(Photo: Brendan O’Keeffe/WCSN)
TEMPE – Coming into Saturday night’s game against No. 12 UCLA, Arizona State Football knew they needed to be wary of the Bruins’ run game.
Boasting one of the best offensive players in college football in senior running back Zach Charbonnet, the Bruins average a stunning 222.4 rush yards per game, the 13th most in FBS.
But to the surprise of many, Charbonnet didn’t take the field Saturday night. Even more surprising was that the Bruins were still able to exercise their will over the Sun Devils on the ground.
Between the two-headed monster of redshirt senior quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson and redshirt junior wide receiver Kazmeir Allen, UCLA was able to scrounge up three rushing touchdowns, with the two players combining for 257 of the Bruins’ total 402 rushing yards. Redshirt junior running back Keegan Jones and redshirt junior wide receiver Colson Yankoff supplied the other 145 yards. Yankoff and Jones also tacked on one rushing touchdown each.
“I just feel like as a defense as a whole, we’ve just got to be better,” said junior defensive back Chris Edmonds. “400 yards on the ground, we just can’t allow that to happen. We pride ourselves as a defense as being fit, fast and physical, so we just can’t let that happen.”
Prior to Saturday, Allen had just 66 rushing yards on the season. Although he had little experience playing out of the backfield before Saturday, Allen was able to use his speed and quickness to gash the Sun Devils for 137 yards on just 11 carries.
Not to be outdone by the substitute running back, Thompson-Robinson proved just how dangerous he could be on the ground, totaling 120 yards and two touchdowns. Thompson-Robinson had five rushes that went for 10 or more yards, including his 14-yard touchdown run in the first quarter.
“First of all, No. 1 on that team is tough,” said ASU interim head coach Shaun Aguano. “Whenever he gets going, he’s probably one of the best athletes out there. We didn’t fit run-fits. We didn’t wrap up like we should, and it’s absolutely unexcusable. You can’t win games letting a team run for 400 yards on you. That’s just unacceptable.”
As a whole, the Bruins put together 14 long runs, with the longest and most significant being a 75-yard touchdown rush by Allen in the third quarter. After the Sun Devils broke UCLA’s 28-0 scoring streak with a flashy one-handed touchdown catch by redshirt sophomore receiver Elijhah Badger, UCLA stepped onto the field ready to go. Just as soon as the Bruins’ drive started, it ended with Allen taking the handoff from Thompson-Robinson all the way to the endzone on the first play of the drive.
While Allen and Thompson-Robinson are known for being speedy and shifty, much of their successful evasion of tacklers in the second and third levels was made possible by their ability to beat ASU’s players up front.
Despite seemingly having all of its defensive linemen ready to go, ASU’s front struggled with a lingering illness that made its way through the locker room this past week.
The most notable player affected was redshirt sophomore Omarr Norman-Lott. Norman-Lott started the game and played in the first half, but eventually, his health forced him to tap out.
“He was out all week this week because of an illness, and he wants to go, and he got frustrated because he just can’t,” Aguano said. “We’re thin with a lot of guys in that situation, but he was just frustrated with himself that he can’t help the team in that situation because he’s not feeling well. He made the decision that he was going to go today, but he just couldn’t be productive because he just couldn’t be on the field.”
Despite problems with health and, consequently, depth on the defensive line, Aguano still recognized that his team’s performance and technique needed improvement.
“We’re a little light-handed tonight, to tell you the truth, and I’ll never make an excuse for that,” Aguano said. “… The thing is we need to play better in that interior. They’re a pretty good line. [UCLA] got on us and we didn’t separate. We didn’t strike and separate. … I thought UCLA did a great job blocking us, and we didn’t run fit. A couple of times…we went on our read to the running back, and the quarterback slipped out the back end, so we need to make sure that we are better in the run-fit category, and we haven’t been the last couple games.”
With the ability to break out for long runs, the Bruins averaged a staggering 9.6 yards per carry. UCLA’s 402 total rushing yards dwarfed the 305 yards gained on the ground by Eastern Michigan in a game previously deemed one of ASU’s worst defensive performances in recent history.
And while no single player rushed for over 150 yards like in the week three upset, Jones was just two yards away from being the third Bruin of the night to cross the century mark. Yankoff was six feet shy of putting all four rushers over 50 yards.
Prior to Saturday’s game, the Sun Devils had allowed a modest average of 152 yards per game and 4.22 yards per rush. However, even despite Charbonnet’s absence, ASU simply couldn’t find a way to bring runners to the ground.
Although Aguano took full responsibility for his team’s shortcomings following the loss, there’s only so much a coach can do when game time comes.
“I think they averaged 10 yards a carry, and that’s unacceptable,” Aguano said. “…I’m disappointed in how our defense played trying to stop the run.”
