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Utah won the turnover battle and -- gee whiz -- won the game.

Utah, which lost the turnover battle 10-1 while losing its last two Pac-12 games, beat Pittsburgh 26-14, largely because it didn't turn the ball over and the Panthers did three times.

It also helped the Utah defense dominated. The Panthers scored two special teams TDs in the first quarter, but their offense failed to score.

Utah outgained the Panthers 251 yards to 120. Pitt was particularly bad throwing the ball, completing just 9 of 30 for 50 yards with two interceptions. It averaged 1.4 yards per completions, which almost seems like it would be difficult to do. One of the picks was returned 21 yards by DE Derrick Shelby for the Utes final score.

John White rushed for 171 yards on 35 carries, outperforming Pitt's Ray Graham, who only had 46 yards on 12 carries.

Utah improves to 3-3. It will be at California next weekend.

Time once again to vote for the Capital One Impact Performance of the weekend.

Here are your nominees:

• Michigan quarterback Denard Robinson has 494 yards of total offense and five touchdowns in a win over Indiana.
• Virginia Tech's David Wilson returns a kickoff 92 yards for a touchdown against NC State.
• Pittsburgh running back Ray Graham runs for 277 yards and three touchdowns in a win over FIU.
• Maryland's Tony Logan returns a punt 84 yards for a touchdown to spark a comeback win over Duke.

» Predictions: ACC | Big 12 | Big East | Big Ten | Pac-10 | SEC | Non-AQ

My picks in Week 4 were not too bad. Took a risk with the upset special and lost it, but what is life without risk? Still hoping to improve on 7-3 this week. With a 28-16 overall record, I am ready for what Week 5 has to offer -- even though it is not much in the way of marquee games.

Also, several readers have emailed me asking about why I leave certain teams out of the picks. My assignment is to make picks for 10 to 12 games featuring non-AQ teams, at least one from each conference. I try to look for the best games on the schedule. I could pick the easy ones, but what fun is that? So for that reason, Utah has not been in the picks for a few weeks. The competition has not warranted a spot, and I wanted to give myself something other than a guaranteed win.

On to the picks!

BYU 24, Utah State 20. Can BYU really lose four in a row? The Cougars have never lost three in a row under Bronco Mendenhall until last week, so anything is possible with the way the season is going for BYU. They lost their best defensive player, Romney Fuga, last week after a low hit against Nevada. Jake Heaps gets his first career start on the road. Neither unit has been overly impressive. Both teams are actually desperate for a win at 1-3. But the Cougars have won 10 straight in the lopsided “rivalry” and have more talent.

Air Force 21, Navy 20. I went back and forth on this one. I know Navy has won seven straight. I know Navy always finds a way to win these games. But there is a reason Air Force is the favorite. The Falcons have simply played better than Navy this season.

Upset Special: Army 24, Temple 23. Giving out a little service academy love here. Running back Bernard Pierce is a game-time decision. Without him, Temple could be hurting. Yes, Army has not beaten a tough opponent yet, but I like the way the Black Knights are playing. They are creating turnovers and Trent Steelman has found his groove.

Miami (Ohio) 28, Kent State 21. The Golden Flashes have had a tough schedule to open the season, with back-to-back games at Boston College and Penn State before the bye. They might be without RB Eugene Jarvis once again. Miami has played well at home, and the battle to watch here is Thomas Merriweather against the No. 1 rushing defense in the country. Miami gets the edge at home.

North Carolina 33, East Carolina 30. This game is going to be closer than a lot of people think because the Pirates can score and the Tar Heels are still undermanned. Still, East Carolina has problems on defense, and that is going to be the deciding factor in the end.

Pittsburgh 20, FIU 10. The Pittsburgh Panthers looked pretty awful in a loss last week at Miami. Now they face another team from Miami. Luckily for them, the FIU Panthers don’t pose the same type of threat. Nonetheless, FIU has played its nonconference opponents tough, almost beating Rutgers and Texas A&M. They will keep this one close.

Toledo 24, Wyoming 20. The Cowboys made a rare trip East to Toledo, where coach Dave Christensen spent nine seasons as an assistant. They are struggling while Toledo has reeled off three straight wins on the road, including one over Purdue. Going with the hot team in this one.

North Texas 27, Louisiana 17. The Mean Green unleashed their run game last week with Lance Dunbar, James Hamilton and quarterback Riley Dodge, rushing 54 times for 257 yards against FAU. Seems like a good strategy, considering the team is down to its third quarterback. Louisiana, meanwhile, struggled to stop Middle Tennessee on the ground. Sensing a possible light at the end of the tunnel for North Texas.

Western Michigan 34, Idaho 30. Idaho is a tough team to figure out, after losing on the road to Colorado State. Given the way the Vandals struggled to stop the pass last week, and how Alex Carder is playing for Western Michigan, the Broncos should have the advantage.

Southern Miss 28, Marshall 13. Southern Miss leads the series 4-1 against Marshall, but the only loss game at home two seasons ago in the conference opener. The same scenario awaits this week, but Marshall has struggled all season to find any semblance of consistency.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year -- college football season. Watch as I put on my picking cap and make my supremely awesome predictions for 12 selected games involving non-AQ teams.

Now, on to the picks!

South Carolina 24, Southern Miss 14. We know Weslye Saunders is out for the Gamecocks, but we're unclear about anybody else. Southern Miss coach Larry Fedora said his team didn’t pay attention to the distractions. With those players or not, South Carolina is simply too talented, especially on defense. Southern Miss goes into the game with just three returning starters on offense.

Pittsburgh 21, Utah 17. The Utes won the last meeting in the Fiesta Bowl in 2005. But this time around the Panthers have Dion Lewis, and he should make the difference -- especially against a defense that only returns four starters.

Northern Illinois 28, Iowa State 27. One of the best teams in the MAC will pull the upset behind the legs of Chad Spann.

Minnesota 31, Middle Tennessee 20. If Dwight Dasher was playing in this game, I would have called for the upset. But the Blue Raiders aren’t going to be the same with Logan Kilgore at quarterback.

Washington 35, BYU 21. The Huskies break their 12-game road losing streak behind the arm and legs of Jake Locker. BYU has had problems against quarterbacks like Locker in the past. The two-quarterback rotation for BYU is going to be a work in progress.

Colorado 21, Colorado State 10. Both teams essentially have coaches on the hot seat, and quarterback uncertainty. While the Rams won the meeting last year, they go into this game with a freshman starting at quarterback in Pete Thomas. Only two first-time starters at quarterback have won this game for Colorado State.

SMU 44, Texas Tech 40. Upset indeed. Kyle Padron should have a big day and break the Mustangs’ 13-game losing streak to Texas Tech.

Navy 30, Maryland 10. The Midshipmen have the real deal in quarterback Ricky Dobbs, who should pose all sorts of problems for the Terrapins defense. Maryland gave up over 200 yards on the ground four times last season.

TCU 24, Oregon State 20. TCU is 9-2 against AQ teams in its past 11 games. Andy Dalton is eager to erase the memories of his Fiesta Bowl performance. The defense should be able to slow Jacquizz Rodgers down enough to limit his impact.

Fresno State 35, Cincinnati 34. The Bulldogs controlled the ball in their game last year and ran for 290 yards. Ryan Mathews is gone, but Robbie Rouse hopes to get the running game going. Fresno State lost that game because Cincinnati was able to score and score quickly on a defense not used to seeing the spread. The Bulldogs should be improved there, and that will make the difference.

Tulsa 27, East Carolina 17. G.J. Kinne, Damaris Johnson and the Golden Hurricane offense are going to be too much for the rebuilding Pirates to handle. Tulsa starts the season on the road for the third straight year but that might not be such a bad thing in this case. The home team in this series has lost three straight.

Drumroll please …

Boise State 21, Virginia Tech 20. The Broncos squeeze this one out on the strength of their offense, and their much improved defense. Darren Evans and Ryan Williams will get their yards, but their big games will be limited thanks to the great tacklers Boise State has in the open field -- Winston Venable and Jeron Johnson. Boise State will be able to take advantage of a Virginia Tech defense that lost seven starters, including three on the defensive line.

The biggest college football debate raging today is whether Boise State or even TCU can become the first non-AQ team to play for a BCS national championship.

So much has changed in the span of six short years.

Back in 2004, there was no such thing as a non-AQ team even making it into a BCS game.

That all changed with Utah, the original BCS buster. The Utes ran through that season undefeated and earned a berth in the Fiesta Bowl against Pittsburgh. They were a revelation to the nation under then-coach Urban Meyer and super quarterback Alex Smith. Now the two schools will play for the first time since that game Thursday night in Salt Lake City, it is worth reflecting on what Utah did and how it helped change the system.

That season, Utah beat three teams from AQ conferences: Texas A&M, Arizona and North Carolina. Smith finished fourth in Heisman voting. It earned the right to play in the Fiesta Bowl with its top 6 finish in the BCS standings. While the Utes most certainly deserved their spot in the game, there were still questions about a team from the Mountain West Conference. How good were they? How good was the Mountain West? Consider Utah made it into the game before the BCS expanded to five games and changed its rules to guarantee a spot to a non-AQ team that finished in the Top 12 of the standings.

Though Pittsburgh was a team essentially nobody wanted -- the Big East champion that finished No. 21 in the BCS standings -- Utah still had to prove itself against a team from an automatic qualifying conference. It did that, easily winning 35-7 and finishing No. 4 while helping pave the way for non-AQ teams to follow. Since then, every season but 2005 has seen at least one non-AQ team make it into the BCS. Last year, history was made when both Boise State and TCU made it.

Utah has gone on to great success, having beaten Alabama in the 2009 Sugar Bowl for another undefeated season and a No. 2 ranking in the final AP poll. Both times it went undefeated, Utah failed to get a spot in the national championship game, and that contributed to Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch holding Congressional hearings into the legitimacy of the BCS.

Hatch has vowed to fight on for the non-AQs even now that Utah will join the Pac-10. Those two BCS wins made Utah an attractive candidate to join that conference, which has an automatic BCS berth. The Mountain West had been a candidate for automatic qualification status during the current four-year bowl cycle, but that is looking dimmer now with BYU set to leave.

Still, that first BCS game helped legitimize non-AQ schools everywhere. For the first time this season, two non-AQ teams are ranked in the preseason top 10. Boise State has its highest presason ranking, No. 3 in the AP poll and No. 5 in the coaches poll. TCU is No. 6 in the AP poll and No. 7 in the coaches poll.

Many fans still have questions about just how good these non-AQ schools really are, despite their BCS game success. But there is no question Utah paved the way for everyone else.

"I'm not sure we look at ourselves as any kind of pioneers," said Utah coach Kyle Whittingham, who served as co-coach in that game following Meyer's decision to leave for Florida. "We’re just proud to have been a part of a couple magical type of seasons that don’t come around very often.

"We’ll go down in history as the original BCS buster."

Rebuilding a defense is never easy. Imagine, then, having your new defense face one of the best running backs in the country on opening night.

Such is the task facing Utah defensive coordinator Kalani Sitake on Thursday, when the Utes host No. 15 Pittsburgh and powerful back Dion Lewis.

Utah lost seven starters, including all of its starting linebackers, rover and three defensive backs. Five of its top-six leading tacklers are gone.

“You wish you could have a lot more time as a coach, but the game is a test itself,” Sitake said in a phone interview. “We’ve got some young guys, but so does everybody else in the country. We’re sick of playing each other. We want to play against a good team, and we’re all excited to play.”

Sitake heaped generous amounts of praise on Lewis, who finished third in the country last season with 1,799 yards and 17 touchdowns as a true freshman. This season, he has garnered Heisman buzz, and many of the high hopes for Pittsburgh rest with how he plays.

“We’ve gone against some good running backs here since I’ve been here, and I think he may be one of the best,” Sitake said. “He’s a Barry Sanders-type -- he’ll make you miss. He’s also got very powerful legs and he’ll lower the shoulder, a guy who has all the tools. I love the way he plays the game. We’re going to have to stop a monster and we know that.”

What should help Utah is the depth it has returning on the defensive line, even without Koa Misi, who was third on the team last year with 71 tackles. Tackles Dave Kruger and Sealver Siliga are all-conference candidates. Six players are expected to rotate in at tackle.

Defensive end Christian Cox led the team with 5.5 sacks last season in a mostly backup role, but he did start three games. Derrick Shelby returns from a knee injury.

“We have to take advantage of the depth we have there, but my main concern is taking Dion down and make sure he stays down,” Sitake said. “If you watch film, he breaks tons of tackles. Even when you think he’s down, he’ll break out of it and take a 4-yard run into an 80-yard touchdown.”

Linebacker is the biggest concern going into the season, with leading tackler Stevenson Sylvester gone along with much depth. JJ Williams, expected to start at rover, is a game-time decision with a foot injury. Sitake wasn’t sure whether linebacker Jamel King (concussion) would play. Former quarterback Chad Manis is slated to start at strongside linebacker. If Williams can’t play, Matt Martinez and Chaz Walker will start.

Meanwhile, cornerback Brandon Burton anchors a secondary that features a true freshman at strong safety -- 6-foot-2, 208-pound Brian Blechen, a former quarterback in high school.

“Brian’s very mature when it comes to football knowledge,” Sitake said. “He’s very aggressive and likes to hit. All of that put together is a good thing. But now it’s time to grow up and what better way to grow up than throwing him in the fire with a bunch of big, physical players in Pittsburgh.”

Though this group is young and inexperienced compared to last year, Sitake was pleased with what he saw through fall camp. But now it is time to find out how his players will respond to a huge test.

“We have a good idea on our kids, but we’ll find out Thursday,” Sitake said.

Check out some of these pretty cool factoids for Week 1 compiled by ESPN’s Stats & Information group:

• Alabama is the fifth defending champion in the past nine years to be ranked No. 1 in the AP preseason poll. The previous four all won at least their first 12 games of that next season
• The ACC hasn't had a team go unbeaten through conference play since FSU in 2000.
• The No. 15 Pittsburgh Panthers are the popular pick to win the Big East. The Panthers are coming off a 10-3 season, ago but they haven't won 10-plus games in consecutive seasons since a three-year stretch from 1979-81 (11 wins each season).