Recently unretired Joe Williams runs for 332 yards to lead Utah over UCLA

You think Utah is happy to have Joe Williams back in the fold?

The senior running back retired in September but returned last weekend with 179 yards in a win over Oregon State. This time, Saturday at UCLA, Williams put up a whopping 332 yards (a school record) and four touchdowns in the Utes’ 52-45 win over the Bruins. Williams scored on runs of three and 43 yards in the first half and 64 and 55 yards in the second half to help the Utes improve to 7-1 on the year.

Utah scored twice in the game’s first four minutes, but UCLA, using a pass-heavy attack, quickly responded with three straight scores to take a 21-14 lead into the second quarter. The Utah defense stiffened in the second frame, allowing the Utes offense to reclaim a 27-21 lead at the break.

The second half featured even more offense. Utah twice took two-score leads, but UCLA was able to claw back to just a seven-point deficit, 52-45, with 4:38 to play. The Utes ran a few minutes of clock, before punting back to the Bruins.

But senior Mike Fafaul, starting at quarterback for injured star Josh Rosen, couldn’t muster a game-tying drive and the Utes held on. UCLA’s running game has been putrid all season, so Jim Mora opened things up. Fafaul threw the ball 70 — yes, 70 — times on the night, and finished with 464 yards and five touchdowns. But he also threw four costly interceptions.

The win gives Utah a 4-1 Pac-12 record alongside surprising Colorado, which improved to 6-2 (4-1) with a win over Stanford. The Utes are still very banged up as a team, but have a huge opportunity with unbeaten Washington coming into Salt Lake City next weekend.

The Utes and Buffs are tied atop the Pac-12 South with USC in third with a 3-2 conference record. Arizona State (5-2, 2-2), UCLA and Arizona (2-5, 0-4) round out the division.

UCLA, now 3-5 (1-4 Pac-12), is one of the biggest disappointments in college football so far this season. The Bruins were the favorite in the South when the season began and many picked them to win the Pac-12 as a whole. In a game where the offense finally put up some numbers, the defense’s performance was dreadful. The Utes finished with 539 yards of offense, 360 of which came on the ground.

The Bruins are just playing terrible football right now.

For more Utah news, visit Utezone.com.

For more UCLA news, visit BruinSportsReport.com.

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Sam Cooper is a writer for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!

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