UCLA Football: How Chip Kelly Is Preparing For Any Contingency Against Utah

UCLA faces its toughest test of the year so far.

Your 3-0 UCLA Bruins football program will face its toughest challenge of the impending 2023 season this Saturday, when the club squares off against the similarly undefeated Utah Utes, on Utah's home turf. It will represent UCLA's first Pac-12 inter-conference matchup of the young season.

Utah is actually ranked No. 11 in this week's Associate Press poll, 11 slots above the Bruins, who seem to really have tapped into something with the expedient ascent of true freshman quarterback Dante Moore as a true impact player.

Who Utah will be trotting out under center, however, remains a significantly murkier issue.

According to Ben Bolch of The Los Angeles Times, sixth-year UCLA head coach Chip Kelly is prepping his defense for any Utes quarterback contingency.

Utah effectively has three potential starting QBs on deck for Saturday. Star Cam Rising has been out since last year's Rose Bowl wit a torn knee ligament, but it's been rumored that he could be back as soon as this week (unfortunately for UCLA). Redshirt freshman Nate Johnson has, like Moore, been their go-to starter since Game 2, having replaced veteran Bryson Barnes after the latter option was relatively ineffective against Baylor.

“Nate Johnson played really well in the last couple of weeks,” Kelly allowed earlier this week, “but I think you have to prepare for all three of them.”