Redshirt junior quarterback Kevin Prince tries to pull free from Utah defensive back Brian Blechen in the second quarter. Prince completed 12 of 24 passes for 146 yards and two interceptions.
SALT LAKE CITY “”mdash; The Bruins and Utes dug into a snow-covered Rice-Eccles Stadium field Saturday with temperatures hovering near freezing. From the outset the day lent itself to a lot of rushing and pitted two teams well-suited for the task.
As the evening went on, it was Utah’s cleats that dug deeper as it plowed its way to the end zone. As the Utes removed the snow from the field, they removed the Bruins from their perch atop the Pac-12 South.
Playing its first game as conference division leaders, UCLA fell 31-6 in the cold confines of Utah’s home field. UCLA (5-5, 4-3) snapped its two-game winning streak as Utah (6-4, 3-4) continued UCLA’s woes on the road.
All the Bruins had to show for it was a pair of field goals ““ the first time they were held out of the end zone since a shutout against Stanford early last year.
“It’s very frustrating, to come up with two wins ““ great wins ““ feel the joy of winning a big game, then come out here, lay an egg like we did on the road is just frustrating,” redshirt sophomore wide receiver Shaquelle Evans said. “Especially after what we did last week; it makes it mean nothing when we come out and play like this.”
Both offenses struggled early, but the Bruins took the early lead and held tough despite trailing 7-3 at the half.
The Utes figured out the solution to their offensive ineptitude, at one point handing the ball off to running back John White IV 11 out of 12 snaps. The Bruins’ pistol offense, led by the two-back attack of senior Derrick Coleman and redshirt junior Johnathan Franklin, couldn’t keep up.
Both teams ran over 40 times, but Utah won the rushing battle, 224 yards to 149, and in turn won the game.
“We never had any rhythm,” offensive coordinator Mike Johnson said. “You do those kinds of things and you can never get into a flow, you can never get in front of the count. It just didn’t flow tonight.”
White scored Utah’s first touchdown on a first-half drive where he single-handedly rushed for all 39 yards. He then powered his way to 101 yards and two more touchdowns after halftime, effectively putting the game out of reach for the hapless Bruins.
“He could run between the tackles just as well as he ran outside the tackles,” said senior linebacker Sean Westgate, a firsthand witness to White’s backward diving 13-yard touchdown grab in the third quarter.
“He got me on a wheel route. Great play.”
Utah’s home field has been known to give opponents trouble, and UCLA experienced it firsthand on Saturday. After two uplifting wins, the Bruins reverted to the mistake-laden team of old.
“The crowd noise kind of got us out of how we like to do our cadence and timing,” said redshirt junior quarterback Kevin Prince, whose two second-half interceptions, one returned for a touchdown, killed any chances of a Bruin comeback. “They were able to time up their blitzes and kind of throw us off a little bit. They had a great plan for us.”
The Bruins also couldn’t stop beating themselves. They were flagged for kick-catching interference and pass interference, for having too many men and for taking too much time. Most of all they were jittery, leading to six false starts.
The final tally: 12 penalties for 91 yards.
“Take those (penalties) away and we’re probably up in the first half,” Evans said. “We were stopping them on defense, but every time we moved the ball we got a penalty.”
It spelled doom for a team that was riding high after beating Cal and a ranked Arizona State team. The miscues and harsh weather shrouded UCLA, and the Bruins barely resembled the team that earned its first-place distinction.
“We’ve got to stay there, learn how to stay there and be mature enough to hold that No. 1 spot,” redshirt junior tight end Joseph Fauria said.