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PASADENA, Calif. — Utah running back Joe Williams nearly broke the internet during the Utes’ 52-45 shootout with UCLA (3-5, 1-4 Pac-12) at the Rose Bowl Saturday.
Williams ran wild against the Bruins, rushing for a school-record 332 yards and four touchdowns in his second game back from a 27-day retirement. Williams averaged 11.4 yards per carry, and social media was impressed.
All around, the game wasn’t what anyone expected. To start, it was delayed due to the Rose Bowl forgetting to put pylons on the field — cue #PylonGate — but once that was sorted out, the Utes started getting to business. Receiver Cory Butler-Byrd returned the kickoff 99 yards to put Utah (7-1, 4-1) up 7-0 with only 12 seconds off the clock.
The Utes quickly added another score with a 3-yard rush by Williams. Then it started raining penalty flags. In the first quarter, the team racked up seven penalties for 81 yards. It finished the day with nine penalties for 103 yards. Utah’s mistakes quickly became costly and the Bruins scored 21 unanswered points in 5½ minutes to end the first quarter.
In the second quarter, safety Chase Hansen stripped the ball from UCLA quarterback Mike Fafaul, who started in place of injured Josh Rosen. The Utes recovered it and quarterback Troy Williams moved the team downfield.
With the ball in the red zone, the Utes were yards away from another touchdown. Williams’ pass was tipped and intercepted by UCLA on the goal line. On the next play, cornerback Brian Allen intercepted Fafaul’s pass.
Utah shut out UCLA in the second quarter and reclaimed the lead, 27-21, with two 45-yard field goals and a touchdown before entering halftime.
To start the second half, Fafaul threw the ball 50 yards downfield to retake the lead, 28-27. Utah answered with a touchdown of its own, including a successful two-point conversion by Demari Simpkins.
The teams went back-and-forth scoring and eventually tied at 35 with 9:01 left in the third quarter. Utah put 10 points on the board to end the quarter and from there never gave up its lead.
Next up for the Utes is a competition against the North-leading and fifth-ranked Washington Huskies (7-0, 4-0). ESPN’s "College GameDay" is heading to Rice-Eccles Stadium for the highly anticipated matchup.
