(Photo: Brady Klain/WCSN)
Sophomore quarterback Jayden Daniels felt the pressure coming off the blind side on 3rd and 11 with less than a minute to go in the game with Arizona State Football down seven to UCLA Saturday night. Somehow, Daniels evaded the sack before bumping into sophomore offensive lineman Dohnovan West.
West’s momentum carried Daniels back. Surely, West’s 315 pounds would send Daniels’ 185 pound frame to the ground.
But Daniels stayed up.
Daniels scrambled to his right before throwing across his body to redshirt sophomore wide receiver Geordon Porter about 20 yards downfield. Before Porter could even touch the football, he would get drilled by a UCLA defender. The flag was thrown. It seemed as though it’d be defensive pass interference and a first down for ASU.
But referee Chris Coyte would make the announcement that there were offsetting penalties on the play; indeed a pass-interference on UCLA but an ineligible man downfield penalty on the Sun Devils as well.
It would be ASU’s third ineligible man downfield penalty of the game.
“We were very sloppy,” head coach Herm Edwards said. “That’s not a good football team when you have that many fouls.”
The play seemed to summarize ASU’s 25-18 loss to UCLA on Saturday night, sending the Sun Devils to 0-2 on the season.
Porter’s play was a glimmer of hope only to be shattered by a self-inflicted wound late in the game, and it certainly wasn’t ASU’s only one.
Two touchdowns were called back due to ineligible man downfield penalties. What would have been first career touchdowns for freshman wide receiver Johnny Wilson and redshirt freshman receiver Andre Johnson were wiped out by the offensive line. A fumble at the goal line on the exchange from senior center Cade Cote to Daniels in the third quarter also prevented what could have been six points.
Even with 12 penalties for 83 yards, the Sun Devils managed to keep the game competitive and within reach.
But for a team that had been plagued by COVID-19 ever since the first week of the season and had not played a football game in 28 days, ASU looked like a team that had a month off from action.
That – combined with a competent UCLA team that had been competitive in every one of its four games this season – made an ASU victory hard to be dealt from the cards.
“You could see in the first half we were rusty offensively,” Daniels said, who completed 21 of 35 passes for 225 yards while throwing a touchdown and an interception. “Just as a team overall, being off for a month, it’s hard to play coming back against a team that has been rolling.
“It was hard but we still had a chance to win the game. We just have to finish.”
With the month-long break the offense has had, it seemed like Daniels and the receivers had numerous moments of miscommunication, especially in the first half. Receivers had trouble locating the ball, and Daniels had some poor throws.
Edwards believed the break contributed to the slow start on offense in the first half, where ASU put up only 147 total yards on offense and scored only three points on a 49-yard field goal by redshirt freshman kicker Jack Luckhurst to close out the first half.
“It doesn’t help,” Edwards said. “I think that contributed to the penalties also [hurt the offense]. I told them earlier when the game started that you’re going to have to get into game speed mode now because the game will be real fast for you.”
A strong interior pressure and a power run game would be the focal points for Arizona State in the second half to get themselves back in the game.
Freshman running back Chip Trayanum and junior running back Rachaad White continued their strong performances from their first games of the season. Trayanum rushed for 108 yards on 15 carries (7.2 avg) while White rushed for 53 yards on seven carries (7.6 avg) Saturday night.
“Chip is getting better and better each and every day,” Daniels said. “He continues to build. The kid is special.”
Redshirt junior defensive end Tyler Johnson led the way defensively with six total tackles and three sacks, becoming the first Sun Devil to have three sacks in a game since 2016.
Johnson and the defensive line did a good job of pressuring UCLA junior quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson and limiting the UCLA ground attack in the second half to 56 second-half yards.
“[It was] game planning,” Johnson said. “Switching up what we were doing. That was what halftime was for. We came in, discussed things, went over our mistakes, what we should have done, what we can do. Coach [Marvin] Lewis gave us something else that we could try to put together and it just started working for us.”
As a result, a 10-yard touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Frank Darby in the third, a safety forced by redshirt sophomore defensive end Michael Matus on an intentional grounding penalty in the end zone and a Daniels 1-yard touchdown run put ASU up 18-17 with 4:26 left in the game.
But the Bruins seemed to easily move down the length of field on their final drive of the game, going 75 yards in 11 plays. Senior running back Demetric Fulton scored a touchdown to give the Bruins a 25-18 lead with 1:09 left after the two-point conversion.
Daniels tried to complete his fourth career game-winning drive but it fell short with a 4th and 19 desperation heave to the end zone batted down to end the game.
“We had an opportunity to close it out and we just could not do it,” Edwards said.
Despite Arizona State being winless so far in 2020 and the season nearing a close, the team is fortunate enough to be back on the field playing after being in a dire situation for most of the month of November.
“The last two games haven’t been a lot of fun,” Edwards said. “We had opportunities and we just didn’t do it. But I’m proud of the kids’ effort. To be off that long and our coaching staff and everyone who has been holding this thing together, it’s been quite a journey for us and I just appreciate the effort of everyone involved in this.”
