UCLA at Arizona
No one doubted that UCLA would be able to dominate Arizona, the Conference’s worst team by far, and now with a 17 game consecutive losing streak. The only thing surprising to me is that it was so close at the half with the Bruins leading by just one, 14-13. But between Zach Charbonnet and Brittain Brown’s combined 263 yards on the ground, including his 4th Qtr 48 yard back breaking TD run, and QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson’s 3 TD’s—one if by air two if by land–UCLA scored plenty of points after the half (twenty) while holding the Wildcats to just three to easily secure the 34-16 victory.
On a night in which the Bruin passing game went missing with DTR connecting on 8-of-19 for just 82 yards, 1 TD, and 1 pick, they made up for it on the ground by picking up a total of 329 yards and 3 rushing TD’s on 47 carrries, averaging exactly 7 yards per rush. Arizona had chances to keep it close but once they got close to or in the red zone couldn’t convert their opportunities into TD’s.
Although not getting into the end zone, the Wildcats started off well enough by scoring a field goal on each of their first two possessions of the game with DTR picking up his sole passing TD to WR Greg Dulcich in between. Scoring a TD a piece in the 2nd Qtr UCLA was up by just one point when DTR tossed up a pick on the Arizona 44 yard line with less than 30 seconds left in the half. Wildcat QB Jordan McCloud completed a pass to the 50 but was sacked as time ran out on the next play.
UCLA got the ball after the break and started things off with a field goal after having a 1st and goal at the Arizona 10 yard line but ended up 4th and 5 after an incomplete pass and a running play for loss. Arizona matched the points with a field goal of their own 48 yards and 11 plays later from the UCLA 27. The Bruins finally made it into the end zone on their next possession, a 9 play 75 yard drive with DTR carrying it in himself making the score 24-16. The Bruins gave the Wildcats a chance to pull within one again by fumbling the ball on their next possession. But on their third play from scrimmage Arizona’s McCloud also fumbled the ball while being sacked. UCLA scored another TD two possessions later and then another field goal after one more Arizona fumble with almost eight minutes left in the game and just under two minutes left at the end of the Bruins 12 play 35 yard drive and field goal from the Wildcat 25 yard line.
Arizona heads to Boulder to take on Colorado to determine last place in the PAC-12 South Divison while UCLA will head to Alaska Airlines Husky Stadium in a meeting between two teams that need a win in order to stay in the mix. I expect to see a lot more of UCLA’s ground game in that one as Washington’s secondary should be able to contain the Bruin passing game. If they can prevail they’ll come back home to take on No. 8 Oregon in the Rose Bowl.
Utah at USC
The final score was 42-26, but it really wasn’t even that close as the Trojans’ uninspired play led to the following LA Times Ryan Kartje headline; “USC suffers first loss to Utah in L.A. since 1916 and third straight defeat at the Coliseum.” You have to go back twenty years to Pete Carroll’s first season in 2001 which started off 1-5, including back-to-back-to-back conference losses to Oregon, Stanford, and Washington to find a more miserable start.
The Trojan defense had very few answers for Utah Sophomore QB Cameron Rising who connected on close to 80% of his passes for 306 yards, 3 TD’s and no interceptions in addition to rushing for a TD as well. Rising hit five different receivers for multiple receptions, three of whom picked up a TD a piece. On the ground, Utah rushed for almost 200 yards and another 3 TD’s including Rising’s, with more than half of those yards and 1 of those TD’s picked up by Sophomore RB Tavion Thomas.
USC’s QB Kedon Slovis had more yards than his competition, 401 yards to 306, but threw one less TD as well as an interception and was, according to the recap, running for his life much of the time. The main recipient of those yards was Junior WR Drake London who was brilliant collecting 16 receptions for 162 yards and 1 TD. It’s not unusual for Utah to dominate at the line of scrimmage and this game was no exception as the Trojan offensive line could do little to help the run game, which rushed 25 times for less than 100 yards on the night, or protect their QB.
Early, the game looked like it would be close with USC holding the Ute’s to a three-and-out on their first possession and then following it up with a 28 yard field goal to go up 3-0 with just under four minutes left in the 1st Qtr. But that’s the last time the Trojans would have the lead with Utah up 7-3 at the end of the 1st, 21-10 at the break, and 35-10 after three. USC had a chance to go into the half down just 4 points but as Ryan Kartje described Utah packing, “a century worth of angst into the many punches it landed,” for the Los Angeles Times he wrote; “The most devastating of those blows came just before halftime, with the Trojans still clinging to hope they might avoid a third straight loss at home. On fourth and one, with 10 seconds left in the half, Utah quarterback Cam Rising handed off, before the ball was tossed back to him on a flea-flicker. A discombobulated USC defense could only stare as Rising’s deep ball soared overhead and into the outstretched arms of Devaughn Vele for a 37-yard score. What was once a four-point lead heading into half ballooned to 11, leaving fans stunned and the team demoralized.” And as he wrote; “It only got worse from there.”
USC picked up a TD and 2 point conversion early in the 4th Qtr to make it 35-18 but Utah came right back with another TD and extra point. The Trojans picked up another 8 points on a Kedon Slovis 41 yard TD pass and conversion to WR Malcolm Epps but it was too little too late with less than a minute left to play. USC was ahead in time of possession, first downs, and total yards, but helped Utah keep the chains moving with eight penalties for 90 yards. The Trojans get a week off to regroup before hitting the road to take on a Notre Dame team that can’t seem to settle on a QB, playing two in every game except the opener. That’s about the only thing USC has going for them heading into that game as their weak secondary was highly exposed against Utah and could be taken advantage of with a strong passing attack by the Fighting Irish. Utah gets to head back home but will face the PAC-12 south division leader Arizona State this coming Saturday in a must win game for the Utes.