PROVO, Utah -- The race for the first Mountain West Conference title was thrown into a tizzy when Utah went to No. 19 Brigham Young and won the "Holy War."

Andre Dyson snuffed a final drive with an interception of Kevin Feterik as the Utes held on for a 20-17 triumph over Brigham Young.

Utah (8-3, 5-2 Mountain West) and Brigham Young (8-3, 5-2) are tied atop the conference, but as many as four teams could work their way into a tie for the initial league title. Colorado State and Wyoming both can tie for the Mountain West crown with wins next weekend.

In the event of ties, the Liberty Bowl is allowed to decide which team it would like to choose. The Conference USA champion, Southern Mississippi, already has secured its spot in the New Year's Eve game in Memphis, Tennessee. BYU could have joined Southern Miss with a win.

"The guys were disappointed, but I told them we got a piece of the championship and that's what our goal was at the beginning of the year," BYU coach LaVell Edwards said. "Of course, we wanted to get the whole thing, but this has happened to us before."

The Utes held off a late rally to beat BYU for the fifth time in seven meetings.

Feterik threw a six-yard scoring pass to Ben Horton with 3:20 remaining to close the Cougars' deficit to 20-17. The BYU defense then held and got the ball back in the potent quarterback's hands for another shot.

Feterik moved the ball to midfield before throwing a pair of incompletions. On 3rd-and-10 from the 50, his pass over the middle was intercepted by Dyson at the Utah 42 with 69 seconds left. The Utes melted the clock and hoisted coach Ron McBride on their shoulders in celebration.

"Now we have a piece of the championship, while a couple of weeks ago people thought we were out of it," McBride said. "But we fought our way back into it. And BYU's loss in Wyoming allowed us to come back. That's a huge thing.

"We should be bowl-bound, but you never know about the politics of college football. We should be considered, absolutely."

T.D. Croshaw, playing his third straight game after a massive concussion in the San Diego State game threatened the career of Darnell Arceneaux, completed 15-of-33 passes for 228 yards and two touchdowns with a pair of interceptions.

Croshaw hit only three receivers. Donny Utu had seven catches for 79 yards, Cliff Russell had four for 95 and Steve Smith had three for 54. Mike Anderson led the way on the ground with 80 yards on 28 carries.

"Our quarterback came in here and did what he had to do to get a victory," McBride said. "He got several big plays for us.

"I thought our pass defense played especially well today. Our secondary has been a strong point for us all year long. And they were strong today."

Feterik was 22-of-52 for 309 yards and two scores but was picked off three times. Margin Hooks caught seven passes for 139 yards and watched the ground game sputter to just 28 yards.

"Well, of course we're disappointed," Edwards said. "It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that when you don't have a rushing attack, you can't get it done. We've beaten these guys in the past when we have been able to run the ball. If we'd have been able to run against Wyoming, we would have wrapped it up there."

Owen Pochman kicked a 26-yard field goal midway through the opening quarter to give the Cougars the lead, but Cletus Truhe nailed a 40-yarder to tie it midway through the second. Truhe's kick was set up by a 40-yard pass from Croshaw to Smith and atoned for his miss from 49 yards on Utah's previous possession.

Truhe's 38-yarder came 42 seconds before halftime and gave the Utes a 6-3 edge.

On their first possession of the second half, the Cougars were faced with a 3rd-and-10 when Feterik threw a 77-yard scoring pass to Hooks for a 10-6 lead.

But Croshaw threw a 70-yard TD strike to Russell three plays later to give the Utes a 13-10 advantage.

With 20 seconds left in the third quarter, Feterik was intercepted by linebacker Kautai Olevao, who brought the ball to the BYU 43. Croshaw led a six-play drive with a four-yard touchdown pass to Utu on 3rd-and-goal for a 20-10 lead with 13:08 left in the game.

The Cougars drove to the Utah 20 on the next possession, but Pochman missed from 38 yards.

BYU linebacker Rob Morris finished with 11 total tackles, one less than defensive back Jared Lee.