PASADENA, Calif. - It was an old-fashioned shootout at the Rose Bowl Saturday, and UCLA showed up with more ammunition.
Drew Olson proved there's more than one quarterback in Southern California, and one of ASU's big guns, Derek Hagan, fumbled twice as the Bruins went on to the 45-35 victory in front of 84,983 blue-clad patrons.
The loss drops the Sun Devils back to .500 in a season in which the expectations were so much higher.
"We didn't think this was going to be a 5-5 team," ASU coach Dirk Koetter said. "We thought we were better than that."
Olson ended up 22-for-27 for 510 yards and five touchdowns. He started the game by hitting junior Joe Cowan on a 91-yard touchdown pass 19 seconds in and didn't let up.
Tailback Maurice Drew had 113 total yards and a touchdown, and tight end Marcedes Lewis caught seven balls for 108 yards and two touchdowns.
"They've got three tremendous playmakers on their offense, and they all made big plays tonight," Koetter said.
Olson threw for 294 yards and three touchdowns in the first quarter as the Bruins took an early 21-14 lead. They extended it to 28-14, but the Sun Devils clawed back for a 28-28 halftime tie.
ASU looked to be in prime position to pull ahead when Hagan caught a ball deep in UCLA territory early in the second half. However, he was stripped by cornerback Marcus Cassel while being tackled, and the Bruins marched down for the go-ahead score. Hagan fumbled again on the Sun Devils' ensuing possession, and a Lewis 13-yard touchdown reception put UCLA ahead 42-28.
"In my opinion, the turning point of the game was the back-to-back drives in the second half where we turned the ball over," Koetter said. "In a track meet, you've got to keep pace. In the second half, we weren't able to do that."
Said Hagan: "I'll take the blame for this loss. I don't expect to fumble."
After an ASU punt, the Bruins seemed to have the game all but wrapped up when they drove into the red zone and threatened to move ahead by three possessions early in the fourth. But Maurice Drew fumbled, and a long drive culminated with a two-yard touchdown pass from Rudy Carpenter to Hagan to cut the lead to seven.
The catch by Hagan was his 249th, breaking the Pac-10 record for receptions in a career held by Stanford's Troy Walters.
But as was the theme of the night, ASU couldn't get a stop when it needed to most, giving up a 27-yard Justin Medlock field goal to put the game out of reach.
Jamar Williams almost had an interception on a crucial third down, but Lewis muscled the ball away from him for a first down.
Three different UCLA receivers had more than 100 yards receiving, and the Bruins rushed for 150 yards in the contest.
"They were a pretty balanced team, but I'm not going to say they were the best offensive team we've played," senior linebacker Dake Robinson said. "We just needed to make plays."
At 3-4 in the Pac-10, the Sun Devils dropped to a tie for fifth place in the conference. The math to get to a bowl game is simple: win and their in, lose and their out.
ASU closes out its season on Nov. 25 hosting UA.
"One, we have our in-state rival, and two, we've still got a chance to play in a bowl game," Carpenter said. "We've got our whole season to play for."
Reach the reporter at kyle.odegard@asu.edu.
