The No. 11 Utah Utes hosted the UCLA Bruins in the opening game of Pac-12 play at Rice-Eccles Stadium. The Utes defense had one of their best performances in school history, suffocating the Bruins offense and keeping them from getting anything going offensively. It was a rude awakening for UCLA freshman phenom Dante Moore, as they sacked him seven times and collected 11 tackles for loss. Utah handed the Bruins their first loss of the season, defeating them 14-7.
This game ball goes to the defense; there will be no offensive game balls handed out this week.
Offensively, the Utes struggled throughout the game and failed to pick up first downs to keep the clock running. Not counting their final possession, the offense had the ball six times in the second with four of those being three-and-outs. The Utah offense never sustained a drive for more than seven snaps in the second half.
Let’s hand out the game balls:
Freshman quarterback Dante Moore got his first taste of tough college defense and it left a bitter experience. Linebacker Karene Reid led the Utes defense from start to finish. On the Bruins first offensive snap, Moore was pressured and unsuspectingly threw right into the hands of Reid. Just 15 seconds into the game, Moore had his first “oh crap” moment, as Reid made it back-to-back weeks for a Utah pick-6.
“I feel it was huge, it gave us momentum quick in the game,” said Reid. “We were able to get them on their heels and kept our foot on the gas pedal since then.”
Reid pressured Moore the entire game, forcing him to throw off balance and keeping him from getting comfortable in the pocket. He also continued to be a nightmare for UCLA in the intermediate passing lanes. Reid finished the day with nine tackles, four solo and .5 tackles for loss.
From there the Utes defense continued to dominate all game long. While the entire defensive performance and game plan were brilliant, Reid and Jonah Elliss stood out over the rest.
With Utah dialing up constant pressure throughout the game, Moore could never get into rhythm and repeatedly threw out of sync. Utah would go on to shut out the Bruins in the first half. The Bruins finished with 243 total yards, three forced fumbles and just 9 yards rushing. Elliss had a monstrous game and led the team in tackles with 10, five solo, 3.5 sacks and 5 tackles for loss. Freshman defensive tackle Keanu Tanuvasa also came up clutch with a sack and forced fumble.
“Great — great’s probably not the right adjective; whatever is better than great defensive effort by our guys,” said Coach Whittingham. “Absolutely suffocating defense.
Just really proud of our defense; they won the game, and that’s the bottom line,” he continued. “There’s a way to win every game, you’ve got to find it, and we found it this afternoon with the defense rising up and making play after play.”
One of the biggest moments in the game came on their final defensive stop. With 3:14 left in the game and deep in Bruins territory, Jonah Elliss hammered Moore for an 8 yard sack on first down. On second down, he was sacked again by Elliss and Logan Fano. Then on 4th down, the Utes applied pressure again, sacking Moore with Sione Vaki for a loss of 8 yards to solidify the fourth win of the season.
Fano and Vaki both not only delivered on the final UCLA drive, they were also menaces all game long. Vaki finished with 9 total tackles, one sack, and 2 tackles for loss. Fano finished with 6 tackles, 0.5 sacks and 1 tackle for loss.
In the post-game presser, Whittingham was asked what his final words were to the defense in the final series.
“Just go choke them out, we had them on the ropes, and go knock them out,” said Whittingham
The defense did just that, and it was sorely needed on a day when the offense struggled to produce.
