House of Sparky - ASU vs. UCLA: Blackout the BruinsFluently Speaking Victoryhttps://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/47079/fave.png2014-09-28T11:16:09-07:00http://www.houseofsparky.com/rss/stream/65993202014-09-28T11:16:09-07:002014-09-28T11:16:09-07:00ASU Football: Sun Devils fall out of the top 25
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<figcaption>Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
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<p>How far did they fall?</p> <p>After starting the season at No. 19 and steadily climbing up to No. 15 after the bye week, Arizona State fell out of the AP Poll after losing in blowout fashion to UCLA Thursday. The maroon and gold also dropped to No. 24 from No. 12 in the Amway Coaches Poll.</p>
<p>The Sun Devils fell victim to a 62-27 drubbing by the Bruins after four Arizona State turnovers, including one by Ishmael Adams to put the Bruins up 27-17 just before halftime. Five plays of 80 yards or more also didn't help the Sun Devils' cause. After winning the game, UCLA moved up to No. 8.</p>
<p>Oregon stayed put at No. 2 with a bye week, but they barely escaped Washington State last week. Future opponent Notre Dame beat Syracuse 31-15 at Metlife Stadium in New Jersey but dropped one spot No. 9. Stanford let Washington stick around into the fourth quarter at Husky Stadium. A 5-yard touchdown run by Kevin Hogan saved the day for the Cardinal who are up two spots to No. 14.</p>
<p>USC successfully picked up the pieces against Oregon State, beating the Beavers 35-10 at the Coliseum with an impressive day from Cody Kessler, who completed 24 of 32 passes for 261 yards and two touchdowns. His effort, along with a strikingly poor effort from Sean Mannion, propelled the Trojans to a No. 16 ranking. The Sun Devils travel to Los Angeles next Saturday to play USC.</p>
https://www.houseofsparky.com/2014/9/28/6857551/ap-poll-week-6-where-is-ASU-ranked-this-weekNick Krueger2014-09-27T10:58:36-07:002014-09-27T10:58:36-07:00ASU Football: Positional Grades vs. UCLA
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<figcaption>Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
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<p>Position grades for the Sun Devils in their loss against UCLA </p> <p>The Arizona State Sun Devils were blown out by UCLA on Thursday night. Here is how each position graded out:</p>
<p><b>Quarterbacks: C+</b></p>
<p>Mike Bercovici had an average night for the first start of his career. What will be remembered by most is his interception returned for a touchdown to end the first half and his fumble that turned into another touchdown for UCLA shortly thereafter. But he did set a school record for completions and had three touchdown passes, one of them on a beautifully designed play that had Bercovici rolling out to his right and throwing across his body to a wide open Kody Kohl in the end zone. There are definitely things to work on, but blaming the loss on his play is foolish.</p>
<p><b>Running Backs: C-</b></p>
<p>The Bruins defense came in with the mindset that if they were going to be defeated, it would be by Bercovici beating them through the air. The ground game was completely shut down by the visitors. The usual electrifying D.J. Foster was kept out of the end zone and had a costly fumble early while only running for 30 yards. Senior Deantre Lewis did have a season high 46 yards on nine carries.</p>
<p><b>Wide Receivers: C</b></p>
<p>11 different players caught at least a single pass on Thursday, but some timely drops and a lot of miscommunication in route running is the reason the grade isn't any higher. Cameron Smith stepped up for eight receptions, 95 yards and touchdown. Jaelen Strong had 12 receptions for 146 yards, but it's tough when a new quarterback steps in. Still, Gary Chambers had a drop right near the end zone that should have been a touchdown and even Strong missed a ball on an easy crossing route.</p>
<p><b>Offensive Line: C+</b></p>
<p>The offensive line did a good job in pass protection, allowing only one sack. The run blocking has to improve, however. Foster and Kalen Ballage seemed to be swallowed up as soon as they touched the ball for the majority of the game. When the first time starting quarterback throws the ball 68 times and only gets sacked once? That's pretty good work.</p>
<p><b>Defensive Line: F</b></p>
<p>The Sun Devil line was rarely able to force quarterback Brett Hundley out of the pocket and only had one sack, eight less than they did in last year's meeting between these two teams. Hundley also ran for 72 yards and looked like he could have done even more damage on the ground if he wanted to. Between Tashon Smallwood, Marcus Hardison, Viliami Latu and Jaxon Hood, they recorded four total tackles, completely unacceptable for this group. Of any group that needed to step up against UCLA, it was these players, and they were nowhere to be seen.</p>
<p><b>Linebackers: D</b></p>
<p>Very similar to the defensive line. They did a good job of limiting the production from UCLA's full back and tight end, but Paul Perkins tore them apart for 137 rushing yards. Salamo Fiso and D.J. Calhoun had a combined four tackles. Antonio Longino and Laiu Moeakiola were hardly the best of the bunch with five tackles a piece. Any pressure from blitzes didn't effect Brett Hundley at all and he consistently was able to step up in the pocket and run for huge chunks of yardage. They were unable to keep contain most of the night.</p>
<p><b>Secondary: F</b></p>
<p>The safety and corner play was by far the worst we have seen all season. Receivers running flats, comebacks, and curls were consistently left open, and once they made the catch they ran for miles due to terrible tackling or just flat out giving up on the play. Kweishi Brown and Lloyd Carrington were beat all night long, and twice the Bruins scored on 80 yard pass plays. They were gashed with both quick strikes and long, drawn out drives, and had given up 62 points by the time we reached the end.</p>
<p><b>Special Teams: D</b></p>
<p>Zane Gonzalez was perfect on all field goal and extra point tries, including one of nearly 50 yards. The reason for such a low grade, of course, is Ishmael Adams. He returned a kickoff for a touchdown and another out to the 44-yard line. Matt Haack somehow only punted once for 46 yards and it was downed inside the 20.</p>
<p><b>Coaching: D</b></p>
<p>The staff gets a little leeway considering they had to work with a second string quarterback and that UCLA played its best game of the year, but the team was clearly out-coached and outplayed. There seemed to be no halftime adjustments, and there is no excuse for allowing 21 points on three plays from scrimmage coming out of the locker room. Todd Graham and Mike Norvell also elected not to take the points and go into the locker room tied at 20 which cost them dearly. While Division I football players should know how to tackle from playing almost their entire lives, it still falls squarely on the coaching staff to have them prepared and they weren't.</p>
https://www.houseofsparky.com/2014/9/27/6852067/asu-football-positional-grades-vs-uclaConnor Pelton2014-09-26T15:00:02-07:002014-09-26T15:00:02-07:00ASU Football: Game balls vs. UCLA
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<p>Which performances earned a game ball Thursday?</p> <p>It's very tough to give out game balls after tough losses like the Sun Devils had Thursday night. UCLA took down Arizona State in their own stadium, no bones about it. It was the Bruins night and they owned it. Meanwhile the Sun Devils will go back to the drawing board, but before they do, we have a couple game balls to give out.</p>
<p><b>Mike Bercovici</b></p>
<p>Bercovici set two school records in completions (42) and passing attempts (68). He is the first Arizona State quarterback since Rudy Carpenter in 2005 to throw for over 400 yards in his first career start with 488 through the air. But he gets a game ball more for his character. He was far from perfect throwing two interceptions, but no one really thought he would be. Mike Bercovici is not Taylor Kelly and if you expected that, then you're sadly mistaken. He did the most he could against a very good UCLA defense which has won them four games now. The redshirt junior wasn't conservative, he took shots down field and he stuck his neck out there on the biggest stage, that's all you can ask for from a backup quarterback.</p>
<p><b>Jaelen Strong</b></p>
<p>Strong was himself Thursday night and had 12 receptions for 146 yards. He probably knew Bercovici would target him more often and lean on him and Strong did what he could when covered by Ishmael Adams, who had an incredible performance. In a game where the quarterback needed his wide receivers more than anything, Strong stepped up and delivered in his usual role.</p>
<p><b>Cameron Smith</b></p>
<p>Welcome to the team Mr. Smith. Fans and media alike have been calling on Smith to take a more active role in the offense last season and the first couple of games this year. Smith finally showed what he's capable of with eight receptions for 95 yards and a touchdown against UCLA. He will need to continue to be a weapon that Bercovici can utilize next week. His eight receptions tied his total from all of last season and his 95 yards Thursday came close to eclipsing his freshman season mark of 129 yards. Smith is only a sophomore and showed flashes of what he can be, something he'll need to continue going forward.</p>
https://www.houseofsparky.com/2014/9/26/6848853/asu-football-game-balls-vs-uclaNick Krueger2014-09-26T12:00:03-07:002014-09-26T12:00:03-07:00ASU vs. UCLA: Five takeaways from the loss
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<p>What are the main takeaways from Arizona State's 62-27 defeat to the UCLA Bruins. </p> <p>It was a record setting performance on Thursday night. Just not for the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.houseofsparky.com/">Arizona State Sun Devils</a>, as they surrendered the most points in Sun Devil Stadium history. It was an overall disastrous night for Todd Graham and company, and here are my takeaways from Arizona State's 62-27 defeat.</p>
<p><b>1. The Arizona State defense is not ready just yet:</b> After replacing nine starters from 2013, the Arizona State defense did enough to not cost the Sun Devils in any of their first three games. Some raised their eyebrows after Arizona State allowed 24 points to Colorado and 23 to New Mexico.</p>
<p>However, against UCLA, the wheels came off. The Sun Devils surrendered 580 yards of offense to the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.bruinsnation.com/">Bruins</a>. That was not the story of the game, the story was the big, explosive plays that the Arizona State defense conceded to the UCLA. UCLA had four scores of over 80 yards on the night. Brett Hundley finished the contest 18/23 for 355 yards and four touchdowns. Two of those touchdowns were 80-yard strikes, one to <span>Jordan Payton</span> and the other to Eldridge Massington.</p>
<p>There were too many missed tackles, too many missed assignments and too many mental errors. Yes, UCLA scored on a kick return and an interception return. However, Hundley was able to do whatever he wanted to do. Three receivers had over 80 yards and running back <span>Paul Perkins</span> tallied 137 yards on just 14 carries. This defense is talented, but they are also young and they got a rude awakening Thursday night.</p>
<p><b>2. <span>Mike Bercovici</span> is a steady backup in Taylor Kelly's absence: </b>Yes there were times Bercovici threw behind receivers. Yes he committed three turnovers, but raise your hand if you thought Bercovici would play a perfect game. Anybody? Raise your hand if you thought he would throw the ball 68 times in his first start.</p>
<p>The fact is the defense and special teams did him no favors and no Arizona State running back finished with over 50 yards on the ground. <span>D.J. Foster</span>, carried the ball just nine times for 30 yards, an average of 3.3 per carry. He came into the game averaging over nine yards per carry.</p>
<p>So much of offense is timing, and with a backup quarterback it is hard to establish that timing. Couple that with the fact that the Sun Devils were one dimensional for the entire second half and Bercovici barely had a chance for success. However, it does not get any easier for Bercovici has the Sun Devils travel to play USC next Saturday.</p>
<p><b>3. The sky is not falling: </b>Arizona State fans have a tendency to overreact after defeats. Considering how much emphasis was put into this game, some Sun Devil fans may believe that the season is over, when the fact is that is not the case.</p>
<p>People may point to the fact that the past two seasons the winner of the Arizona State/UCLA game has gone on to win the Pac-12 South. Consider in 2012 they played on Oct. 27 and in 2013 the two teams met on Nov. 23. The calendar has yet to hit October yet, there is a lot of the season left.</p>
<p>UCLA still has to play Oregon, Stanford, USC and Washington. Arizona State still has a chance to do damage in the South, with matchups against USC, Utah and Arizona looming.</p>
<p><b>4. One play changed the football game: </b>On third down and 12 from the UCLA 17-yard line, Mike Bercovici threw a pass in the middle of the field that was intercepted by <span>Ishmael Adams</span> and returned 95 yards for a touchdown. That was at least a 10-point swing that went against the Sun Devils, assuming they at least get a field goal. After that play, the Sun Devils were outscored 35-10.</p>
<p>The first play from scrimmage in the third quarter resulted in an 80-yard touchdown for UCLA. Following a field goal from Arizona State, Ishmael Adams returned the kickoff 100 yards. The snowball just kept rolling against the Sun Devils, as they were fighting an uphill battle following that interception.</p>
<p><b>5. UCLA is not 35 points better than Arizona State: </b>The scoreboard may say the Sun Devils lost by 35 points, but there is no way UCLA is five touchdowns better than the Sun Devils. Arizona State doubled UCLA in first downs and outgained the Bruins in total yards 626-580. Arizona State held the ball for about 10 minutes more than the Bruins.</p>
<p>However, like Todd Graham says, football games down to turnovers and mental mistakes. The Sun Devils also topped UCLA in both of those categories, with four turnovers and countless mental errors. If the two teams played again this season, UCLA may win, but not in the dominating fashion they did Thursday night.</p>
https://www.houseofsparky.com/2014/9/26/6848617/asu-vs-ucla-five-takeaways-from-the-arizona-state-defeatRyan Bafaloukos2014-09-26T03:00:02-07:002014-09-26T03:00:02-07:00ASU Football: Turnovers, big plays doom Sun Devils
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<figcaption>Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
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<p>Turnovers and big plays overshadowed what was a decent showing from the offense.</p> <p>How does a team gain 626 yards of total offense, convert 38 first downs and run almost 50 more plays than the other team over the course of a game and still lose? The last time the Sun Devils had 38 first downs in a game was 1981 and 105 plays run by the Sun Devils is a new school record and yet the maroon and gold fell flat.</p>
<p>But they beat the Bruins in all of those categories. So what went wrong? The answer is quite simple, turnovers and giving up huge chunks of yardage at a time on defense, which can be attributed to awful tackling.</p>
<p>"Sometimes things don't go your way, and the way you react to adversity let's you know how the team is going to be," safety <span>Jordan Simone</span> said. "When things start to go bad we just have to pick it up."</p>
<p>Arizona State did not pick it up Thursday night, it only got worse as time wore on. The Sun Devils gave up five plays over 80 yards in length. Early in the second quarter, <span>Brett Hundley</span> completed an 80-yard pass to <span>Eldridge Massington</span> for a touchdown. He found <span>Jordan Payton</span> on an 80-yard touchdown to begin the third quarter as well.</p>
<p>It wasn't what fans have come to expect from Arizona State, but a combination of terrible tackling and an unfamiliar and an inexperienced quarterback certainly played into the formula. Todd Graham went as far as to call the tackling "atrocious" and the mistakes "catastrophic."</p>
<p>"We made some simple mistakes that cost us big time," Simone said. "We had mental errors and critical errors and stuff that we can't have. We just got to get back to playing Sun Devil defense."</p>
<p>The Bruins also did it on the ground and on special teams too. <span>Paul Perkins</span> ran 81 yards from the UCLA four-yard line to the Arizona State 15-yard line. <span>Ishmael Adams</span> did it twice with a 95-yard interception return for a touchdown right before halftime and a 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown just five minutes into the third quarter to put UCLA up 41-20.</p>
<p>The 95-yard touchdown was the kicker. Just moments earlier, it seemed as if the Sun Devils would head into halftime tied at 20. Despite Arizona State ending up down 27-17 a few seconds later, Graham was still pleased with the offensive production.</p>
<p>"We moved the ball up and down the field all night," Graham said. "The only one that stopped us was us."</p>
<p>The Sun Devils also turned the ball over four times, which led to 17 points for the Bruins. UCLA defensive tackle <span>Eddie Vanderdoes</span> forced a <span>D.J. Foster</span> fumble, which was picked up by linebacker <span>Eric Kendricks</span>, but Arizona State held them to a field goal. Early in the second quarter with the Sun Devils driving past midfield up 17-13, safety <span>Anthony Jefferson</span> picked off <span>Mike Bercovici</span> at the 23-yard line.</p>
<p>"The difference in the game from my standpoint was just very very very bad ball security," Graham said.</p>
<p>Bercovici fumbled early in the middle of the third quarter added insult to injury. UCLA took full advantage on a 1-yard run by <span>Nate Starks</span> two plays later to put the Bruins into the end zone.</p>
<p>Graham preached all week that the keys to beating the Bruins included ball security and winning defensive battles, Arizona State managed to fail miserably at both. It overshadowed an offensive performance that was better than it might have looked at first sight as Bercovici moved the ball well down the field at points. It's also worth mentioning that Arizona State also had to air it out most of the second half which padded the stats.</p>
<p>Even if the offense played a decent game paper, the inexperience showed through on the field and the Sun Devils had too many of what Graham likes to call "critical errors."</p>
<p>He also gave credit to UCLA for taking advantage of the Sun Devils poor play.</p>
<p>"We made a lot of inexperienced mistakes," Graham said. "They made the plays and made the big plays. They won explosive (plays), they won ball security so obviously the big plays was a big factor. Everything we needed to do we didn't do tonight."</p>
https://www.houseofsparky.com/2014/9/26/6848835/asu-football-turnovers-big-plays-doom-sun-devils-in-ucla-lossNick Krueger2014-09-26T01:00:02-07:002014-09-26T01:00:02-07:00Graham pleased with Bercovici's debut
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<figcaption>Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
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<p>There were ups and downs, but coach Todd Graham was happy with the performance of Mike Bercovici.</p> <p>When redshirt senior <span>Taylor Kelly</span> left the field in Colorado, the spotlight turned to <span>Mike Bercovici</span>.</p>
<p>The redshirt junior quarterback had never started a game at the college level, and looking only at his stats, it would appear that the Sun Devils had a good night. Bercovici finished the night 42-of-68 for 488 yards and three touchdowns.</p>
<p>"I thought Mike did a lot of great things tonight," head coach Todd Graham said. "For his first game, facing that kind of adversity, I'm really proud of him."</p>
<p>Unfortunately for the Sun Devils, he also had two interceptions and a fumble.</p>
<p>In fairness to Bercovici, in one of the interceptions he was a victim of some tough luck. He saw redshirt junior wide receiver <span>Jaelen Strong</span> in a one-on-one deep down the field and took a shot. UCLA's redshirt senior safety <span>Anthony Jefferson</span> seemingly didn't even see the pass, yet yanked it out of Strong's out for the pick.</p>
<p>The second one was tougher to defend. In a 3rd-and-12 situation from the UCLA 17-yard line, Bercovici surveyed the field and through over the middle. He misfired, and it landed in the arms of UCLA junior cornerback <span>Ishmael Adams</span> at the 5-yard line. He saw a hole, and returned the interception 95 yards for the score with two seconds remaining in the half.</p>
<p>"Unacceptable on my behalf, 100 percent credit on me" Bercovici said. "It's a learning experience and I'll never do it again."</p>
<p>At the time, Arizona State trailed 20-17, well within the range of sophomore kicker <span>Zane Gonzalez</span>, who made a career-long 49-yarder earlier in the game. Had the interception not happened and Gonzalez kicked the field goal, it would have been a tie game entering the half.</p>
<p>Bercovici also fumbled in the third quarter on a sack by sophomore linebacker Deon Hollins. It was his third turnover of the night, the fourth by the team.</p>
<p>"Obviously there's lots of things he can improve, the biggest thing being the turnovers that really, really hurt us," Graham said. "He made some mistakes and he came back from them. Obviously you can't make those mistakes and win games like that."</p>
<p>In Bercovici's first start, he set Sun Devil records for pass attempts (68) and completions (42). He had a couple perfect passes, including a 25-yard dart to Strong between defenders in the first quarter in an eventual touchdown drive and his 29-yard touchdown pass to sophomore wideout <span>Cameron Smith</span> into double coverage in the second quarter was a thing of beauty.</p>
<p>There were good takeaways from his performance, yet Bercovici didn't see it that way.</p>
<p>"At the end of the day, it's what the score is, and we weren't one point ahead or more," Bercovici said. "Either way, positives are wins to me."</p>
<p>It looks like Bercovici will get at least one more week to find that positive he's seeking. With Kelly's foot injury, he is not expected to play next Saturday at USC.</p>
<p>Graham said he is confident Saturday's loss won't affect Bercovici, and won't be worried when Arizona State travels to face the Trojans.</p>
<p>"How's Mike Bercovici going to respond? He's going to respond with great character," Graham said. "His first start, it will make him better in the long run.</p>
<p>"I think he'll respond like he always does: like a champion."</p>
https://www.houseofsparky.com/2014/9/26/6848777/asu-football-bercovici-first-start-recap-grahamJustin Emerson2014-09-26T00:34:11-07:002014-09-26T00:34:11-07:00ASU Football: Sun Devils embarrassed in 62-27 loss
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<figcaption>Christian Petersen</figcaption>
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<p>UCLA came, UCLA saw, UCLA conquered. </p> <p>What was pegged as Arizona State's biggest opportunity to impress voters this season turned into an utter embarrassment as asinine mistakes and terrible tackling doomed the Sun Devils in a 62-27 loss to UCLA.</p>
<p>"Obviously, that was embarrassing," head coach Todd Graham said. "The standard that we set here was not met ... we just made a lot of catastrophic mistakes tonight."</p>
<p>The atmosphere on Thursday night in Sun Devil Stadium was electric, as the blackout crowd created a definite home field advantage for Arizona State. The crowd only grew rowdier as the Sun Devils opened up a 17-6 lead over the Bruins. Mike Bercovici played well in his first start under center, throwing a pair of first half touchdowns.</p>
<p>After Bercovici's gorgeous pass to a well-covered <span>Cameron Smith</span> for a 29-yard score to cap off a 75-yard drive put the Sun Devils up two scores, Arizona State looked to their defense to continue to slow down <span>Brett Hundley</span> and the UCLA offense. Arizona State's young defense performed well in the first quarter, holding the Bruins offense to a pair of field goals. When the Sun Devils held UCLA to a field goal after <span>D.J. Foster</span> fumbled at his own 31-yard line, the impression was the defense had taken that long-awaited "next step."</p>
<p>That impression was wrong.</p>
<p>On a 3rd and 2 from their own 20, Hundley found <span>Eldridge Massington</span> on a five-yard hitch route that was meant to pick up the first down. Five Arizona State missed tackles later and Massington was dancing in the end zone after an 80-yard score, one of four UCLA touchdowns on the night that spanned 80 yards or more. Running back Paul Perkins also had an 81-yard rush on a late UCLA touchdown drive.</p>
<p>But that wasn't where the camel's back broke. No, the momentum of the game didn't swing completely out of the Sun Devils' favor until the end of the first half.</p>
<p>An 11-play, 58-yard drive set the Sun Devils up with good position at the UCLA 17-yard line with under a minute left in the first half. Trailing 20-17, just a field goal would have sent the Sun Devils into the locker room on a good note. But poor playcalling and Bercovici's inexperience came to the forefront. On first down, Bercovici took a questionable quarterback draw and lost two yards. Then on the next play, Bercovici made the biggest mistake of his career to date, throwing a brutal interception to UCLA's Ishmael Adams. Adams ran the ball back 95 yards for a Bruin touchdown and rather than heading into the locker room at halftime tied or in the lead, Arizona State ended the first half down 27-17.</p>
<p>On the interception that changed the tone of the game, both Bercovici and Graham acknowledged its impact, with Graham calling it "the biggest play of the game."</p>
<p>"Unacceptable on my behalf. 100 percent credit on me," Bercovici said. "I gotta understand the situation ... It's a learning experience. I'll never do it again."</p>
<p>Having outplayed the Bruins but still trailing 27-17, Arizona State came out flat in the second half, and the game quickly spiraled out of control.</p>
<p>On the first play of the second half, Hundley found wideout <span>Jordan Payton</span> for an 80-yard UCLA score that upped their lead to 34-17. A field goal on their next drive gave the Sun Devils an ounce of positive play to work off of, but all momentum that ASU had was immediately zapped when Adams scored on another long play, this time on special teams. Adams took Alex Garoutte's kickoff back 100 yards to the house, ducking and weaving his way through a seemingly-helpless Sun Devil tackling unit. Adams, who totaled 296 all-purpose yards on the night, gave the Bruins a commanding 48-20 lead.</p>
<p>The fourth quarter of this game was unnecessary, as UCLA would've been declared winner by knockout after Adams' kickoff return score. But this isn't boxing, and UCLA didn't stop scoring. The Bruins padded on two more touchdowns on Graham's defense in the fourth quarter, embarrassing both Arizona State players and their head coach.</p>
<p>"I thought we even got tired. We only played 58 plays on defense and we struggled to get lined up at times. Tackling was atrocious."</p>
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<p>Wasn't there mentally and Really embarrassed myself. Never again</p>
— kweishi Brown (@kwesh_the_great) <a href="https://twitter.com/kwesh_the_great/status/515395172981411840">September 26, 2014</a>
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<p>Just wanna apologize to the sun devil nation for the way I played tonight ...</p>
— Damarious Randall (@RandallTime) <a href="https://twitter.com/RandallTime/status/515396074941734912">September 26, 2014</a>
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<p>At the end of the night, the Sun Devils lost 62-27, but the final score wasn't a result of poor play as a collective but rather crucial mistakes. The Sun Devils turned the ball over four times, and Arizona State failed to force any of their own.</p>
<p>"They couldn't stop us," Graham said. "The only one who stopped us was us."</p>
<p>In defeat, Bercovici set Sun Devil single-game records for both attempts (68) and completions (42). The redshirt junior threw for an impressive 488 yards and three touchdowns, but positives were hard to find after the loss.</p>
<p>"At the end of the day it's what the score is, and we weren't one point ahead or more," Bercovici said. "Positives are wins to me."</p>
https://www.houseofsparky.com/2014/9/26/6848485/asu-football-sun-devils-embarrassed-in-62-27-lossShane Theodore2014-09-25T22:29:59-07:002014-09-25T22:29:59-07:00ASU Football: UCLA tramples the Sun Devils 62-27
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<figcaption>Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
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<p>See how it all went down in the instant recap</p> <p><b>Eds. This is the second half recap on top of the first half recap. We will have further analysis with quotes later tonight</b></p>
<p><b>Second half</b></p>
<p>The Bruins started the second half just like they ended the first. Brett Hundley connected with Jordan Payton on an 80-yard touchdown pass on the first play from scrimmage.</p>
<p>On the next drive, Jaelen Strong helped Arizona State over the 50 with a 19-yard reception. Deantre Lewis spun out of a tackle to convert a 4th down and an 18-yard pass to Kalen Ballage had the Sun Devils down inside the UCLA 10-yard line. A pass completed to D.J. Foster wasn't enough for a first down and Zane Gonzalez knocked one through the uprights from 24-yards out with 9:24 left in the third quarter.</p>
<p>UCLA answered right back on the ensuing kickoff on a 100-yard return for a touchdown to put the Bruins up 41-20 and it got worse on the next drive. Bercovici fumbled at the Arizona State 32-yard line and UCLA capitalized on another mistake with a run from freshman Nate Starks from one yard out after a 22-yard run from Hundley.</p>
<p>The Sun Devils finally got their first touchdown since 14:24 in the second quarter on a 5-yard touchdown pass to Ellis Jefferson, going 75 yards in 11 plays to cut the Bruins lead to 48-27. The Sun Devils started the next drive on their own 2-yard line and slowly chipped themselves out of the hole with Bercovici completing a 27-yard pass to De'Marieya Nelson and a 16-yard grab by Strong put the Sun Devils over midfield. Desperation got the best of the maroon and gold down 21-points in the fourth quarter and turned the ball over on downs.</p>
<p>An awful display of tackling allowed UCLA wide receiver to scamper 42 yards down to the Arizona State 14-yard line and Hundley connected with Payton again for a 4-yard touchdown with 10:32 to play which put the Bruins up 55-27. It was the most points Arizona State had given up in a game since Nov. 9, 2002 when it gave up 55 against USC. As the Sun Devils began to put in their second team skill players, they were able to drive down the field. An 18-yard run by Demario Richard helped but the Sun Devils couldn't take advantage on fourth and one from the one when Kalen Ballage got stuffed.</p>
<p>As UCLA took over on their own 4-yard line, Paul Perkins rushed 81 yards down to the Arizona State 15 yard line. Three plays later, Hundley ran in a quarterback keeper from a yard out to put the Bruins up 62-27 with 4:29 to play.</p>
<p>As the UCLA chants began to drown out "ASU", the Sun Devils turned it over on downs near midfield and Hundley a couple of knees to seal the Arizona State loss.</p>
<p><b>First half</b></p>
<p>Back and forth the first half went, with plenty of action on both sides.</p>
<p>Jaelen Strong clearly doesn't care who the quarterback is, he'll catch a back-shoulder fade regardless. Bercovici hit him with a 14-yarder on his first third-down play. It moved the chains, and a few players, sophomore kicker Zane Gonzalez booted a 49-yard field goal, the longest of his career, put the Sun Devils up 3-0.</p>
<p>On the ensuing drive, Arizona State forced a punt, but D.J. Foster fumbled on the first play of the drive. Once again, the Sun Devil defense showed up, stopping UCLA, sacking Brett Hundley on 3rd-and-6 from the 13-yard line. Junior Ka'imi Fairbairn tied the game with a 36-yard field goal with 6:53 left in the opening quarter.</p>
<p>The next drive was when Bercovici shed the jitters. A 25-yard dart to Strong put the Sun Devils at the 22-yard line, then a screen to Foster put them at the 6. Two plays later, Bercovici took the snap, kept his eyes focused on the right side, where everyone thought he was going. Everyone expect redshirt sophomore tight end Kody Kohl, who ran left and had no one within yards of him.</p>
<p>It was Kohl's first career touchdown reception, and the first touchdown of the season to an Arizona State tight end. 10-3 Arizona State.</p>
<p>The last thing a team wants to do is give up big plays right after a touchdown, but that's exactly what happened. UCLA junior Ishmael Adams returned the kickoff 44 yards. On the very next play, Hundley hit sophomore receiver Thomas Duarte 43 yards, which put UCLA in the red zone.</p>
<p>And for the second straight drive that included the ball at Arizona State's 13-yard line, the defense came up big. Two small plays set up a third down, Duarte got to the flats and looked ready to break for at least a first down, but junior safety Jordan Simone stuffed him and the Bruins settled for another field goal to make it 10-6.</p>
<p>Then Bercovici took over. He orchestrated an 8-play, 75-yard touchdown drive that ended in a perfect 29-yard bomb into double coverage to sophomore wideout Cameron Smith. It was 17-6, and the Sun Devils looked a like a team who thought they could beat the big bad Bruins.</p>
<p>That is until the Bruins penetrated the Arizona State defense in a seamless way, when redshirt freshman Eldridge Massington took a quick route and ran it 80 yards to the house to make it 17-13. The Sun Devils had had a great game tackling until that point, but redshirt sophomore Salamo Fiso and two others missed badly, and it cost them.</p>
<p>Bercovici appeared to be in control, moving the ball with ease and even running for 12 yards. He found Strong deep downfield one-on-one, normally a safe bet, but this time the jump ball favored the defense, as UCLA redshirt sophomore safety Anthony Jefferson came down with the interception.</p>
<p>At that point, what looked like a shootout turned into a battle of the punters. They traded boots for a few drives, until Hundley showed why he's one of the best in the nation. He completed four passes for 39 yards, including a 3-yard touchdown pass to redshirt sophomore fullback Nate Iese and even ran for 21 yards. In all, it was a 90-yard drive eating 3:10 of clock and giving the Bruins the 20-17 lead. It was the first time all season the Sun Devils trailed in a game.</p>
<p>Arizona State got the ball back with enough time to move the down field. Bercovici and Strong connected on two-straight back-shoulder passes for 29 yards combined, moving the team across midfield. The drive appeared dead when Bercovici overthrew his man on a third-down play, but a defensive holding kept the drive alive.</p>
<p>The Bruins, as it turned out, benefitted from the holding. The drive continued long enough for Bercovici to hit UCLA cornerback Ishmael Adams, who took it 95 yards all the way back, and UCLA finished the half with a dagger of a pick-six, going up 27-17.</p>
https://www.houseofsparky.com/2014/9/25/6848481/asu-football-ucla-tramples-the-sun-devils-62-27Nick Krueger