Sunday Morning QB: Stars and stats from Utah's thrilling upset over No. 8 UCLA

The Utes rebounded in a big way Saturday night, upsetting No. 8/9 UCLA , 30-28, in Pasadena, California, on a late field goal and surviving a last-second field goal attempt in the Rose Bowl.

Utah football Kyle Whittingham and the Utes (4-1, 1-1) now have an interesting dilemma heading into their bye week. Is Kendal Thompson, who played well in replacement of Travis Wilson, the starting quarterback heading into Oregon State?

Scoring recap: Utah drew first blood on a 27-yard interception return for a touchdown midway through the first quarter. Looking to get the offense running, Whittingham turned to Thompson, who didn’t disappoint.

Thompson hit Dres Anderson on 42-yard pass for a touchdown to extend Utah’s lead to 14-0 early in the second quarter.

UCLA answered with a 10-play, 82-yard drive, capped off with a Paul Perkins touchdown run. However, Utah's Andy Phillips kicked a field goal in the final moments before the halftime break, giving the Utes a 17-7 lead.

The Bruins opened the second half by cutting the deficit to 17-14 on a Eddie Vanderdoes 1-yard touchdown rush with 5:45 left in the third quarter.

Devontae Booker, who had a monster day on the ground, responded with 6-yard touchdown carry, bowling over the UCLA defense to up the Utes’ lead to 24-14.

Pinned deep early in the fourth quarter, UCLA picked up a big strike with quarterback Brett Hundley finding Devin Fuller for a 93-yard touchdown catch and run.

After another Phillips field goal, the Bruins took their first and only lead of the game on a 40-yard pass from Hundley to Eldridge Massington, giving UCLA a 28-27 advantage.

Utah answered with a 10-play, 63-yard drive, chewing up 4:16 that ended with the go-ahead 29-yard field goal by Phillips with 34 seconds left in the game.

UCLA had one last chance at thwarting the upset, but Ka’imi Fairbairn badly missed a 55-yard field goal attempt. However, a running into the kicker penalty gave the kicker one more shot. Fairbairn’s attempted sailed just wide and the game was over.

Utah’s three stars

Devontae Booker

Where would Utah be offensively without Booker? That has to be a question Whittingham doesn’t want to ever hear. The junior, who grabbed the starting job this week, ran for 156 yards and a touchdown on 33 carries Saturday night. However, it was his reliability that made him stand out the most. With the Utes facing a third-and-four on the go-ahead drive, Booker broke off a big 15-yard run to allow Utah to kill more time before connecting on the deciding field goal.

While Thompson also deserves some love for how he handled the ball, Booker has proven himself as the leader of the offense. Not only is he garnering the trust of the Utes’ offense (he had more carries Saturday than his first three games of the season combined), he’s becoming the keystone of the offense too. Booker now has 334 yards and two scores on the ground in his first two Pac-12 games.

Nate Orchard

The Utes kept attacking and attacking Hundley throughout the game, and Orchard led the attack. Orchard led Utah with 11 tackles (eight solo) in the contest, including four sacks. The Utes picked up 10 total sacks in the game and even when he wasn’t sacking Hundley, Orchard seemed to always be in Hundley’s grill. Hundley eventually connected on a pair of long touchdown passes, but other than that, it was a tough day in the office for UCLA’s signal-caller.

Andy Phillips/Tom Hackett

Obviously when you kick the game-winning field goal in the final minute, you end up a star. “Automatic Andy” went 3-for-3 on his kicks, and he also successfully pulled off a surprise onside kick in the first half, which he recovered himself.

However, he wasn’t the only guy with a boot making an impact for the Utes. Hackett averaged 49.2 yards per punt, downing four of his eight punts inside the 20-yard line. His best work though was preventing the dangerous Ishmael Adams from doing anything. He returned just one punt for 1 yard.

Analyzing the stats

— Thompson and Booker accounted for almost everything offensively Saturday on Utah’s end. The duo accounted for 336 yards of offense combined — six yards shy of Utah’s 342 total yards of offense. Both were pretty effective on the ground. Both averaged around 4.5 yards per carry — a half yard above the UCLA average this season. Thompson averaged 6.1 yards per play. He completed 77 percent of his passes, and that could have been higher if it weren’t for two drops and a tipped pass at the line.

— Utah definitely did a good job containing the Heisman hopeful Hundley most of the game. Hundley completed just six more passes than the number times he found himself on the turf. The UCLA quarterback was harassed early and often and the Utes sacked him 10 times in the game — second-most in school history. Save it be for the two touchdown passes (93 and 40 yards), Hundley would have accounted for just 112 total yards in the game.

— Utah also made things difficult overall. The Utes compiled 13 tackles for loss, totaling 66 yards — around 5 yards per tackle for loss. Utah even compiled a defensive stand that included three sacks in a row. The three-and-out drive for UCLA went for minus-20 yards. Though it was close in the end, it was the tackles for loss that made it hard for UCLA to get the offense rolling consistently.

— Anderson’s 38 yards of receiving Saturday put him to 2,012 yards receiving in his career. He became just the fifth Ute to reach the 2,000 plateau with his 42-yard touchdown grab.

— The big number of the weekend: 11. Eleven ranked teams fell in a 48-hour span, starting with No. 2 Oregon Thursday and ending Saturday night with No. 8/9 UCLA. No ranked team was safe. Five of the top eight schools lost. It was a historic weekend for all of college football and Utah was a part of it.

Up next: It will be an intriguing bye week for Whittingham and the Utes. The question will be: Should the Utes stick with Wilson or go with Thompson? That’s something that Whittingham will have time to mull over. The Utes have the second and final bye week of the season coming up before heading out to Oregon State.

Thompson completed his passes and added a flare to the ground game alongside Booker. He got the chains moving, but he also wasn’t overpowering. Could that be enough to save Wilson’s job? The fans will probably have to wait until Oct. 16 to find out.

One thing is for sure on the offense though: It’s Booker’s job at running back, feed him the ball early and often.