Even without their uber talented RB Zach Charbonnet, sitting this one out with an unspecified injury, UCLA who is currently ranked 7th in the nation in rushing yards per game and 1st in yards gained per carry had no problem running downhill all night long against the Sun Devils, picking up 402 yards and 5 TD’s on 42 carries—an average of 9.5 yards per carry. Junior WR’s Kazmeir Allen and Colson Yankoff, QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson, and RB Keegan Jones all rushed at least 8 times a piece to pick up 147, 38, 120, and 98 yards respectively as well as a combined 5 TD’s. Speedster Allen picked up another 63 yards on four receptions and Thompson-Robinson ran for 2 TD’s on the ground to go along with the two he threw—one to Senior TE Michael Ezeike and the other to Junior RB Keegan Jones. Thompson-Robinson who got off to a rocky start by throwing an interception on the very first play of the game from scrimmage which led to an Arizona State field goal, came back to connect on 13-of-20 for 169 yards and the 2 TD’s mentioned above. Arizona State Junior QB Trenton Bourguet connected on over 75% of his passes, going 38-of-49 for 349 yards, 2 TD’s and 1 interception. Senior RB Xazavian Hallady carried the load on the ground rushing for two-thirds of their 31 attempts and picking up 92 of the team’s 119 yard total along with both of their rushing TD’s.
After DTR’s opening interception both teams scored on their next two possessions of the first quarter with UCLA leading 14-10. Holding the Sun Devils scoreless in the 2nd Qtr the Bruins scored two more TD’s, the second after a sixteen play, 90 yard drive eating up almost six minutes of clock to go ahead 28-10 with just 33 seconds left before the half. The 3rd Qtr started out with UCLA holding Arizona State to a three-and-out and then two TD’s each by both teams on the next four subsequent possessions with the Sun Devils gaining one point on their opponent through a successful 2-point conversion leaving the score at the end of the 3rd Qtr, 42-25. In his second mistake to start a quarter, DTR fumbled the ball on UCLA’s first possession of the 4th Qtr leading to a Sun Devil field goal to close the gap by three to 42-28, and then by another 8 points on a TD and 2-point conversion after holding UCLA to a three-and-out to make it 42-36 with 6:24 left in the 4th Qtr. UCLA would eat up half of that clock on their next possession, a 7 play 74 yard drive ending in a TD run and a 2-point conversion of their own to put the Bruins on top 50-36 with 2:30 left in the game. That’s as close as Arizona State would get as UCLA intercepted the Sun Devils on their next possession, an 8 play 68 yard drive that ended on a 2nd and 5 at the UCLA 7 yard line with just 15 seconds left.
With UCLA having well over 300 yards of total offense by half-time Arizona State Interim Head Coach Shaun Aguano had this to say afterwards; “They controlled the line of scrimmage and they ran the football at will. We’re trying to play catch-up the whole time. We need to make sure that we fix that. We can’t let a team run for 400 yards on us and expect to win.” Probably not having looked at the game stats yet, the Bruins actually had 571 total yards of offense. That said, Arizona State had 468 total yards—mostly in the air—an area of weakness that the Bruins need to shore up before hosting USC later in the month. UCLA hits the road to take on the Arizona Wildcats next Saturday while Arizona State will also hit the road for the colder climate of the Palouse, taking on a Washington State team in Pullman that needs just one more win to become bowl eligible.