TEMPE, Ariz. “”mdash; They love their fireworks here at Arizona State.
Massive explosions accompany the band and each ASU score, which rock the Sun Devil Stadium press box and send some California-based media members in to momentary states of earthquake panic.
On the field, UCLA and ASU have both come out with similarly explosive offenses.
The Bruins got the upper hand early by virtue of the big play. A 55-yard run by redshirt sophomore running back Johnathan Franklin led to UCLA’s first touchdown, while the second came on a 46-yard TD bomb from Richard Brehaut to speedster Randall Carroll, which put UCLA up 17-0.
ASU made its way back into the game with the arm of sophomore quarterback Brock Osweiler, who replaced injured starter Steven Threet on the Sun Devils’ third drive.
Osweiler made quick work of the Bruins secondary, leading ASU on a 78-yard touchdown drive in one minute, 17 seconds. He followed that up with a 3-play, 51-yard TD drive in 33 seconds, and added another touchdown at the end of the quarter to make it 21-17.
The Bruins haven’t had much of an answer for ASU’s spread offense. Osweiler’s gaudy stat line after one quarter: 17-for-23, 213 passing yards, three touchdowns.
After coming out firing, UCLA’s offense stalled as the ASU defense forced four straight punts. Redshirt senior kicker Kai Forbath added a 37-yard field goal at the end of the second quarter that made the score 21-20, but only after an ASU personal foul gave UCLA another play after Forbath’s 52-yard miss.
It is a matchup between two teams tied for eighth place in the Pac-10, but with each team going for broke early, the atmosphere resembles that of a playoff game. Both teams have bowl eligibility on the line in the second half.