UCLA Football: Loss to Utah erases hope generated in recent weeks

The UCLA football team has regressed back to their non-conference form in an ugly 41-10 loss to Utah as the Bruins could do no right on either side of the ball.

The crowd of 41,848 was the smallest to attend a UCLA football game at the Rose Bowl since 1997. It wasn’t so much that fans knew that this would be a blow out at the hands of Utah, but rather the conditions that surrounded it.

This was a Friday night game that kicked off at 7:30 p.m. It also went up against the Los Angeles Dodgers playing in Game 3 of the World Series a few miles down the 110 freeway. Heck, there were even several marquee high school games across Southern California that seemed more appealing.

Either way, if you missed the UCLA game, you didn’t miss much.

In recent weeks, there has been marked progress by first-year coach Chip Kelly as his squad. After last week’s win against Arizona, fans and analysts were wide-eyed with the possibility that the Bruins could win the South Division. All of that faded after a 3-hour beatdown by Utah.

For a split second, things looked like they would continue to improve in this game. UCLA, which was led by Wilton Speight as Dorian Thompson-Robinson did not play after sustaining an injury last week, had the lead midway through the first quarter. After only allowing a field goal, after Adarius Pickett muffed a punt that put Utah at the UCLA 5, the Bruins marched down the field for an 11-play drive that took five and a half minutes off the clock.

UCLA followed that up with an interception in the end zone by Quentin Lake, the second time he has done that in as many weeks, which killed some of the Utes’ momentum. The few fans that were at the Arroyo Seco roared and were on their feet with jubilation. That quickly faded as Utah got into the end zone four more times before the Bruins got on the board again in the 3rd quarter.

Things were not going right for the Bruins and no one seemed to have answers. On offense, Speight was great and then not so great as he threw beautifully thrown bullets intermixed with inaccurate passes. His receivers did not help his efforts as they dropped key passes that would have had the Bruins moving the ball for large chunks. Joshua Kelley also had his 4-game streak of rushing for 100-yards broken, though it was close as he collected 90 yards.

On defense, tackles were being missed left and right as they gave every ball carrier an unnecessary amount of extra yards after contact. Utah’s RB Zack Moss could do no wrong as he ran for 211 yards and averaged 8.1 per carry.

It was a good thing not many fans were able to witness this monstrosity, but it does not mean it did not happen. For UCLA, they now have to figure out what their path is for the rest of the season. With four games left, they need four wins to become bowl eligible and that is not a possibility with games at Oregon and ASU followed by home games against Stanford and USC.

The Bruins might be able to pull off one or two wins, but they are not getting four, especially if they have been playing the way they have in the last two contests.