Five Things: UCLA vs. Utah

With first place in the Pac-12 South on the line, UCLA football (5-4, 3-3 Pac-12) lost to Utah (5-3, 4-1) by a score of 44-24 Saturday night in Salt Lake City. The loss marked the Bruins’ fifth straight defeat at the hands of the Utes and put them a game and a half out from first place in the division. Here are the five main takeaways from another UCLA loss to Utah.

Azzinaro falls short – again

This is going to get repetitive, but it is impossible to capture the main takeaways of this game without invoking Jerry Azzinaro’s name.

UCLA’s defensive coordinator was severely out-coached Saturday – a recurring theme this season – as the Bruins conceded a season-high 44 points.

By no means do the Utes possess a potent offense. They rank in the middle of the Pac-12 in total offense, rushing offense and passing offense even after their dominant performance against the Bruins.

Despite being mediocre, Utah’s offense completely outclassed the UCLA defense from the opening kickoff. The Utes scored on their first four possessions of the game, dicing through the Bruins’ defense with ease and putting up 28 points before the second quarter concluded.

While the home team was held to just 14 points on offense in the second half, the damage had already been done. The defense handed the offense its biggest halftime deficit of the season, and that’s why UCLA lost the game.

The stats tell the story – this defense is bad, and it has been since Azzinaro arrived ahead of the 2018 season.

Maybe this is the game that finally opens coach Chip Kelly’s eyes.

‘How the turntables’ (and more about the defense)

When the Bruins lose, the passing defense is the usual culprit.

Conversely, when UCLA wins, it has been in large part due to its rushing defense.

So it’s fitting that the two defensive units switched roles on Halloween weekend.

After weeks of UCLA’s opponents airing it out against the blue and gold, Utah went the other way, rushing for a season-high 44 attempts against the conference’s best run defense.

The Bruins allowed 290 rushing yards to the Utes – the most they have given up in two seasons – at nearly seven yards per rush. Entering the game, no team had run for more than 180 yards against UCLA in 2021, with Arizona State’s 5.4 yards per rush the highest mark this season against the blue and gold before Saturday.

Utah scored five of its six touchdowns on the ground, marking the second straight week UCLA gave up five scores on the ground to its opponent. Four of those touchdowns this week went to running back Tavion Thomas, who also rushed for a career-high 160 yards.

Suffice to say, the Utes’ strategy of keeping the rock on the ground worked, again exposing the vulnerability of the Bruin defense.

Utah caught UCLA’s coaching staff completely off guard, and that’s unacceptable this late in the season.

Garbers shows promise

The Bruins may have lost, but it’s definitely not because of who they started at under center.

Redshirt freshman quarterback Ethan Garbers went 27-of-44 passing Saturday night, throwing for 265 yards – the second-most yards by a UCLA quarterback this season – and two touchdowns.

As was expected from a quarterback making his first career start in a hostile environment, Garbers played somewhat conservatively in the first half, throwing for only 76 yards on 19 pass attempts – good for four yards per attempt. Of his 13 completions, none went for more than 15 yards.

Garbers looked the part of game manager, limiting the big mistakes while making the smart decisions time and again. There is nothing wrong with that, especially as a freshman – just look at senior quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson’s freshman and sophomore seasons, in which he threw 16 total interceptions.

However, perhaps because of the state of the game with UCLA down by double digits, Garbers let it rip in the second half. His yards per attempt nearly doubled, as he threw for 189 yards in the third and fourth quarters alone, while three of his first four second-half completions went for 25 yards or more.

The signal-caller made a number of impressive throws down the field, particularly on UCLA’s first scoring drive in the second half, in which Garbers drove his team 91 yards down the field in only six plays.

Under pressure, Garbers floated a ball 41 yards down the field to senior wide receiver Chase Cota, and the quarterback later finished the drive with a dart that was dropped by redshirt junior wide receiver Josiah Norwood and then another that was caught by senior tight end Michael Ezeike.

Garbers showed a lot in his first career start: arm strength, mobility, moxie – you name it. The only thing he needs now is a win.

Line play pains

The Bruins entered the game Saturday as one of the best rushing teams in the conference, averaging north of 200 yards per game on the ground in 2021.

A big part of that had to do with the offensive line, which, despite dealing with injuries, has been a constant bright spot on the season.

However, it looked like the line reached a breaking point Saturday night.

With starting right tackle redshirt junior Alec Anderson out, UCLA – who has already shifted around linemen for much of the year in the absence of senior Sam Marrazzo – was forced to shift around its line yet again. Redshirt junior Jon Gaines II, who had been shifting between guard and center, played right tackle while others subbed in on the interior.

With the patchwork offensive line, the Bruins were held to 146 yards on the ground – their third-lowest total in nine games this season – while they were tackled behind the line of scrimmage six times and were called for four false start penalties.

Garbers suffered too, as he was often pressured from all directions and forced to make difficult plays on the run. The quarterback was also sacked twice, one of which resulted in a safety.

Let’s talk about the safety. How is this bad of a play from senior offensive lineman Atonio Mafi even remotely possible on a football field?

After starting the season strong, the number of injuries is starting to catch up to the Bruins’ offensive line, a unit that has quietly been getting worse and worse in the last few weeks.

Kiss Pac-12 South hopes goodbye

The Bruins had a perfect opportunity Saturday night.

Sitting in third place in the Pac-12 South at the start of the day, UCLA had a chance to jump to first when Arizona State was upset by 16-point underdog Washington State.

The Sun Devils were half a game ahead of the Bruins at the start of the day, but their loss meant a Bruin win would give the blue and gold the top spot in the division. Arizona State would still win the division if it won out, but UCLA would be in prime position with three very winnable games on its schedule.

But as they are known to do, the Bruins blew it.

UCLA’s loss to Utah all but eliminates it from winning the Pac-12 South, as the Utes sit a game and a half ahead of the Bruins with the tiebreaker. This means UCLA would need to make up at least two whole games against Utah, a team that has four games left compared to the blue and gold’s three.

The Bruins would need to win out and hope the Utes – who finish their season with matchups against Pac-12 bottom dwellers Arizona and Colorado along with two other contests – lose three of their last four games. Pretty unlikely, right?

The Bruins can’t say they didn’t have a chance. Ultimately, they have no one else to blame but themselves for yet another middling Pac-12 finish.