ASU football’s rust from nearly a month of no games showed in its 25-18 loss against UCLA Saturday night in the form of 12 penalties, two turnovers and five sacks allowed.
The Sun Devils had a chance to take the lead with 1:08 left in the game and two timeouts down by seven. However, a third-down sack killed the final drive, dropping ASU to 0-2 while UCLA jumped to 3-2.
"We had an opportunity to close it out we just didn’t do it," head coach Herm Edwards said. "It's a shame because we did some things that were pretty good ... but when you get in the red zone and turn the ball over and the fouls, we were very sloppy, they stopped drives and prevented big plays."
After a stagnant first half in which ASU trailed 17-0 at one point, the Sun Devils marched back, cutting the deficit to seven points midway through the third quarter. With the ball at the Bruins' goal line and a chance to tie the game, ASU sophomore quarterback Jayden Daniels fumbled the snap and UCLA recovered.
The Sun Devil defense, which allowed eight points and 120 yards in the second half, bailed out the offense by forcing a safety, as UCLA junior quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson was called for intentional grounding in the end zone. UCLA's lead was cut to 17-12.
When ASU got the ball back, they drove to the UCLA 32, where Daniels delivered a deep ball that was intercepted in the end zone.
"I think Jayden was trying to hit a seam down the middle," Edwards said. "Safety made a good play."
The defense got another stop, and ASU made its next possession count with a six-minute, 81-yard drive ending in a Daniels rushing touchdown to take an 18-17 lead. The Sun Devils attempted a two-point conversion to take a 3-point lead but failed.
UCLA marched down the field, their only drive of the second half longer than 26 yards, to ASU's three-yard line.
A field goal would give UCLA the lead, so the Bruins could have burned through ASU’s two remaining timeouts and kick the field goal with little time left.
Redshirt senior halfback Demetric Felton ran to the one and stopped, but ASU’s defense pushed him over the line. This gave the offense a chance to catch up, but it failed to do so.
Daniels, who threw for 225 yards, was asked about his takeaways from the game, and he focused on his mistakes.
"You can’t turn over the ball, I can’t turn over the ball," Daniels said.
The pass protection also struggled, as sacks along with penalties put ASU in long downs.
The ground game was working as freshman halfback Chip Trayanum ran for 108 yards on 15 carries and junior Rachaad White had 53 yards on seven carries. Trayanum gained 7.1 yards per rush in his first two games of his Sun Devil career.
Defensively, ASU’s pass rush had five sacks, three of which from redshirt junior defensive end Tyler Johnson. He now has four on the season.
"Just making sure we weren't giving (Thompson-Robinson) the perimeter because he's fast," Johnson said.
ASU has a lot to clean up, perhaps understandable for a team that has not played in a month due to a COVID-19 outbreak. There are just two Pac-12 games left to correct it, starting Friday night in Tucson against UA at 5:00 MST.
Reach the reporter at alexjweiner@gmail.com and follow @alexjweiner on Twitter.
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