UCLA vs. Utah Week 9: Scouting Report

Taking a look at what the Utes bring to the table for their matchup with the Bruins on Saturday.

The Utes may not be the most talented team the Bruins have faced this year, but they're riding high and have given the blue and gold plenty of trouble over the past few years.

UCLA football (5-3, 3-2 Pac-12) will play Utah (4-3, 3-1) on Saturday, having lost to the Utes in each of their last four head-to-head matchups. This will be the third time coach Chip Kelly goes up against Kyle Whittingham, who has been in Salt Lake since 1994 and has been the head coach since 2004, making him the longest-tenured coach in the entire conference.

Offense coordinator Andy Ludwig is only in year three, but he's been around the block a few times, having run offenses at Cal, San Diego State, Wisconsin, Vanderbilt and even Utah back in Whittingham's early days. Defensive coordinator Morgan Scalley, on the other hand, has been in Salt Lake City uninterrupted since 2001, first as a player, then as a graduate assistant, then as safeties coach and then as defensive coordinator since 2016.

So with the first seven games of 2021 in mind, here's a quick rundown of what Utah might look like come Saturday.

Utah Offense vs. UCLA Defense

Utah Passing Yards/Game: 231.9 yards
Utah Rushing Yards/Game: 177.4 yards
UCLA Passing Yards Allowed/Game: 290.9 yards
UCLA Rushing Yards Allowed/Game: 98.5 yards

Ludwig comes from a background of running both pro style and spread offenses, and he has the personnel to mix it up with both this season.

Maybe it's just the way college football is played these days – it is, so no need to wonder actually – but it feels like the Bruins have not gotten a break from dual-threat quarterbacks.

They've been pretty hit or miss on them so far this season, handling Hawaii's Chevan Cordeiro and Arizona's Jordan McCloud pretty well but getting torn up by Arizona State's Jayden Daniels and Oregon's Anthony Brown. The correlation of defensive success and quarterback quality is a pretty strong one, and Rising is safely in that bucket of good mobile quarterbacks.

While he isn’t the same athlete as Daniels or Brown, Rising can certainly run really well.

Even including sacks, Rising is still averaging 7.4 yards per carry. Rising isn't really someone who gets a lot of designed runs for him like Brown, but he can be extremely frustrating to deal with for opposing defenses if he's scrambling a lot.

Rising certainly got eased into things when he first took over, so his early season stats have docked his overall efficiency a bit.

The former Texas transfer was asked to do a lot when he first came in for Charlie Brewer midway through a tight non conference game with San Diego State. Rising scored three key touchdowns, but on just 4.8 yards per attempt and 8.1 yards per completion, he wasn’t exactly slinging the ball downfield.

The same went for Rising’s first start against Washington State the following weekend, when he completed a season-worst 56.5% of his passes on 6.0 yards per attempt. Thanks to his lack of turnovers and success on the ground, Rising was playing well enough to hold onto his job and since then, he’s really taken off.

In September, Rising had a 59.6% completion percentage, 5.6 yards per attempt, 9.4 yards per completion and a 129.8 passer rating. In October, Rising has a 67% completion percentage, 8.5 yards per attempt, 12.6 yards per completion and a 157.7 passer rating.

Rising really thrives outside the pocket, and although he doesn’t have the strongest arm on the planet, he can really sling it.

Rising’s protection has been top-tier as well, a departure from the inconsistencies the offensive line was seeing when Brewer was the starter.

The starters, from left to right, are Jaren Kump, Keaton Bills, Nick Ford, Sataoa Laumea and Braeden Daniels. All five are at least 6-foot-4 and 300 pounds, so they bring plus size to the table at the very least. Ford is the only upperclassman of the group, however, and Kump, Bills and Laumea are all in their first year as a starter.

As those young guys have developed, their pass protection has taken a major leap forward.

Rising has been sacked three times in his four starts, and he hasn’t been taken down at all in his last two outings. While that may not be all that impressive against an Oregon State team that ranks 89th in the country in sacks per game, holding Arizona State and its 16th-ranked pass rush off the box score is a much more notable feat.

Through the air, Rising's go-to target is 24-year-old receiver Britain Covey. As a preseason All-American, Covey's production hasn't quite reached that level, hauling in an average of four passes for 30 yards per game. Covey has gotten better with Rising at quarterback, but the most dangerous threats remain the pair of tight ends.

Brant Kuithe and Dalton Kincaid are both red zone threats and big play threats, combining for 75.4 receiving yards per game, 12 yards per reception and seven touchdowns. They've both gotten carries as well, and they're going to be really difficult for the UCLA linebackers and safeties to track all over the field.

With so much drama at the quarterback position through the first month of the season, the Utes' numbers on the ground look much better.

Utah ranks No. 18 in the country with 5.3 yards per carry, with Tavion Thomas and Micah Bernard leading the way in the backfield. The two are averaging a combined 98 rushing yards per game.

Thomas is more of the lead back, with 78 carries to Bernard's 49. Bernard has 15 receptions though, so he stands as more of a third down receiving back who's pretty dynamic and athletic for a 6-foot back like him.

UCLA still thrives on its run defense, so as efficient as Thomas and Bernard have been, the Bruins should still be favored the shut them down, at least before they reach the red zone. Oregon found success down deep in UCLA territory last week, and that may be how Thomas gets rolling Saturday.

The deciding factor is going to be the pass defense, which really has not had a signature performance so far this season. Rising has had several signature performances in just a handful of starts, so he may have another one in store against Jerry Azzinaro's defense this weekend.

Utah Defense vs. UCLA Offense

UCLA Passing Yards/Game: 209.9 yards
UCLA Rushing Yards/Game: 212.9 yards
Utah Passing Yards Allowed/Game: 214.3 yards
Utah Rushing Yards Allowed/Game: 150.7 yards

Scalley and Whittingham 

The Bruins are catching a real break with linebacker Devin Lloyd set to miss the first half thanks to a targeting penalty he picked up in the second half against Oregon State last week.

Lloyd is experienced, and he's a disruptor all over the field. Not only does he lead Utah with nearly 10 tackles per game, but he has 13.0 tackles for loss, 4.0 sacks, two interceptions, three pass deflections and a forced fumble so far this year.

As a pass rusher, he brings the athleticism and shiftiness of a rangy linebacker with all the power and skills expected from a 6-foot-3, 235-pound edge guy.

Lloyd also thrives as a quarterback spy, which is something that could give Dorian Thompson-Robinson trouble should he be ready to play.

Just look at how well he reads Daniels, balancing patience with high IQ and finishing abilities.

The rest of the Utes' front seven has been productive so far this season, with defensive end Mika Tafua and linebacker Nephi Sewell standing out as the next best guys up front for them. Junior Tafuna, Devin Kaufusi and Hauati Pututau round out an interior group that brings both fresh faces and veteran experience to the table. 

The Utah secondary got carved up against USC, but that was more so due to Drake London than any scheme issues. No other team has passed for over 250 yards against the Utes this season, and taking out London's 162 yards, the Trojans wouldn't have either.

Sadly, the Bruins do not have London, or even a London-type, meaning they'll probably fit in with Oregon State, Washington State and Arizona State and probably pass for somewhere between 200 and 250 yards. Expect that figure to be the same whether Thompson-Robinson or Ethan Garbers gets the start, since Kelly said he'll be calling the offense the same either way.

Safeties Brandon McKinney and Vonte Davis are near-carbon copies of each other physically, and they've both done a nice job locking things up over the top this season. Clark Phillips III is being targeted a lot as a freshman, but he's making plays out of those opportunities with six pass deflections and a 54-yard pick six to his name.

Clark Phillips takes a Pick Six 54 yards to give the Utes a 24-13 win over WSU

Utah’s TJ Pledger contributed 117 yards on the ground

pic.twitter.com/WowVOVINqP

— WestCoastCFB (@WestCoastCFB) September 25, 2021

Faybian Marks and Malone Mataele are the other starting defensive backs, with cornerback JT Broughton out for the year and Aaron Lowe tragically passing away in September.

Even with the same coaches in charge and some solid recent recruits added to the mix, this is not the Utah defense of old. They have big-play ability while limiting their opponents' though, which could make things difficult on UCLA regardless of who's running the offense.

The Utes' run defense is in the middle of the pack in the Pac-12, however, and only elite run defenses have proven capable of slowing down running backs Zach Charbonnet and Brittain Brown in 2021.

Follow Connon on Twitter at @SamConnon
Follow All Bruins on Twitter at @SI_AllBruins
Like All Bruins on Facebook at @SI.AllBruins
Subscribe to All Bruins on YouTube

Read more UCLA stories: UCLA Bruins on Sports Illustrated
Read more UCLA football stories: UCLA Football on Sports Illustrated