The UCLA football team got their first win at the Rose Bowl this season. Can they get their second when Utah comes to town this Friday?
The UCLA football team got their second win of the season last week and their first win at the Rose Bowl. It was a hard-fought, stressful battle that showed us that the Bruins still have a long way to go. But it also showed that they still have some fight, fight, fight in them.
RELATED: UCLA’s Win Over Arizona Keeps them in the Hunt for the South Division
Despite being winless at 0-5 two weeks ago, the Bruins have rattled off two victories which have surprisingly kept them alive in the South Division. Last week, Utah brutalized USC, giving both teams a 3-2 record on top of the division standings (and obviously, Utah has the tie-breaker).
With UCLA going 2-2 in conference play, they have put themselves half a game back of first place behind the Utes, which means that this game is crucial to both team’s divisional hopes. Can you imagine? The Bruins, who some were expecting to go 0-12 this season, could be at the top of the South after this weekend.
That is if they beat Utah, a team that has owned the Bruins at the Rose Bowl the last two meetings.
The Utah Utes
Is this game against Utah going to be tough? Do hipsters have beards? Yes. Proof of that comes in the form of a sweep of weekly Pac-12 Awards. Quarterback Tyler Huntley was the offensive player of the week, LB Chase Hansen was the defensive player of the week and K Matt Gay was the special teams player of the week.
"DID YOU KNOW? Kyle Whittingham has been involved with te Utah football program since 1994. He has been the Utes defenisve line coach, linebackers coach, defensive coordinator and now the head coach."
The Utes are tough, there is no doubt about that, but they are also human. There is a reason they are 3-2 in conference, although both of those losses came at the hands of Washington and Washington State, two teams that are helping to make the Pac-12 North Division one of the most dangerous in the country.
But let us not forget that Utah downed Stanford and humiliated USC, limiting the Trojans to just over 200 total yards and took out their top two quarterbacks. Needless to say, after their first two conference losses, the Utes have been on a roll.
So what is UCLA going to see on Friday when it comes to the Utes offense?
Utah Offense
Utah’s offense needed some time to get rolling but now that they are, they are running through teams. Part of that has to do with the confidence and efficiency that QB Tyler Huntley is displaying this season. Against what was supposed to be an otherworldly USC defense, Huntley connected on 75% of his throws for 341 yards and 4 touchdowns.
I don’t know about you, but that is impressive against any team, let alone one of the best in the Pac-12. For the season, Huntley is averaging 223 yards per game, which is still an incredible amount of yards. That is easily accomplished when you have an incredible receiving corps as Huntley has at his disposal. His main weapon is Britain Covey (who might have the best name in the conference) who is averaging nearly 70 yards per game. If Utah wanst yards in chunks, they can go to Jaylen Dixon who is gaining 28.2 yards per catch. PER CATCH. Needless to say, the Bruins’ pass defense will have their hands full, but they also need to focus on the run.
2018 Utah Offensive Stats
Total – 425.9 | Rushing – 187.9 | Passing – 238.0 | Scoring – 30.3
Zack Moss is one of the deadlier running backs in the conference. He knows how to get through the tackles and can plow ahead to get those all-important yards after contact. Not only that, but he can get down the field in a hurry. This season his longest run went for 86 yards. He is also running for 107 yards per game and has 7 touchdowns this season. If UCLA’s run defense was as paper thin as it was against Arizona last week, Moss will have a field day at the Rose Bowl.
Interesting, a Utah running back that will run all over the Bruins in Pasadena, where have we seen that before?
UCLA really needs to buckle down if they want to shut down Utah’s offense, but the way the Utes have their machine chugging along, this seems like an impossible feat. If the defense cannot get it done for UCLA, then maybe the offense will. But that’s if they get past the Utah defense.
Utah Defense
It does not get any easier on this side of the football. UCLA has improved their offensive attack, but who knows what will happen or who will be leading the offense, Dorian Thompson-Robinson or Wilton Speight. Either way, they have the tough task of trying to get past the Utah defense at every single level.
The run defense is especially scary. For the season, they are averaging 6.4 tackles for a loss, 2.9 sacks per game and limiting teams to 74.6 yards. Many were worried about the defensive line at the beginning of the season as the lost some key players, but since then they have a few guys that are showing their muscle.
"DID YOU KNOW? Since Kye Whittingham has been the head coach of Utah, he has had a bowl record of 11-1. I wonder what that’s like…"
Bradlee Anae has proven to be a headache for offenses as he has 6.5 TFLs and leads the team in sacks with 5 on the year. He also has 3 pass breakups. John Penisini is another concern on the line as he has got into the backfield 5 times for TFLs and 2 sacks. And this is just the surface of the DL. What makes matters worse is that the line is probably the weakest group on Utah’s defense.
The linebacker group is quite possibly the best in the Pac-12. Led by Chase Hansen, who should be a consensus All-Pac-12 Defensive First Teamer, is a player that does not stay put as he gets all over the field. He leads the team in tackles (63), tackles for a loss (14), interceptions (tied with 2) and second in sacks (4). If I was Chip Kelly, I would make sure the ball is kept as far away from this human as possible. But he is not the only LB the Bruins have to worry about. Cody Barton and Donovan Thompson are the perfect compliments to Hansen. Both are aggressive and have combined for a total of 78 tackles this season. But that is not all!
2018 Utah Defensive Stats
Total – 286.4 | Rushing – 74.6 | Passing – 211.9 | Scoring – 17.7
Utah was able to shut down the potent USC receivers as they limited the Trojans to only 132 yards through the air. Javelin Guidry and Jaylen Johnson are third and fourth on the team in tackles with 28 and 26, respectively. Guidry is making a case to be one of the top defensive backs in the conference. Not only does he have 3 TFLs, but he has broken up 7 passes this season. Johnson is tied for the most INTs with two. He is a quiet killer as he comes on with his pressure slowly, but once he does, he will be able to shut down receivers that make their way to his side of the field.
So you can see why the Bruins have a tough task on their hands. UCLA has improved their offense exponentially in the last few games, but will they be able to crack the Utah defensive code? They have stood tall against the tough defenses that Washington and Cal brought to the game, but Utah seems to be a bigger challenge. The key for UCLA is to get the run game going. Even if DTR/Speight have solid passing games, they will not be able to get the win unless the ground game is running on all cylinders.
Prediction
When Wilton Speight replacing DTR against Arizona, the grad transfer did a decent job of leading the offense. The only problem was that he brought a different flow to the game which changed the dynamic. Not by a lot, but the Bruins have been used to the freshman running things.
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I have no doubt that Speight will figure out how to get yards and points if he has the conch, but if DTR is good to go, Kelly should go with the player that he has been riding (and helped his offense improve) all season long.
As noted above, UCLA has to get their run game going. Utah is really good at stopping the rushing attack which is why Kelly has to throw in new wrinkles, formations, and looks. This is something he is accustomed to, but he has to find weaknesses in the Utah line. If he cannot, game over, man!
And who knows which UCLA defense will show up. The Bruins have been tested against really good offenses this season and they have held their own. And then they faced a mediocre Arizona offense and got ran over for nearly 300 yards. If they allow this against Utah, then it is game over, part 2.
UCLA needs to play a near-perfect game. The offense needs to play fast and put together consistent drives. The defense needs to puff out their chest and knock Utah back a few yards. They can’t squander field position and special teams need to help out when they are called upon.
With that being said, even the tiny mistake could cost the Bruins and I think there will be a few of those which will shift the game in Utah’s favor.
Prediction: Utah 35 – UCLA 14