Utah football crushes UCLA 43-10, makes statement vs Big Ten opponent

Utah football crushed UCLA 43-10, making a statement vs. a Big Ten opponent.

Utah’s performance this past weekend was about as impressive as any in the first full week of college football, and that’s saying something on account of some of the stellar efforts put up by other quality teams.

Rankings are hard to predict with any exactness, but the presumption here is that other folks may — should — have been impressed, as well, including those who vote in the polls. Not sure how many of them were actually awake to take in the entire Utes’ throttling of UCLA since the game ended around 2 a.m. Eastern Time. But if they happened to dial in throughout, they had to have seen what the rest of us saw — a Utah team that dominated, as Kyle Whittingham said it afterward, “a Big Ten team on its home field.” Unmistakable emphasis on … a … Big … Ten … team.

It sounded a little like an F1 driver whose under-appreciated car, the fastest machine on the track, had just whupped up on the whole field, and he was looking in the sweet aftermath for a nicer garage in which to park said racer.

Beat ‘em now, join ‘em later.

Either way, the previously unranked Utes are certain to commence their climb in those polls — right? — starting on Tuesday when the rankings are released in a slight delay. Typically the polls come out on Sunday. This time, they’ll skip over Labor Day before being posted.

In most legitimate sports, opinions of outsiders don’t matter the way they do in college football, but even if the Utes are slighted, slightly or significantly, they know themselves what they accomplished on Saturday night. It’s yet to be seen how good the Bruins are, how formidable a foe Utah just made look silly, more than doubling it up on yards and first downs gained and, most importantly of course, points on the board. Nobody saw 43-10 coming through their finest opera glasses. But there it was, the score shining into the Pasadena night.

A couple of things stood out in that game, notable things, things that, if they hold up, will boost Utah in a major way over its mulligan run through the Big 12. The heart and soul of any football team are: 1) the quarterback, and 2) the offensive line.

For Utah, the heart was resuscitated and the soul was wicked.

Devon Dampier played a near-perfect game, throwing for over 200 yards and using both his feet and his instincts to run for 87 more, all told accounting for three touchdowns. Equally of note, maybe more so, the quarterback led his team in a manner that put a huge grin — though he tried to hold it back a bit, because it was just the opening game — on Whittingham’s mug. Looks like the Utes have the heart thing put in proper place.

As for the soul, the offensive line, captained as it is by tackles Spencer Fano and Caleb Lomu, those guys created enough space for Utah’s run game to flourish — to the tune of nearly 300 yards. At times, UCLA’s defense looked exasperated, completely overmatched at the line of scrimmage. When an opponent can’t stop the run, they are dead men flailing. The Bruins couldn’t even slow the run. And when they committed extra resources in the attempt, Dampier exacted his toll by easily flipping accurate passes hither and thither.

“Balance is the key to any great offense,” Whittingham said last week, and balance is what he got.

Yeah, there are other elements victory calls for, including rocksteady defense. That’s what is normally expected from a Utah team and it looks as though the 2025 resistance will be true to form, at least it was at the Rose Bowl.

But now, that defense seems to have an offense to match. It’s a jab and a hook.

The qualifier “seems to” is used there and should be used everywhere because no comprehensive conclusions, nothing incontrovertible, can be drawn or established after just a single game. It’s tempting to fall for that, but opponents change, fortunes and circumstances vary, performances rise and fall, and — shush your mouth — injuries occur.

But if we can lean on that qualifier, just as Whittingham did after his team’s lopsided win — with that grin that crept across his face, betraying every stoic expression, every tendency toward a yeah-but-there’s-still-work-ahead — there sure seems to be reason for optimism for what this iteration of the Utes might be, could be, can be.

Put it this way: The good tendons and good bones are in place for something positive, maybe even something extraordinary — as long as they remain intact and whole.

Breaking Bad? Gone With the Bend? Failure to Launch?

No, the Utes had their fill of those shows last time around.