UCLA Football: Statistical progress from the Utah game

The UCLA football team was put in their place on Friday night by the Utah Utes, stifling the progress they have made in recent weeks, especially in the stat column.

The UCLA football was on a bit of a roll until they ran into the bump in the road by the name of Utah which caused them to veer off the road and down into a ditch. Thankful, there were not a lot of people at the Rose Bowl on Friday night to watch this catastrophe.

RELATED: UCLA’s Loss to Utah Erases Hope Generated in Recent Weeks

After squeaking out a win against Arizona last week, a game which revealed several weaknesses with the Bruins, UCLA was beatdown against a Utah team that exploited those weaknesses.

It also did not help that there was massive change with the offense, but regardless, UCLA had more problems than just a change in the signal caller. Here is what became of UCLA’s loss…

Total Offensive Yards:

Season Avg (Nat’l Ranking): 346.1 (108th) | Vs. Utah: 291

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Things did not go well for UCLA after their second drive of the game. The Bruins marched down the field with an efficient drive that made them look as if they were going to stand toe-to-toe with Utah. Unfortunately, the Bruins did not do too much after that as mistakes were plentiful and came way too often.

Offensive Rushing Yards

Season Avg (Nat’l Ranking): 147.5 (82nd) | Vs. Utah: 127

Joshua Kelley nearly extended his 100-yard rushing streak to five games as he ran for 90 yards against Utah. Unfortunately, head coach Chip Kelly entrusted the game plan to the pass which limited UCLA’s progress on the ground. The Bruins passed the ball 40 times as opposed to running (26 times) it despite Kelley averaging 5.6 yards per attempt.

Offensive Passing Yards

Season Avg (Nat’l Ranking): 198.6 (96th) | Vs. Utah: 164

With a new QB in, one would hope the game plan would be centered around the run game, which has been working well for the Bruins. Instead, with Dorian Thompson-Robinson “unavailable”, Wilton Speight got his second start of the season. With the veteran in the game, Kelly put it in his hands to advance the ball for the Bruins. Unfortunately, it did not go so well as he only threw for 164 yards on 20/40 passing and two interceptions. Add to that his inaccuracy and the fact that his receivers dropped key passes and you have a recipe for disaster.

Scoring Offense (Points)

Season Avg (Nat’l Ranking): 21.2 (111th) | Vs. Utah: 10

When you can’t move the ball, you can’t score. Plain and simple. This was the lowest output of points for UCLA this season. There is not much else you can say about.

Total Defensive Yards:

Season Avg (Nat’l Ranking): 431.8 (88th) | Vs. Utah: 470

Sure, UCLA’s defense did not give up 520 total yards like they did last weekend, but 470 is not great either, especially when it is nearly 40 more yards than their season average.

Defensive Rushing Yards

Season Avg (Nat’l Ranking): 210.0 (104th) | Vs. Utah: 325

Sure, UCLA’s defense did not give up 289 rushing yards like they did last weekend… hang on, wait, it’s actually much worse. When I went back to rewatch the game, I tried to calculate how many yards after contact the Bruins gave up on defense, but I was getting increasingly frustrated and decided to turn on ‘The Venture Bros.’ UCLA’s tackling was horrendous, and yes, I give a lot of credit to Utah’s Zack Moss who put on a lot of moves on Friday, but that is what became frustrating. If UCLA knows that Moss has skills, it seems imperative to make an effort to stop him at first contact. But here we are.

Defensive Passing Yards

Season Avg (Nat’l Ranking): 221.8 (51st) | Vs. Utah: 145

BOOM! Finally, UCLA was able to hold back a passing offense. But hold on there, this stat is a little skewed when you realize that Utah only passed the ball 20 times as opposed to running it down UCLA’s throat 50 times. It also doesn’t help that Utah QB Tyler Huntley averaged 6.6 yards per attempt in this game. Oh well, at least the Bruins had another end zone interception. Well played, Quentin Lake!

Scoring Defense (Points)

Season Avg (Nat’l Ranking): 32.5 (91st) | Vs. Utah: 41

The good news is that this is not the most points the Bruins have given up this season. It is the second most behind Oklahoma’s 49. Silver linings.