With the 19th ranked Utah Utes missing multiple key players and the UCLA Bruins without star quarterback Josh Rosen, many expected the two teams’ tilt Saturday afternoon in Pasadena, California, to be a low-scoring, defensive affair.
What unfolded was the complete opposite, as the Utes came away with a 52-45 win to move to 7-1 on the season, with running back Joe Williams setting a school record with 332 yards on the ground with four touchdowns.
Scoring recap
Portending the shootout that was to come, Utah scored on the game’s very first play when Cory Butler-Byrd took the opening kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown.
After forcing a 3-and-out, the Utes put together a five-play, 59-yard drive, punctuated by a 3-yard run from Williams to the end zone, and led 14-0 less than four minutes into the game. The drive started with a 43-yard completion from quarterback Troy Williams to Siaosi Wilson.
But almost as soon as Utah had built the early lead, it gave it away. On the Bruins’ ensuing possession, a slew of Ute penalties helped the home team go 71 yards in eight plays for a touchdown.
Utah got the ball back and went -8 yards in three plays before punting, and UCLA responded with a seven-play, 76-yard drive to tie things up with 6:04 remaining in the first quarter.
Things got worse for the Utes on their ensuing drive, as Troy Williams was sacked by Takk McKinley, who forced Williams to fumble and then recovered the ball. Four plays and 14 yards later, the Bruins scored a touchdown and Utah trailed 21-14, which is where the score stood at the end of the first quarter.
The Utes had gotten an interception at midfield from Jordan Fogal at the end of the opening frame, but were able to get just a 45-yard field goal out of it from Andy Phillips to cut the deficit to 21-17 with 13:56 left in the second stanza.
Utah retook the lead nearly seven minutes later when Joe Williams reeled off a 43-yard run for a touchdown.
With a second left before halftime, Phillips made another 45-yard field goal and the Utes led 27-21.
The Bruins retook the lead on the first possession of the second half when backup quarterback Mike Fafaul found Nate Iese, who took the catch 50 yards to pay dirt. The play capped a 75-yard drive that took 90 seconds.
Utah responded, going 78 yards over 10 plays, with Joe Williams scoring a touchdown from 2 yards out. Up by five, the Utes opted to try a two-point conversion, and Troy Williams connected with Demari Simpkins to make it happen.
On the first play of UCLA’s ensuing possession, Fafaul hooked up with Jordan Lasley, who took the catch 75 yards to the house to tie the game at 35 with nine minutes left in the third quarter.
The scoring spree slowed over the next seven minutes, as neither side scored until Phillips made another field goal, this time from 46 yards out, to put Utah ahead 38-35.
Two plays into the Bruins' following drive, Fafaul threw another interception, this time to Brian Allen, and Joe Williams scampered 64 yards for a touchdown on the first play of the drive. This put the Utes ahead 45-35 with a minute remaining until the fourth quarter.
UCLA’s Andrew Strauch made the first field goal of his career from 39 yards away just over a minute into the final frame to cut the Bruins' deficit back down to seven at 45-38.
Four minutes later, Utah had another one-play drive for a touchdown as Joe Williams went 55 yards to the end zone to make the score 52-38 with 10:20 remaining.
With five minutes left and the score still 52-38, it appeared UCLA was running out of time, but then it went 35 yards over three plays for a touchdown after a nice punt return gave it a short field.
Up 52-45 with 4:38 remaining, the Utes went just 14 yards on their next drive, but they were able to eat 3:58 off the clock, thanks to the Bruins running out of timeouts, and UCLA got the ball back at its own 14-yard line with just 40 seconds left.
The Bruins couldn’t do anything, and Utah came away with the win.
Utah’s three stars
The running game
It would be an understatement to say Joe Williams had another nice game on Saturday after coming out of a month-long retirement last week at Oregon State. All Williams did was set a new school record with 332 yards on the ground, 219 of which came in the second half.
Williams’ final tally was the most yards any player has rushed for in a game in the entire country this season, and he scored four touchdowns. The final three of his scores were from 43, 64 and 55 yards out, respectively.
While many headlines will note Williams’ day, the offensive line was outstanding all afternoon in opening up holes for him to run through.
The defensive backs
Giving up 45 points indicates a shaky defensive performance, and the Utes allowed Fafaul to throw for 464 yards on Saturday, but Brian Allen and Jordan Fogal (who replaced injured All-Pac-12 safety Marcus Williams) came up with two interceptions each on the day.
Utah scored off three of those turnovers, two field goals and a touchdown.
Andy Phillips, K
The senior kicker also was imperfect, going 3-for-4 on field goal attempts, but the nine points he made on field goals wound up being huge in the close contest.
Analyzing the stats
— In all, the Utes won the turnover battle 5-2. Besides the four interceptions from Allen and Fogal, Chase Hansen forced a fumble.
— Utah gave up 510 yards of total offense after coming into the game surrendering 342 per contest, although an inept UCLA rushing attack tallied just 46 yards. Ute quarterback Troy Williams threw for 179 yards on 12-of-24 passing with no touchdowns and an interception, although he did rush for a score.
— Utah was just 3-of-15 on third-down conversions. The Bruins were 6-of-15. The Utes didn’t ever go for it on fourth down, and Mitch Wishnowsky punted seven times with a 43.3-yard average.
— The Utes finished with eight tackles for loss, eight pass breakups and two sacks. UCLA had 11 TFLs, five pass breakups and five sacks.
— Troy Williams found five different receivers on the day, while Fafaul found 13. Nine of Williams’ completions went to Cory Butler-Byrd (5) and Siaosi Wilson (4).
Up next:
The Utes have a huge home game on Saturday against the Washington Huskies, who entered the weekend ranked No. 5 in the country and beat Oregon State, 41-17.
ESPN’s "College GameDay" will be in Salt Lake City for the marquee matchup.
UCLA will have a bye and then play Colorado on the road Nov. 3. The Buffaloes beat Stanford 10-3 on Saturday to stay atop the Pac-12 South with Utah with a 4-1 record.
Ryan McDonald is a sports reporter at DeseretNews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ryanwmcdonald.