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UCLA Football vs. Utah Halftime Report: Utes lead Bruins 17-10 in a sloppy affair

By Mike Regalado

PASADENA, CA - SEPTEMBER 30: Head coach Jim Mora looks on prior to a game against the Colorado Buffaloes at the Rose Bowl on September 30, 2017 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
PASADENA, CA - SEPTEMBER 30: Head coach Jim Mora looks on prior to a game against the Colorado Buffaloes at the Rose Bowl on September 30, 2017 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images) /
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The UCLA Football team is playing as uncomfortable game as you would expect against the similarly struggling Utah Utes, though both have some fight in them.

UCLA Football fans found out about an hour before the game that Josh Rosen did not make the trip to Salt Lake City, giving Devon Modster the start at quarterback. The Bruins coaches did not exactly put trust in him early. In the 1st quarter alone, Modster threw it twice while the they ran it 11 times.

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The run did not exactly work as the Utes stopped the Bruins on their first two drives. Bolu Olorunfunmi carried most of the load and was successful, especially with getting several yards after contact.

In the mean time, Utah, who had troubles of their own, were also limited by their mistakes as they could muster no more than 40 total yards in the first quarter. Luckily UCLA gave the Utes a present as a muffed punt put Utah on their own 15 which eventual led to a the first score of the game as Zach Moss ran almost untouched for the touchdown.

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It was a comedy of errors as both teams could not get their game plan into action early. An example of that came when both burned two timeouts before the second quarter because of miscommunication and questionable coaching.

Just before the end of the first quarter, Modster let his second pass fly and got 42 yards on a connection with Darren Andrews that led to a a 37-yard field goal by JJ Molson to make the game 7-3 in Utah’s favor.

A few drives later, a penalty-riddled march down the field came out in Utah’s favor as Tyler Huntley connected with Darren Carrington II on a 25-yard touchdown pass. The circus catch was questionable, but Carrington was able to drag one foot. It was still good for the score which led to Utah’s 14-3 lead.

On the next drive, UCLA was able to get their first touchdown in a surprising way. Modster seemed to have the trust of the coaches and it paid off as a Theo Howard pulled down a one-handed grab falling out of bounds which was followed up by a Rosen-esque pass by Modster to Andrews who got UCLA to within four points on the touchdown catch. Utah’s lead was only 14-10.

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Utah finally got comfortable against UCLA’s run defense and was able to get down the field on the ground in their final drive of the half, but once they got into the red zone, the Bruin defense put the clamps down and limited Utah to a field goal with less than a minute left in the half. It is 17-10 heading into the break.