Sun Devils hit the road for a final farewell at the Rose Bowl

(Photo: Spencer Barnes/WCSN)

After one of the worst performances in the history of Arizona State football, head coach Kenny Dillingham has rallied his team for a trip to the Rose Bowl to take on UCLA. Not only will the Sun Devils be hoping to recover from their poor showing against Utah, but they will also be looking to say a sweet final goodbye to the Rose Bowl with conference realignment on the horizon.

The opposing Bruins (6-3, 3-3 Pac-12 Conference) are coming off a surprising 27-10 loss to Arizona in which their top two quarterbacks – redshirt junior Ethan Garbers and freshman Dante Moore – sustained injuries. This season, Moore and Garbers have combined for 16 passing touchdowns and 2,130 passing yards.

If Garbers and Moore are unavailable on Saturday, the start will likely go to redshirt junior Collin Schlee, who finished with zero completions on five attempts against the Wildcats. Schlee, a transfer from Kent State, has only completed three of 13 pass attempts for 22 yards with two interceptions this season.

The Sun Devils are no strangers to quarterback question marks, having seen four different signal-callers take live snaps. Junior running back Cam Skattebo has made five passing attempts of his own. Thursday, it was reported by Sun Devil Source that redshirt junior Trenton Bourguet is expected to start against the Bruins despite his early exit against Utah.

But where UCLA has differed from ASU offensively is in the run game. The Bruins are averaging 204.6 yards on the ground per game, good for 11th in the FBS. While ASU has held opposing teams to an average of 131.9 rush yards per game, the Sun Devils’ run defense was torched last weekend, as it allowed a season-worst 352 rush yards to the Utes.

The Bruins’ rushing attack is led by junior Carson Steele and sophomore T.J. Harden, who have taken the brunt of carries this season. Both backs are averaging over five yards per carry, and together, they’ve scored 11 rushing touchdowns.

“There’s not a whole lot (different between Utah and UCLA’s run games) in terms of schematically,” ASU defensive coordinator Brian Ward said. “The only thing that’s a little different, at least going in, was the quarterback running, which Utah really hadn’t shown a lot of going in … but they’re very, very similar in terms of the run game, and it’s going to be a good challenge for us to show what we really are this weekend.”

Outside of its rushing attack, UCLA poses a different, more unique problem with the variety of formations it tends to use. The offense designed by head coach Chip Kelly varies formations from week to week, seldom replicating the same looks it gave the week prior.

“You’ve got to be able to understand where you fit in the scheme because you don’t know exactly what you’re going to see formationally and motions,” Dillingham said. “You just know what the end game is going to be, so you have to be able to know where you fit in the puzzle, but you’ve just never done this specific puzzle before.”

“(Kelly) does probably the best job that I’ve ever seen in terms of being able to package his offense different every week,” Ward added about the Bruins’ offense. “No matter what we’re planning for formationally, they’re going to show something completely different. … We’re going into the 10th week of the season, and they’ve had nine games. They’re not going to show one look that they’ve shown before, or they going to just add little wrinkles.”

The defensive side of the ball is where the Bruins will likely cause the most problems for a banged-up Sun Devils offense. UCLA is 13th in the FBS, having allowed just 294.3 total yards per game. They pace the Pac-12 in sacks, tackles for loss, and rushing yards allowed per game, all marks that are within the top three at the national level. The Bruins have also forced a Pac-12-best 10 interceptions this season.

The Bruins’ phenomenal defense is led by their men in the trenches. Senior edge Laiatu Latu leads his team in both sacks and tackle for loss with 11.0 and 16.0, respectively. In Week 9, Latu won Pac-12 Defensive Player and Defensive Lineman of the Week after recording a sack, a forced fumble, and three quarterback hurries against Washington State.

Opposite Latu is redshirt junior defensive end Gabriel Murphy. Murphy is second behind Latu with 5.0 sacks and 11.0 tackles for loss. Murphy’s twin brother Grayson has frequently created havoc of his own, with a team-leading 11 quarterback hurries and two forced fumbles this year.

“Latu’s obviously super talented, and there’s some mock drafts where he’s a top-five pick right now, but they’re all really good,” Dillingham said. “I’d be doing them an injustice if I didn’t say them all collectively. I don’t think it’d be fair to the entire group in terms of how they’re playing collectively. They blitz a lot, and they use their athleticism. They move their athletes around the field in the box, and they pressure. They do not play stagnant. … We’re going to have to be creative with how we throw it, how we run it, and the things we do in order to play to our strengths.”

For a Sun Devil offensive line that has suffered injury after injury and an ailing quarterback expected to take the field for ASU, the Bruins defensive front could be extremely dangerous for the visiting Sun Devils.

On the back end, UCLA is led by redshirt senior defensive back Alex Johnson. He leads the Bruins with four interceptions while also helping diversify their blitz packages. Johnson is one of six different UCLA players to record an interception and one of six players with at least three pass breakups this season.

Both aspects of the Bruins’ game will create unique challenges for an ASU squad looking to bounce back from an embarrassing road loss. While the signs do not necessarily point in ASU’s favor, Dillingham expects his team to go out and compete with their best effort. If they can do that and overcome their challenges from last weekend, they might just be able to pick up their second Pac-12 win and first road victory of the season.

“Football is won through toughness, physicality, extreme effort and detail,” Dillingham said. “Who can do this? Who can block? Who can tackle, and who can do things right? That’s where the game is won.”