The fact that Utah is undefeated and will be heading to a BCS bowl game isn’t exactly news—the Utes pulled the same impressive feat in 2004. But this time, unlike the method of 2004’s vaunted offensive team, Utah has relied as much on its stingy defense as its offense to run the table and win the ultra-competitive Mountain West conference. And it has been defensive coordinator Gary Andersen, in his 11th year overall on the Utah staff and his fifth season since spending one year as the head coach at Southern Utah, who has led the march to another BCS bowl.

Under Andersen, Utah is 13th in the nation in scoring defense (13.2 points per game), 14th in rushing defense (105 yards per game) and 18th in total defense (296 yards per game). Utah is also ranked 11th nationally in opponent third-down conversions, tied for 15th in turnover margin and is 16th in opponent first downs. All told, the 12-0 Utes rank in the top 25 in the nation in seven defensive categories.

“It’s been an unbelievable year, an unbelievable group of kids,” Andersen said. “In my career I don’t know if I’ve been with a team that’s faced as much adversity on game day as these kids have and have gone undefeated.”

The statistics are impressive. Utah has held opponents under 20 rushing yards in 25 of the 48 quarters the team has played. The Utes held four teams under 60 rushing yards for the game, including 53 rushing yards from Air Force, a total that was 215 below the Falcons season average and the lowest total for an Air Force team since 1980.

Perhaps the most impressive defensive performance came in the Utes most important game of the season. Utah faced BYU in the final game of the regular season on Nov. 22, with a perfect season and BCS berth on the line. After falling behind early, BYU closed the gap to 27-24 in the third quarter. The Utes then picked off four passes and recovered a fumble to end the Cougars’ final five possessions. All told, Utah forced star BYU quarterback Max Hall into six turnovers (five interceptions and a fumble) after Hall had thrown just eight interceptions in the previous 11 games. The Utes won 48-24.

It was also the defense that stood tall—after an adjustment from Andersen—in Utah’s 13-10 victory over then-No. 11 TCU. After the Utes allowed 13 first-quarter points, Andersen switched his man-to-man defense to zone, and TCU went scoreless the final three quarters.

Sophomore defensive end Paul Kruger, who is on the watch list for the Ted Hendricks Award, has 7.5 sacks among his 41 tackles, and an interception and two fumble recoveries. Junior cornerback Sean Smith, who played his first year as a receiver, leads the Mountain West with five interceptions.