; MEIBOS, Jared 0-1; PILI, Ifo
  0-1; STEVENS, Chris 0-1; ANDERSON, Nick 0-1.