ASU Football: Defense, balanced offense drive Sun Devils over No. 7 UCLA

(Photo: Scotty Bara/WCSN)

 

It’s amazing what holding on to the ball will do for a team’s chances.

Other than one interception from redshirt quarterback Mike Bercovici, the Sun Devils played what was arguably their cleanest game in regards to ball handling. After a week of preaching the importance of have 100 percent ball security, ASU came darn close, and that helped its efforts to come out on top of UCLA, 38-23.

Offensively, this was much closer to what most thought ASU would look like coming into the season, as sophomore running backs Demario Richard and Kalen Ballage provided great balance on the ground game to open things up through the air. The duo combined for 188 yards on 34 carries, and they also snagged a combined 13 receptions.

Their production and presence forced UCLA to honor the handoff on the read-option, and that allowed redshirt Mike Bercovici to go for some big gains on keepers, including a 34-yard touchdown down the middle early in the third quarter. On nine keepers, Bercovici gained 55 yards with his legs.

Although UCLA junior defensive tackle Kenny Clark stuffed the interior running game from ASU late into the game with his eight total tackles and two tackles for loss, the Sun Devils flat out played a balanced brand of offensive football. Of the 90 plays ran, ASU attempted 44 passes and 46 rushes.

The highlight of the ground game came from the 23-yard touchdown run from Ballage (with the help of junior tight end Kody Kohl) to seal the deal in the fourth quarter.

Defensively, this game may have been its strongest performance this season.

Once again, the run defense was strong, holding one of the best running backs in the country, UCLA junior redshirt Paul Perkins, to just 3.5 yards per carry, and only 63 yards total.

Per usual, the Sun Devils challenged the Bruins in the backfield and racked up seven tackles for loss. The defensive line for ASU played particularly well, as the interior trio of redshirt senior Demetrius Cherry, junior Ami Latu and sophomore Tashon Smallwood plugged up the middle on various occasions. Smallwood in particular tallied two tackles for loss.

With the ground game more or less bottled up, freshman quarterback Josh Rosen struggled against the ever-changing pressure from the Sun Devils. Statistically, Rosen finished with a solid 280 yards, two touchdowns and an interception, but UCLA struggled to put positive plays together as it went three-and-out six times and punted nine total times.

Speaking of punting, ASU junior Matt Haack had his best performance of the season with an average of 43.1 yards on eight punts, five of which were inside the 20. The biggest moment from Haack came on his final punt, pinning UCLA at its own 1-yard line and forcing the Bruins give up a safety in hopes of better field position that would never come.

Overall, it was ASU’s most complete win of the season. In many ways, this was the game that finally showed the kind of game the Sun Devils could play.

It was simple: great running, strong, tempo-driven passing and an attacking defense that was able to make plays in the open field. A win over UCLA is nothing to scoff at, especially on the road, but to some degree, it wasn’t as surprising as the rankings would suggest.

This was an ASU team that was being picked to contend for a Pac-12 title and potentially a College Football Playoff bid, and while the latter may be out of the question, the win tonight allowed ASU to keep its conference and divisional title hopes alive.

But as we’ve seen from this team, we’ll only know what to expect once the game gets rolling next Saturday against Colorado in Tempe.

You can reach Zac Pacleb on Twitter @ZacPacleb or via email at zacpacleb@gmail.com

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