In this late-season game, the UCLA Football team will have to try and conquer the Utah Utes in a Friday night game in early November. Brrr.
The UCLA Football team will be looking to turn their momentum around from last season, but as we have discovered in our Go Joe Bruin previews, it is going to be extremely difficult.
One of the bigger obstacles in their way will be recent thorn in their side, the Utah Utes. Last season, Utah ran all over the Bruins (actually, it was really only RB Joe Williams who ran for 322 yards). In 2017, UCLA will head to the SLC where they have won the last two games against Utah.
Though this is a good sign, what is not is the perception of both teams. UCLA has to prove their worth if they want to be taken seriously and Utah needs to beat UCLA to have a chance to win the South Division. The Utes are the only team that has not won the South among the six division teams. Now that is a thorn in the side of Utah Head Coach Kyle Whittingham.
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What: UCLA Bruins vs. Utah Utes
Where: Rice-Eccles Stadium, Salt Lake City, UT
When: Friday, November 3
Utah’s 2016 Record: 9-4 overall, 5-4 Pac -12
Utah is a very good program led by Whittingham. They have been competitive every season they have been a part of the Pac-12, but have not been able to dominate the South Division.
This might be the season that changes. With UCLA, Arizona and Arizona State all seemingly down, Utah has to go through mountain “rival” Colorado and the projected winner of the South, USC.
Utah has a new look on offense, but they have lost several players on both sides of the ball which could slow them down.
Utah Offense:
Utah changes things up with a new offensive coordinator as Troy Taylor will bring his expertise from Eastern Washington, but will it translate to succcess with Utah who has a lot of questions heading into 2017?
Senior quarterback Troy Williams will have his second year leading the Utes into battle. In 2016 he threw for 2,757 yards and 15 touchdowns, but was inconsistent in a few games, especially late in the season.
Another question is who will lead the running attack (which was the 3rd best in the conference last season)? The Utes had a soap opera-esque year from Joe Williams who led the way after retiring and coming out of retirement in the first half of the season. Utah now has to rely on two of last year’s backups, Armand Shine and Zach Moss to replace his 156.3 yards per game from last season
Utah gets their top receiving target back as Realon Singleton will once again have to be the go-to guy in the receiving game. He caught 27 balls last season for 464 yards and 4 touchdowns. That is good, but can the new OC get quality yards out of any other of his receivers and do better than 9th in the Pac-12 in receiving yards per game?
The worry here comes from the offensive line as they only return one starter. Right tackle Sales Uhatale will have to go above and beyond to try and help his group. Though hey have a lot of youth, they are going to need to get up to speed quickly so that Troy Williams is not running for his life.
Against UCLA, Utah will probably have to rely on their ground game to beat the Bruins (again). They can try to pass agaisnt UCLA, but the secondary will limit the Utes’ passing chances.
Utah 2016 Offensive Stats
Total Offense: 430.7 (7th in the PAC-12)
Passing Offense: 216.7 (9th)
Rushing Offense: 214.0 (3rd)
Scoring Offense: 29.8 (8th)
Utah Defense:
One thing is for certain, Utah is still going to be strong on the defensive side of the ball (now where have we seen that before? A team with a questionable offense and a strong defense?).
It begins with the defensive line where they are just stacked. The Utes return starters Filipa Mokofisi and Lowell Lotulelei. Add to that the talent of former Bruin Kylie Fitts and the Utes will once again have a devistating run defense. Hopefully Utah can retain their spot at the top of the Pac as the best run defense team, which should not be a problem with Whittingham at the helm.
The Utes will also be strong in the linebacking corps. Sunia Tauteoli and Kavika Luafatasaga are extremely talented and will help the D-line keep running teams in check. Basically, if you are going to try and run against Utah, you better have a top notch offensive line and a stellar running attack because not a lot of teams will not have success on the ground agaisnt Utah.
With that in mind, teams need to go to the air agaisnt the Utes. The secondary has a lot of talented youth but are led by the team’s leading tackler from last season, Chase Hansen who logged 90 total tackles. Other than that, the DBs are fairly inexperienced.
UCLA is going to have to try and get some sort of ground game going, even if it is a struggle. If they can get a decent amount of yards, then they can really open up the passing game, which is the Bruins’ best bet to beat Utah.
Utah 2016 Defensive Stats
Total Defense: 383.0 (6th in the PAC-12)
Passing Defense: 254.3 (8th)
Rushing Defense: 128.7 (1st)
Scoring Defense: 23.9 (4th)
Next: 100 things to look for with UCLA Football in 2017
Final Analysis
This late in the season, both UCLA and Utah are going to be eyeing the South Division and both stand in the other’s way. The Bruins have been lucky to escape the SLC with wins in their last two visits in close games. The same could be true for this potentially cold Friday’s night game in November. This could essentially be UCLA’s toughest game in Utah in years and could define where this team is going in the post-season.