The Bruins have been itching for this week for months.
That much was evident from listening to them speak after Sunday’s practice.
Pac-12 conference play is back for the Bruins, and there’s no easing into it. UCLA is set to face its biggest pest over the past few years in Pac-12 South defending champion Arizona State, and as the Bruins head into their first week of conference play, they’ve noticed a different feeling.
“Oh yeah, yeah, yeah,” said sophomore nose tackle Kenny Clark when asked if there’s a different type of excitement in entering Pac-12 play. “Especially with Arizona State, just for the simple fact that they beat us last year. The way that they beat us – it still stays with you.”
Clark and the Bruins are looking to rid themselves of the memory of the Sun Devils’ 38-33 win last November, in which the Bruins were two missed field goals shy of claiming the win. Instead, Arizona State walked away victorious as Pac-12 South champions.
It will certainly be a different challenge for the Bruins this season, as they will face a nearly completely overhauled Sun Devil squad.
Gone is overpowering defensive tackle Will Sutton, along with eight other 2013 defensive starters. Gone is running back Marion Grice, who last season came four yards shy of breaking the 1,000-yard barrier and finished fifth in the Pac-12 in rushing.
And now, the Sun Devils will be without starting quarterback Taylor Kelly, who suffered a foot injury in his last game that will keep him out against the Bruins.
Many of the most potent weapons Arizona State used in its 38-33 win last November won’t be on the field Thursday. Instead, the Sun Devils have new ones.
Look no further than junior running back D.J. Foster. Through three games, he’s already eclipsed the halfway mark of Grice’s 2013 season total with 510 rushing yards, good enough to lead the Pac-12 and rank No. 8 nationally, even when including ASU’s bye week.
“We’ve seen him now a couple years,” said coach Jim Mora of Foster. “We recruited him, we loved him out of high school, and he’s proving to be everything we’d thought he’d be. He’s a dynamic player.”
Defensively, replacing a player as dominant as Sutton is a challenge, as is integrating nine new starters. But if any coach is capable of doing so, Mora believes that Arizona State’s Todd Graham is that man.
“I don’t think it’s in dispute that Todd Graham is a great defensive coach,” Mora said. “One of the things he does very well … is during the game, right before the snap, he’s able to recognize offensive formation and personnel groups and get them in the right defense and they react very quickly. I’ve never seen anyone as good as he is at doing that.”
Despite the turnover in personnel on both sides of the ball, Arizona State is a comfortable 3-0 and poised to put up a fight in its Pac-12 South title defense.
So for both teams, even if it is just their fourth game of the season, Thursday’s game carries the potential for some serious postseason significance, just as their last three matchups have.
Junior center Jake Brendel said it’s a little strange for UCLA’s first conference game to have so much importance regarding who comes out on top of the Pac-12 South, but ultimately, every game in the Pac-12 is becoming a must-win game. So instead, the Bruins are just turning their focus inward.
“The way I look at it is they are a very good football team and really whenever we can go out there and showcase our skills and showcase how good of a football team we can be against an opponent like that, it just builds our rep up better,” Brendel said.