First place in the Mountain West Conference and any chance at an invitation to a BCS bowl game will be on the line on Thursday night when No. 11 TCU takes on No. 10 Utah.

Both the Horned Frogs and the Utes enter the week undefeated in conference play, and whoever keeps it that way on Thursday night will likely end up winning the Mountain West and have a decent shot at a BCS berth.

The Horned Frogs easily knocked off UNLV last week 44-14 as a 16.5-point favorite. Andy Dutton threw three touchdown passes in the rout and the TCU defense held UNLV to only 175 total yards, which included only 67 passing yards.

The Utes had a hard time against New Mexico last week, but thanks to a late stand from the defense they came away with a 13-10 win as an 8-point favorite. The Utah offense, which had scored at least 30 points in each of their last seven games, scored only one touchdown in the win, a TD strike from QB Brian Johnson to Brent Castell.

Thursday's showdown between TCU and Utah pits the top two offenses in the Mountain West against one another, with the Horned Frogs averaging 36.6 points per game, which is only half a point better than the Utes' 36.1 points per game. Utah boasted the top offense in the conference for most of the season before last week's poor effort against New Mexico. The difference maker in Thursday's game could be the defenses, where TCU appears to have the advantage. The Horned Frogs sport the top defense in the Mountain West, allowing only 10.8 points per game after giving up seven points or less in seven games this season.

Last season the Utes traveled to TCU and upset the Horned Frogs 27-20 as a 3.5-point underdog to improve their lifetime record against TCU to 4-1. Thursday's game could come down to the final play, as the Utes are only a 2.5-point favorite.