It was a pleasantly typical day for the newly-ranked Utah Utes, who steamrolled over the UCLA Bruins on the road, 41-10.
The Utes went into Pasadena hoping to maintain the dominance they’ve carried over their last three games. On the outlook of the season, very few would imagine that this matchup came with championship implications. Both teams came into this matchup on quite a roll, but Utah was able to maintain their dominant play and earn their fourth consecutive win with 40+ points, a feat they haven’t obtained since 2004 when Alex Smith was under center.
UCLA put up the first touchdown of the game, off of a 25-yard run by Joshua Kelly, taking advantage of yet another slow start by the Utah offense, who only struck first because of a recovered muffed punt by the Bruins. Utah’s defense was as strong as ever, and UCLA’s first touchdown would be their only one of the game. Their next and final score was a field goal in the third quarter.
(Photo by: Justin Prather | The Utah Chronicle).
The Utah offense was the product of a combination of very usual suspects and some newcomers to the scoresheet. Tyler Huntley was 13/21, and while not throwing for a touchdown, was as dangerous as ever, both in and out of the pocket. Britain Covey got in on the passing game again, getting in on a trick play to toss a dime to Cole Fotheringham in the end zone for one of many, many touchdowns put up by Utah tonight.
Zack Moss had, by all definitions, a day. The running back had a career-high 211 rushing yards and a hat-trick, scoring three rushing touchdowns. Moss, along with the other members of the running core, combined for 325 yards on the ground alone, which was more than UCLA put up in total for the entire game, including a so-so performance from recent Michigan transfer Wilton Speight, whom the Utes faced off with before when he was with the Wolverines.
Utah now sits comfortably atop the Pac-12 South and is looking at a relatively easy schedule the rest of the way, with their hardest matchup coming in two weeks against Oregon. But for now, they leave the Rose Bowl with their fourth consecutive win and a matchup on the road against the Sun Devils of Arizona State University.
