DeShaun Foster claims UCLA was 'close' in blowout loss to Utah

UCLA lost its opener to Utah by 33 points inside the Rose Bowl on Saturday night. That said, after watching the film coming out of the weekend, DeShaun Foster felt the Bruins were must closer than the nearly five-score loss would suggest.

Starting his media availability on Monday, Foster said even he now realizes that UCLA was closer than he thought in the 43-10 loss to Utah. He thinks they were some executions and adjustments away from being much more competitive in that one, which has him optimistic about what they can do moving forward into the start of this season.

“That we were close,” Foster said of his takeaways from the film. “Like, it wasn’t exactly what I thought. You know, I was a little more disappointed right after the game, and then, seeing the film, it brought a little more life into me. Just because, if we can execute? And there’s a lot of things that we can actually fix. So, that’s the bright spot I saw in that.

“Talking to the team, I can tell they were ready to hear those things and they saw the same thing too after talking to them today.”

Again, on the scoreboard, close wouldn’t be the word. Utah was up 20-0 by the start of the second quarter and, after scoring 10 points scored by UCLA to cut that lead in half, the Utes put 20 more on the board unanswered. Now, with that outcome, they’ve since earned a ranking as Utah came in at No. 25 this afternoon in the latest edition of the AP Poll.

That all reflected in the final stats as well. Utah posted a balanced, efficient total of 492 yards on offense, led by QB Devon Dampier with 293 yards overall, completing 84% of his throws while also rushing at 5.4 yards per carry, and scoring three touchdowns while RBs Wayshawn Parker and NaQuari Rogers combined for 123 yards, at 4.6 yards per carry, and a score apiece. The unit also went 15-17 combined on third and fourth down. The Utes’ defense then held the Bruins to 10 points and 220 yards, forced an interception from QB Nico Iamaleava, and kept them at 5-15 on third and fourth down, including being just 2-11 on third down.

Still, after sitting down and watching the tape, Foster saw enough to have some positives to take out of this blowout in the opener. He and his team will not try to apply what they learned from that in their second game this weekend at UNLV.