All that's left now is to ask 'What if?'

SALT LAKE CITY -- What if, on the road to 11-0 and a possible showdown with USC on Dec. 1, UCLA never made it to 3-0?

What if it all came undone, say, here, on a Saturday, about 4,300 feet above sea level, before a stunned-out crowd.

What if the final score were 44-6, Utah, and after the game, on the field, Utes running back Darrell Mack said of the Bruins:

"That last touchdown drive they came out on the field and they were whining and crying. And we just kept driving the ball down the field. They lost their composure. They had to be thinking they were going to win the game going in. That's the wrong thing to think about us. . . . That's an overrated team."

What if limp-along Utah, playing with its backup quarterback, backup running back, backup receiver, backup guard and probably its backup equipment man, didn't care that UCLA was ranked No. 11 and had 20 starters back from the team that beat USC last season?

What if?

Shoot, it all came to pass, run and tackle, sure as UCLA Coach Karl Dorrell walked off the field escorted by two police officers into the early sunset of a soured season.

It will be remembered by Bruins fans as the Wipeout at Wasatch.

Rice-Eccles Stadium can now boast of hosting the opening ceremony for the 2002 Winter Olympics and 2007 closing ceremony for UCLA.

The Bruins can recover from this to win games, maybe even the conference, but it can't really recover from this -- at least not this year.

Utah, to be clear, is not Appalachian State. The Utes are only three years removed from an undefeated season and a Fiesta Bowl win. They are actually a quality Mountain West Conference program when half of its roster is not immobilized and/or infirm.

These Utes, however, began Saturday's game devastated by injuries.

They lost starting quarterback Brian Johnson (shoulder) and running back Matt Asiata (knee) in the opening loss to Oregon State. More injuries would follow.

Utah fell to 0-2 after losing last week to Air Force, and you could sense where the build-up to this game was leading.

The Utes had never defeated UCLA in eight previous efforts. This was supposed to be the ninth.

To the experts, the game wasn't even close.

"Nobody gave us a chance," Utah senior safety Steve Tate said.

The postgame scene rivaled the on-field atmosphere in 2004 after Utah beat Brigham Young to clinch a Bowl Championship Series berth for the school.