Utah and UCLA Win Big in Pac-12 Conference Openers

We’re only a month into the college football season but both Utah and UCLA are establishing themselves, not only as top teams in the Pacific 12 conference, but national powerhouses as well. Both picked up lopsided victories over ranked opponents in their conference openers on September 26th.

UCLA, #9 in the AP Poll, beat #16 Arizona 56-30 in Tucson. Freshman QB Josh Rosen passed for 284 yards and two touchdowns. He did not throw an interception. Rosen also rushed for a touchdown. Junior running back Paul Perkins rushed for three touchdowns. UCLA’s balanced attack had 213 rushing yards and 284 receiving yards. The downside for the Bruins was on defense; while UCLA allowed just 115 yards passing, they also allowed 353 rushing yards. Nonetheless, the Bruins improved to 4-0 overall and 1-0 in the Pac-12, and the victory on the road over the 16th ranked Wildcats moved UCLA up to seventh in the AP Top 25 poll.

While the Bruins were dismantling the Wildcats, # 18 Utah was destroying #13 Oregon in Eugene. Utah QB Travis Wilson threw for 227 yards and four touchdowns as the Utes shot down the Ducks 62-20. Utah had 530 total yards of offense against a porous Oregon defense. Utah (4-0, 1-0) moved up to #10 in the AP Poll, and impressed one voter enough to receive one first place vote.

UCLA and Utah are both in the Pac-12 South Division. They’ll play each other in Salt Lake City on November 21st. But each has several challenges ahead of that. Utah will host #24 California on October 10th and will play at #17 USC on October 24th. UCLA will play ranked teams on consecutive Thursday nights in October, playing at #18 Stanford on the 15th and hosting #24 California on the 22nd. The Bruins annual battle with USC is a week after the Utah game on November 28th.