After scoring the Bruins’ final touchdown in the third quarter, Johnathan Franklin seemed incomprehensibly excited, flailing his arms in celebration.
The redshirt senior running back found the end zone on a 3-yard carry, his first touchdown since the Nebraska game, and he vividly expressed his enthusiasm.
“I was hungry for it, man. I was hungry, I wanted to score so bad,” Franklin said. “I left a lot of yards on (the field) so I have to watch the film and get better and I’m sure I could have scored on a lot of other runs.”
Franklin had been battered and bruised after last week’s game against Cal, but didn’t show many signs of injury Saturday, grinding through 22 carries on the day against a physical Utah defensive line.
Despite having a heavy workload coming off of a week in which he sat out some practices, Franklin was optimistic about his health going forward.
“I feel everybody playing football never goes into a game a 100 percent,” he said after the game. “I was a little banged up. (I was) about 80, 85 percent. I’m fine, I’m good, I’m great. I’ll be a 100 (percent) tomorrow.”
Franklin said he feels his hunger to score will still remain despite reaching the end zone on Saturday.
When asked what his celebration at the end of his touchdown was, Franklin made a scooping motion with one hand and his other laid flat beneath and said, “I’m just trying to eat.”
Manfro muffing
After the UCLA defense forced a quick three-and-out in the first quarter, the punt return team took the field.
Just seconds later the ball was back in the hands of Utah, a similar sight to the Cal game last week.
This week, redshirt freshman wide receiver Steven Manfro was the culprit again as he muffed a punt for the second week in a row. But this time, the stakes were much higher as he misfielded the punt in the end zone, resulting in seven points for the Utes.
“(Utah punter Sean Sellwood) just bombed that thing. Steven was looking right up into the sun and made an error in judgement,” coach Jim Mora said. “It’s a tough catch he shouldn’t have tried to make.”
Starless scene
The UCLA offensive line faced one of its stiffest competitors yet in Utah senior defensive tackle Star Lotulelei.
At 6-foot-4-inch and 320 pounds and with enough talent for Mora, a former NFL head coach, to label him a first-round draft pick come the 2013 NFL Draft, Lotulelei and the rest of the defensive line were poised to wreak havoc against a young offensive line that gave up six sacks last week.
But looking at Lotulelei’s stat line Saturday showed that the UCLA offensive line held its own, limiting him to two tackles – one sack and one tackle for loss – and allowing only one other sack the entire game.
“My young guys came out and I really challenged them to be physical this week and that’s what we really needed to do against a big front seven in Utah, one of the biggest fronts we’ll face this year,” said redshirt senior guard Jeff Baca. “I’m proud of how those guys owned up in their protection and how we ran the ball, establishing the run early.”