A week after Utah coaches and players said they found the swagger that went missing the entire month of October, the Utes took what has become a familiar long, quiet walk into the locker room in the south end zone in a mostly-emptied-out Rice-Eccles Stadium.
A step forward against undermanned UCLA was preceded by another step back against No. 19 Washington State, no doubt motivated a night after the Cougars witnessed bitter rival and former Pac-12 frontrunner Washington upset in the Bay Area against Stanford.
Next up: an evening showdown in Seattle against the Huskies, who Utah coach Kyle Whittingham guaranteed will be “ticked off” following their loss at Stanford.