Utah's offensive line 'as advertised' in dominant showing against UCLA

PASADENA, Calif. — Offensive tackle Spencer Fano wasted no time establishing his dominance Saturday night against an outmatched UCLA defensive line.

The heralded Utah tackle, who is getting first-round draft pick praise, had one play — one of many, really — where he pulled the defender into him and then threw him to the ground like a rag doll.

It was the ultimate power move that was indicative of his and the offensive line's dominance of a UCLA team who had few answers against the Utah veteran line.

And in the rare case where a UCLA defender broke through the line, they had to capture an evasive quarterback in Devon Dampier who refused to go down without a fight — for the record, he took no sacks Saturday night.

It was a well-rounded performance backed up on the field from an offensive line who received its fair share of preseason accolades. For head coach Kyle Whittingham, it was an offensive line that was "as advertised" and doing whatever it wanted to dictate the tone of the game.

From the first drive to its last before both teams called off their starters in a 43-10 game, the offensive line was squarely in charge.

Using a no-huddle offense that relied on a fairly quick tempo, there was little UCLA could do to stop Utah from moving the ball down field. In the first three series of the game for Utah, the team went a combined 26 plays to score three touchdowns before the Bruins got their only stop of the game.

From there, though, the offensive line continued to work, and Utah put together four more scoring drives, including a back-breaking 20-play, 80-yard drive that lasted 9:44 in the third quarter. It was the type of drive that excited Whittingham and was a show of how the offensive line could do whatever it wanted.

"That kind of drive doesn't happen without a front that's dominating," Whittingham said. "Our front really took control of that drive. They had control the whole night, but that's a statement drive and said, 'Hey, we can lean on you and oppose our will if we want.' And it was great to see."

Add to that Utah's third-down figures, and it further illustrates the strength of Utah's offensive line. The team went an impressive 14-of-16 on third downs and was perfect on its only fourth-down conversion.

Wayshawn Parker picked up a 14-yard touchdown run on a third-and-4, Smith Snowden added a 3-yard rushing touchdown on third-and-3, and Dampier scored 2-yards out on the team's only fourth-down conversion.

"Third down was incredible," Whittingham said. "I think we were 14 out of 16 on third down; that's off the charts. I've probably never been involved in a game where we've had that many third down opportunities and converted that high of a percentage, so that was a huge part of the success.

"Everything I just said doesn't happen unless your offensive line plays outstanding," he added. "So great credit, great tribute to that O-line. Those guys are a big, physical group. They were as advertised tonight, and we've just got to keep on that trajectory and keep working hard."

Dampier, who showcased his own winning ways for the Utes in his debut, gave all the credit to the offensive line for how well Utah was able to do against the UCLA defense.

"We've been talking about our O-line all preseason, and, I think, they showed it more than I did," Dampier said. "Obviously, those holes are there, and regardless of who's running that ball, we're going to get the first down. So I think we showed that we can be very capable of being consistent running the ball."

And run the ball Utah did. The team finished with 286 rushing yards and four touchdowns on the ground, with Dampier leading the team with 87 yards on 16 carries. Parker added an additional 62 yards and a score, while NaQuari Rogers wasn't too far behind with 61 yards and a score, too.

In all, the team averaged 5.3 yards per carry and 6.2 yards per play for the game.

"Offense seemed to be in a rhythm from Drive 1 to the end of the game. They just stayed in that rhythm," Whittingham said. "I thought Devon did a great job running the offense, made great decisions. You saw his play-making ability, did a great job taking care of the football, did a great job distributing the football, kept it when needed to keep it."

It's an offense geared to go and score points, and a "statement" to Utah's showing on offense last season.

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