Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY — It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. Only what was good is now bad, and what was bad is now good.
Confused? Me too.
For as much grief as Utah's defense received for giving up over 400 passing yards to Oregon State quarterback Sean Mannion, if not for their stellar play against the No. 12 UCLA Bruins, Thursday's game could have been much, much uglier.
Despite six interceptions by Utah quarterback Travis Wilson, the Utes defense kept the high powered Bruin offense in check, holding them to a season low in points in a 34-27 defeat in Rice-Eccles Stadium.
#box
Here are my top three takeaways from Thursday's loss. And if you are a Ute fan, don't worry, there is still good reason to remain optimistic this season:
1. Utah's defense has improved
UCLA's offense has been averaging over 600 yards and 52 points this season, but the Utes held the Bruins to just 404 yards and 34 points. The secondary made some really big plays, none bigger than Keith McGill's pick six to tie the game at 24 in the fourth quarter. All of this came despite the Bruins having a seven minute edge in time of possession, and plus five in the turnover margin.
2. Third downs still need a lot of work
If I told you the Utes would convert just 2-13 on third down, would you believe it if I said that is actually an improvement? In the Utes' last game against BYU, the offense only converted 1-14, so it's not a big improvement. In reality, this is a huge area of concern. The only way the Utes moved the ball was with big plays. And when the Bruins made adjustments at the half to prevent Utah from getting those big chunk yardage plays, the Ute offense struggled. Sure, six interceptions hurt, but if the offense isn't moving, it's up to the quarterback to make plays. And in Utah's case, those risks didn't pan out.
3. Sorry Dorothy, this isn't the MWC anymore
I hate to be overly critical, but this has to be said — close losses still count as losses. There are no moral victories. You can't claim success when you are competitive against the "big boys" of college football. Guess what? You are one of the big boys. Since joining the Pac-12, the Utes are 7-13 against conference foes. All of the wins the Utes have are against teams that have ended the season with losing records. The Utes have started the season 0-4 in their first two seasons, and are off to an 0-2 start with No. 5 Stanford next up. Instead of the Utes picking up a signature Pac-12 win on a national stage, this ended up being just another winnable game that the Utes let slip through their fingers.
