Kyle Whittingham thought “great” wasn’t a strong enough adjective to describe how the Utah defense performed Saturday in its 14-7 win over UCLA.

The Utes had seven sacks and 11 tackles for loss. They held UCLA — which entered the game sporting the nation’s No. 1 run game by efficiency — to 67 yards at 2.7 yards per carry on the ground. And that number is adjusted for sacks. The number that will go toward UCLA’s season tally looked far worse: 9 yards at 0.3 per carry.

“Just really proud of our defense. They won the game, and that’s the bottom line,” Whittingham said afterward. “There’s a way to win every game. You’ve got to find it, and we found it this afternoon with the defense rising up and making play after play.”

Linebacker Karene Reid picked off Dante Moore on the first play from scrimmage and returned it 21 yards for a touchdown. Utah struggled on offense, but those seven points proved to be the difference.

The Bruins had six three-and-outs in the first half.

In the second half, they had a pair of turnovers on downs, another three-and-out, and a fumble.

Moore led a nine-play, 91-yard touchdown drive in the fourth quarter that pulled Utah within a score with 3:39 to play. Utah went three-and-out on the ensuing possession to give it right back to the Bruins.

Whittingham needed one more stop from his defense.

So what was the message before the group went out onto the field?

“Just go choke them out,” Whittingham recalled. “We had them on the ropes, go knock them out. That was the message.”

Jonah Elliss sacked Moore on first down.

Logan Fano sacked him on second down.

And Sione Vaki sacked Moore on fourth down.

Utah took back over and kneeled out the rest of the clock for its fourth win of the season. All without its starting quarterback.

Said Whittingham: “Absolutely suffocating defense.”