UCLA football went to Salt Lake on Saturday and suffered its first defeat of the season, falling to Utah 14-7. Let’s break down this performance, position-by-position.
Time to hold your nose and take your medicine. This was a tough one.
Quarterback: D
Well, it’s crow-eating time here. I was convinced that this would be Dante Moore’s coming-out party, and I was wrong. He opened the game with a pick-six, and there were no real positives to glean from his performance until the fourth quarter. After so much hype was built up around the freshman quarterback, Saturday was sobering.
Moore gets a D, though, because while he could have played much better, he also had absolutely no help up front (more on the OL below).
Running Back: C
The backs weren’t bad on Saturday, but they weren’t great. TJ Harden and Carson Steele combined for 60 yards on 22 carries, and the only reception between the two was a 12-yard catch from Steele.
Again, there wasn’t much push up front, so it’s tough to ether the offensive skill groups, but this wasn’t a banner day.
Receivers: B
This was probably the brightest spot for UCLA’s offense on a difficult day. Carsen Ryan caught three balls for 69 yards, Logan Loya hauled in five for 63, and J Michael Sturdivant caught three for 60. Josiah Norwood scored a touchdown on his lone reception of the day, finding the end zone on a 17-yarder.
Offensive Line: F
This is where all the problems started on Saturday. The Bruin front allowed their freshman quarterback to be sacked seven times, and ball carriers were tackled for loss on 11 plays. That alone makes 18 snaps with negative yardage. How do you win that way, let alone beat a team like Utah?
This was just a putrid performance. Utah may field the best defensive front in the conference, so it can’t get any worse than Saturday, but man, that was a difficult watch from front to back.
While the offense struggled mightily, the defense held up its end of the bargain on Saturday. This was a strong game for D’Anton Lynn’s defense.
Defensive Line: B
The Bruins were absolutely stout up front. They weren’t the highlight group on the defense, and Laiatu Latu didn’t have a flashy, multi-sack game, but the defensive line did exactly what was needed of it on Saturday. This group took up space, disrupted offensive blocking schemes, and allowed the Bruin linebackers to have a banner day.
Linebackers: A
Kain Medrano emerged on Saturday, racking up ten tackles, two sacks, and 2.5 tackles for loss. Darius Muasau alongside him was great as well, getting a sack and a tackle for loss of his own. This group seems to have gotten better every week, and they were standouts against the Utes.
Utah’s running game was shut down all day by this front seven, gaining just 102 yards on 48 attempts, good for a rate of just 2.1 yards per carry.
Secondary: A
When the front seven forced the Utes to throw the ball, Nate Johnson wasn’t able to get much going at all through the air on Saturday. The Utah quarterback finished the day 9-of-17 for just 117 yards and a single touchdown.
This wasn’t a flashy day for the secondary, but it was a successful one nonetheless. Ute receivers had trouble getting open all day long, and while the Bruins didn’t register any interceptions on Saturday, they also didn’t give up any big plays.
Special Teams: C
Everything about the special teams was average on Saturday. RJ Lopez nailed his lone kick, an extra point. Will Powers punted eight times, downing just one inside the 20 but flipping field position consistently for the Bruins. Colson Yankoff and Logan Loya were contained in the return game by Utah’s solid kick coverage teams.
Not a whole lot to write home about for the special teams.
Overall Grade: C
How do you grade a game in which one unit was awful and one unit was tremendous? You meet in the middle. A “C” grade may feel high after watching that offense for 60 minutes, but despite that inept day, the defense kept UCLA in this game until the end.
Morgan Scalley’s unit was the best defense that the Bruins will play all year, so it’s tough to imagine things getting any worse than that. Moore and Co. will have plenty of opportunities to get right against Oregon State, Stanford, Colorado, and USC.
If they do indeed right the ship, the Bruins could still be poised for a big year. The offensive line must improve for that to happen, but as stifling as that defeat was, this UCLA squad could still be in the Pac-12 hunt come November.