Senior receiver Jordan Payton had simple advice for Josh Rosen when he took over the starting quarterback spot this season: “Don’t crash the Ferrari.”
By the time the final buzzer sounded at the Rose Bowl Saturday, the sports car was badly scratched after barely suffering a single ding for the first four games. UCLA fell to Arizona State 38-23 in its first loss of the season.
“At no point did the thought cross my mind that we were going to lose that game,” Rosen said. “It was really disappointing, I really thought we were rolling in that fourth quarter, coming back, but once again we really can’t put ourselves in that hole.”
Rosen seemed uneasy behind the wheel against Arizona State, throwing 22-for-40 with one interception while being sacked twice as the Sun Devils stunned the Bruins, who fell to 4-1 on the season.
UCLA was forced to rely on Rosen’s arm after Arizona State stuffed the run, limiting Paul Perkins. The junior running back, whose play anchors the Bruin offense, was held to 63 yards on the game as opposed to the 219 he racked up against BYU when Rosen last struggled.
“Teams are going to start stacking the box, we have to be able to throw the ball and operate on offense,” Perkins said.
After starting out the season undefeated and recently projected by ESPN to reach the College Football Playoffs, it appeared as if UCLA suffered some speed wobbles against an unranked Arizona State.
For a team that was struggling after a 2-2 start to the season, the Sun Devils outplayed the Bruins in virtually every way. Arizona State logged 192 rushing yards to UCLA’s 64, ran 90 plays compared to the Bruins’ 68 and controlled over 37 minutes of possession. UCLA did win the passing game, but only by seven yards.
Junior linebacker Isaako Savaiinaea had a career game with 15 tackles to go along with an interception as the Bruin defense attempted to single-handedly keep UCLA in the game. Although the best aspect of the Bruins’ game Saturday, the defense was disjointed and played loose under pressure as it continued to assess the losses of linebacker Myles Jack as well as cornerbacks Fabian Moreau and Marcus Rios, who was hospitalized earlier this week.
“Excuses are for losers…we’ve got guys who are capable of going in there and playing better and we will get better,” said defensive coordinator Tom Bradley.
Last weekend against Arizona on the road, it appeared as if the injuries played no role in UCLA’s success as the Bruins trounced the Wildcats 56-30. The losses caught up to the Bruins this week as the Sun Devils took advantage of the holes in the defense to average 4.2 rushing yards per play.
“The fact that you have lost three quality starters, three of the top players in the country, that is going to hurt you,” said coach Jim Mora.
The Sun Devils played the best game of their season Saturday in front of 80,113 fans at the Rose Bowl. On its last play of the game, indicative of how the four quarters went for the visiting team, Arizona State ran in a 23-yard touchdown by essentially carrying Kalen Ballage into the endzone as he was simultaneously tackled by multiple UCLA defenders.
While the Sun Devils looked to be on cruise control after jumping out to a 9-0 lead in the first quarter, the Bruins had many moments when they almost managed to break through. Rosen threw two touchdown passes to senior receiver Thomas Duarte that reignited UCLA’s offense, the second of which made it 29-23 with 9:19 left to play.
“Coming out of the half we always knew we had a chance. We’re never down on ourselves, we always know we can fight back because that’s what we’ve been built for,” Duarte said. “But you can’t win on ‘almost.’ You’ve gotta execute.”