ASU Football: No. 24 Sun Devils fall to the Bruins at the Rose Bowl, 42-32

(Photo: Brady Klain/WCSN)

After a 176-yard performance and a score from redshirt senior running back Joshua Kelley to lead a victory for UCLA (3-5, 3-2 Pac-12) against Stanford last week, the wheels kept on churning for the star back as he and the Bruins ran away with the win over No. 24 Arizona State (5-3, 2-3 Pac-12) at the Rose Bowl, 42-32.

The 42-point mark to end the third quarter and to finish the game for UCLA was the most points allowed in a game in the Herm Edwards era with Arizona State.

“To play a game like that, since I’ve been here I have never been involved in,” Edwards said. “I don’t know what that is, I can’t explain it. I wish I could tell you what it is but I don’t know — I have no idea. It looked like a different football team out there.”

The UCLA attack never settled as the punting unit did not touch the field in the first half and just twice in the second. The offensive play calling was efficient for UCLA while ASU could not produce answers.

“They did everything we saw [on film],” sophomore linebacker Darien Butler said. “We didn’t come ready. We didn’t give nobody a chance, we didn’t give ourselves a chance out the gate.”

The Sun Devil defense has been established as a “bend-don’t-break” defense all season long. Time-consuming drives and yard piling possessions was a theme for the defense, resulting in field goals and occasional touchdowns.

Against UCLA on Saturday night, the defense did not bend — it snapped.

“It’s attention to detail in everything you do,” defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales said. “And when those little things getaway, that affects how physical you’re going to play. This is a mean, nasty game, and when you don’t get yourself mentally ready, it shows up.”

The ASU defense allowed back-to-back 16-play drives in the first half, both resulting in Kelley scores. Kelley had 34 carries for 164 and four touchdowns, including three scores in the first half. For sophomore quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson, the dynamic play-caller had 176 passing yards and two scores.

ASU came into the matchup allowing just over 100 yards per game on the ground but was unable to contain the blue and gold.

“I think we got knocked off the ball a little upfront,” Gonzales said. “When you give up 219 yards rushing, it means you’re soft. I’m gonna challenge them. They’re gonna hear it from me all week.”

The Bruins had every play in the book to dismantle the weak points of the Sun Devil defense. They averaged just 4.9 yards per play and gained a majority of their yards from the short game. It was missed tackles and a lack of adjustment for the ASU front.

Arizona State tallied nine penalties (six in the first half), including a few unnecessary ones which defined the lack of discipline the team carried throughout the night.

“A little bit [of youth frustration],” Edwards said. “Mixing up passion and emotion. And when it comes to the emotion side, it comes out. No one is going to mar the game of football because their emotions…that’ll never be tolerated.”

A concern for the ASU defense this season has been the inability to get off the field on third downs. The story continued into Pasadena as the Bruins converted seven of its 14 third-down attempts.

“Execution,” Gonzales said. “We’re shooting ourselves in the foot. It’s all execution. We’ve got to coach them better to execute because the stuff we were doing? They’re there to make plays — they’ve gotta make plays.”

On the offensive end for the Sun Devils, the narrative of success was similar to their defense — there was none. ASU managed 383 total yards on 57 plays while UCLA kept the blue and gold on the field for 80 plays and totaled 393 yards.

Freshman quarterback Jayden Daniels finished as the leading rusher on the team with 67 yards on 13 carries and a touchdown and also threw for 267 yards and three touchdowns. It has been a lackluster offense for the past couple of weeks. It scored just three points last week and barely found a rhythm on the California road trip.

“We just didn’t play our game,” Daniels said. “The first half you just seeing we weren’t ourselves. So, that’s the main thing, we just weren’t playing our game…we were just playing out of character. That wasn’t our offense that we’re used to.”

Junior running back Eno Benjamin was projected to outrun the Bruins defense as UCLA allows nearly 150 yards on the ground. The script was flipped, however, as the running back was shut down for most of the evening. The back produced just 46 yards on 13 attempts.

Arizona State will take a break following the loss as the team will have a bye week — and at a perfect time. The Sun Devils will return to action Nov. 9 against USC at Sun Devil Stadium.

“We lost two games back-to-back, it’s really just about how we overcome,” Daniels said. “Are we gonna accept the challenge or are we gonna fold?”