Facing No. 18 and undefeated UCLA on Saturday, the Utes needed a win to set up a big-time showdown with USC in Salt Lake City next week.

Perhaps the Utes underestimated the Bruins, or maybe Utah just isn’t as good as everyone thought before the season began.

After dropping the opener to Florida, the Utes rolled off four straight blowout wins. While Utah was racking up results, they weren’t really doing it against quality opposition, with the best win coming against Oregon State.

Utah was favored to win the game on the road at UCLA but was outplayed the entire game.

The Bruins scored the lone touchdown of the opening quarter, and the Utes were never able to recover. Utah never led or even tied the game, getting only within a field goal on two occasions in the second half as UCLA recorded a 42-32 win.

While the Utes’ put up 479 yards of offense, Cam Rising did not throw a touchdown, while also turning the ball over twice (an interception and fumble). Rising did tally a pair of rushing scores, but it wasn’t enough for the Utes.

With the Utah offense struggling to create big scoring plays, the defense struggled mightily. The Bruins racked up 501 yards on the Utes’ defense, while quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson threw four touchdowns. UCLA also ran all over Utah, with Zach Charbonnet racking up 198 yards and a touchdown on 22 carries.

The Utes will have to now hope they can get the season back on track next week, with No. 6 USC coming to town. If Utah can upset the Trojans, they will be back in the hunt for a Pac-12 title game appearance. If not, they will likely not have a chance to defend their conference title.

Up next

Utah faces USC on Saturday, Oct. 15 at 6 p.m. at Rice-Eccles Stadium. The game can be seen on FOX.

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Spencer has always been passionate about sports, growing up playing and following various sports. He ran cross country in high school and began his journey in sports media in 2017 as a journalism intern at The Spectrum & Daily News. Since then, his work has been published in numerous outlets including Deseret News, Standard-Examiner, St. George News, Southern Utah Now, SUU's Thunderground, SB Nation's RSL Soapbox, FanSided's Venom Strikes, fan-insider.com, The Spurs Web, and Iron County Today. Spencer is the founder of Stadium Sportzz and both the Sportzz with Spencer and Mountain States Sports Report podcasts. His experience extends to public address announcing, having first served as the PA announcer for Southern Utah University soccer in 2017 and as a high school sports PA announcer. He is now entering his fourth year as a PA announcer at Utah Tech University, where he also occasionally takes on the role of in-game emcee. Spencer's versatility also extends to radio, where at The Fan Sports Network he produced high school and Utah Tech athletics broadcasts, hosted the weekly Region 9 Football Tailgate Show, and appeared daily on The Drive. Now working towards completing his Bachelor's degree in Media Studies, Spencer was recently named the Sports Director at Utah Tech University's 91.3 The Blaze for the 2024-25 year. He will host a weekly show and serve as a play-by-play broadcaster, continuing his dedication to sports journalism and broadcasting. When he isn’t talking, writing about, or watching sports, Spencer enjoys traveling and spending time with his amazing wife.