No. 7 UCLA can't complete comeback, Arizona State wins 38-23
PASADENA, Calif. (AP) - UCLA had gotten away with a late-arriving offense in its come-from-behind victory over BYU the last time it played at home in the Rose Bowl.
With the Bruins' offense again missing for long stretches Saturday night, Arizona State wouldn't let freshman quarterback Josh Rosen repeat the feat.
Mike Bercovici passed for 273 yards and two touchdowns and ran for another score, and the Sun Devils got their season back on track with a 38-23 victory over No. 7 UCLA.
Arizona State's defense rebounded splendidly after giving up 42 points in a home loss to Southern California last week. The Sun Devils (3-2, 1-1 Pac-12) shut down UCLA's running game and tormented Josh Rosen, blitzing him relentlessly while forcing him into a 22-for-40 performance for 280 yards with an interception.
"There wasn't much trickery," Arizona State coach Todd Graham said. "We came over and dominated the line of scrimmage, dominated all three phases."
UCLA's offense played three ugly quarters before coming to life in the fourth. Prolific tailback Paul Perkins was held to 63 yards rushing and a fourth-quarter touchdown.
"Tonight wasn't our night," UCLA wide receiver Jordan Payton said. "We weren't clicking. Some things looked a little sluggish out there. When we got ourselves going it was just a little too late."
Arizona State relentlessly used run blitzes on first and second down, forcing Rosen to make difficult throws to keep the chains moving. Facing an average distance of 7.7 yards to cover on third down, UCLA (4-1, 1-1) converted just three of 14 attempts.
UCLA offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone said he was too stubborn trying to run the ball in the first half and should have given Rosen more chances to throw it early on. The Bruins went three-and-out on their first four possessions and six of the eight times they had the ball in the first half, putting too much pressure on their injury-depleted defense and quarterback.
"Paul's our comfort zone and being able to run the ball, and they weren't going to let us do that," Mazzone said.
Tim White and D.J. Foster caught scoring passes for the Sun Devils, who responded to their dire situation after two September losses with a solid effort in their second straight win at the Rose Bowl. Arizona State built a 29-10 lead heading into the fourth quarter and then hung on.
Thomas Duarte caught his second touchdown pass from Rosen with 9:19 to play, trimming the Sun Devils' lead to 29-23. But after UCLA got stranded inside its 1 by Matt Haack's punt, the Bruins snapped the ball out of their own end zone with 4:16 left for their second safety of the night and couldn't force a stop on the ensuing Arizona State possession to keep it a one-score game.
Building a decided advantage in time of possession, Arizona State was able to grind down a UCLA defense that was without its top three players in defensive lineman Eddie Vanderdoes, linebacker Myles Jack and defensive back Fabian Moreau. Jack's backup Jayon Brown did not dress because of a back injury, and corner Marcus Rios played despite missing several days of practice this week while hospitalized with an infection.
That fatigue showed when Kalen Ballage wrapped it up with a 23-yard TD run with 45 seconds to play, covering most of that distance with UCLA defenders hanging on him.
Bercovici made a 34-yard TD run up the middle early in the third quarter. Demario Richard led the Sun Devils with 79 yards rushing and added 57 yards receiving, while former UCLA receiver Devin Lucien made a key fourth-quarter catch for ASU.
The road team has won all four games in this matchup since coaches Todd Graham and Jim Mora took over at their respective schools in 2012. The Bruins scored 140 points in their last three meetings with the Sun Devils, but Arizona State's defense was in charge for most of the night this time.
Arizona State took the lead in the first quarter when Rosen was called for intentional grounding in the end zone on the Bruins' fourth possession. White followed up the Sun Devils' first safety in two years by returning the kickoff 65 yards and then rumbling in with a 14-yard TD catch.
"Instincts kick in," Rosen said. "I didn't intentionally ground it to nowhere. I knew there was a guy over there and just didn't get enough arm on it."
Bercovici ran practically untouched up the middle for a score early in the third quarter, and Foster caught a TD pass shortly afterward.
UCLA's offense finally got rolling in the fourth quarter, with Perkins making a gutsy 29-yard run before a 1-yard TD plunge. Linebacker Isaako Savaiinaea made a midfield interception moments later, and Duarte caught a 17-yard TD pass to get the Rose Bowl rocking.
Arizona State's next drive stalled at midfield, but Haack rolled his punt out of bounds right in front of the goal-line pylon, and UCLA snapped its own punt attempt high out of the end zone.
"I really thought we were rolling in that fourth quarter and could come back," Rosen said. "We can't put ourselves in that hole."