Report Card: UCLA vs. Arizona State

Each week, Daily Bruin Sports takes a look at the game film for UCLA football and grades each position group on its performance.

This week, we grade UCLA’s 38-23 loss to Arizona State.

Quarterback: A

Some analysts were saying that freshman quarterback Josh Rosen “struggled” in the first half. Maybe he struggled on his one interception that he threw late in the second quarter; but other than that, Rosen may have played his best game as a Bruin.

Think about this: Rosen had 18 incompletions, but five of them were drops, three of them were batted balls at the line of scrimmage, two of them were throwaways, and one of them was disrupted by a quarterback hit.

That means that only seven of Rosen’s incompletions were true incompletions, making his adjusted completion percentage for the game a robust 79.4 percent.

The thing that was more impressive about Rosen was that he put up those numbers under heavy pressure. Not only was he tasked with carrying the offense when the running game sputtered, but he was also blitzed on 27 of his 42 dropbacks. Rosen’s 50-yard deep ball to freshman receiver Stephen Johnson III and each of his two touchdown passes came when ASU was rushing five or more.

On Rosen’s final touchdown pass – the 17-yarder to junior Y receiver Thomas Duarte in the fourth quarter – the freshman quarterback actually dodged an ASU rusher before wedging a pinpoint throw between two Sun Devil defenders.

If not for some drops on a couple key third-down plays, Rosen may have been the hero in a huge UCLA comeback victory. His performance was still impressive nonetheless.

Running backs: C-

As impressive as the UCLA running game was against Brigham Young University, it was equally unimpressive against Arizona State.

Before the running backs receive too much blame, it’s worth noting the offensive playcalling. Over the past three games, offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone has become increasingly predictable on his first-down play calls in the first quarter. Against BYU, he ran the ball on the first eight first-down plays of the game. Against Arizona, he ran the ball on the first seven first-down plays. And against Arizona State, he ran the ball on the first four first-down plays.

Arizona State caught on to that pattern in a big way. The Sun Devils held the Bruins to just 2.7 yards per carry on 15 first-down rushes. After the game, offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone said he was forcing the issue a little bit and that he needs to “protect the running game a little bit more.”

“I can’t be so stubborn and keep trying to force the issue on the run game sometimes and let our passing game (go),” Mazzone said.

Once Mazzone started to do that in the second quarter and second half, redshirt junior running back Paul Perkins saw a bit more success, but not much. Perkins’ longest run of the night – a 29-yarder on UCLA’s 14th drive – came after Mazzone had started the drive with three straight passes.

Wide receivers: C-

The UCLA wide receivers had their chances against Arizona State, they just dropped the big ones.

Sophomore Mossi Johnson had one of the most critical drops of the game, allowing a third-and-two pass to slip out of his grasp early in the third quarter.

Then in the fourth quarter, with the game on the line, junior Y receiver Thomas Duarte dropped a slant route over the middle that would’ve brought UCLA out of its own end zone and to the UCLA 12-yard line. Duarte planted his head into the grass after that play, and stayed there for a few moments.

UCLA finished with five drops in the game, with two coming on third down. Granted, one of those third-down drops came from a fullback – redshirt junior Nate Iese – but still, the Bruins couldn’t afford to have those missed opportunities in a game where they were coming from behind.

On a positive note, Duarte and senior X receiver Jordan Payton were clutch for most of the game, with Payton having a couple standout plays in which he boxed out his defender like a basketball player and made the leaping catch.

Offensive line: C

This was the first time all year in which the offensive line really looked rattled.

Center Jake Brendel whiffed on more than a couple blocks – something that is seldom seen from the redshirt senior. Junior right guard Alex Redmond also had a few blown assignments, and his holding call at the end of the first quarter nullified a long catch by Payton. That catch would have set the Bruins up inside the ASU 10-yard line; instead, UCLA had a first-and-20 play on the ASU 44 and ended up punting three plays later.

It’s hard to say how much of the offensive linemen’s performance can be blamed on the playcalling. As noted earlier, UCLA’s playcalling has gotten pretty predictable on first down, making the job a bit more difficult for the running backs and the O-line.

With Arizona State stacking the line “more than the other four teams (UCLA had) played,” according to coach Jim Mora, it made things difficult for the Bruin offensive linemen to block all those defenders. There were certain plays where there simply weren’t enough UCLA offensive linemen to account for all of the Arizona State defensive players in the box.

At the end of the game, UCLA’s offense averaged 2.2 yards per carry and allowed two sacks and seven quarterback hits. There’s no way the offensive line can receive a higher grade than a C after a performance like that.

Defensive line: B+

This position group is probably the toughest to grade in this game.

For most of Arizona State’s run plays, the UCLA defensive linemen really did a good job of clogging up the line of scrimmage and shutting down any running lanes. Outside of Mike Bercovici’s 34-yard touchdown run in the third quarter – which junior defensive end Takkarist McKinley completely misread – there were very few blown assignments by the defensive line.

The problem for the Bruins was that they were facing two of the most powerful running backs in the Pac-12: Demario Richard and Kalen Ballage. Both of those running backs weigh 220 pounds or more, and they really began to wear down UCLA’s defensive line as the game went on.

Each of Arizona State’s first two drives of the second half began with a backbreaking run by Richard or Ballage and ended with a touchdown. On the Sun Devils’ first drive of the second half, Richard ran into a wall about 2 yards from the line of scrimmage, but added on 7 yards after contact. Then on the following drive, Ballage was hit 3 yards from the line of scrimmage by junior nose tackle Kenny Clark, but he broke Clark’s tackle and gained another 10 yards after contact.

Just about every time either of those tailbacks got the ball, they found a way to push forward, even if it was only a 2- or 3-yard gain.

Linebackers: B-

The linebackers were vastly improved from the game before, missing only four tackles as opposed to 21 against Arizona.

The Bruins did a much better job stopping the run, allowing just 4.2 yards per carry – compared to 6 against the Wildacts. The main issue with the linebackers was that when they wrapped up, they struggled to make strong tackles. There were several plays when a UCLA linebacker would stop Arizona State’s running back within 2 yards of the line of scrimmage, but Richard or Ballage would push the pile forward by 3 or 4 yards. By game’s end, the Sun Devils had a whopping 157 yards after contact.

“It’s just finishing, that’s what we gotta do,” said junior inside linebacker Isaako Savaiinaea. “Having them on third down multiple times and making them get a first down really hurts us.”

Savaiinaea played like a defensive MVP for the second time this season, registering a team-high 15 tackles, with 0.5 tackles for loss, a pass breakup and a quarterback hit. He only appeared to get beat badly one time – and it was in pass coverage, – on a third-and-five play in UCLA territory with 8:45 to go in the third quarter. Arizona State scored a touchdown two plays later.

The linebackers had a few missed opportunities against Arizona State, but overall they played decently. They can’t be blamed for the loss.

Defensive backs: A-

Things were a lot different for the UCLA secondary against Mike Bercovici this year.

Last year, Bercovici shredded the Bruins’ secondary to the tune of 488 yards on 42 completions. On Saturday, Bercovici was held to 273 yards, with many of those yards coming after the catch.

When Bercovici gained his yards, he often had to do it the hard way – with throws to the sidelines in tight coverage. Take those two sideline throws to Devin Lucien on third down – one of which came late in the first half and the other coming at the beginning of the fourth quarter. Both of those throws needed to be perfect, and they were.

It’s hard to blame the UCLA defensive backs for those plays, or for the long screen passes to D.J. Foster out of the backfield. Even Bercovici’s touchdown throw had to be wedged precisely between two UCLA defenders just to be caught.

Overall, the UCLA secondary was definitely the bright spot for the Bruins in this game. It did help though that Arizona State has one of the weakest receiving units in the Pac-12 – one that dropped a handful of passes against the Bruins.

Special teams: D

Outside of senior kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn’s career-long field goal at the end of the first half, the UCLA special teams were an absolute mess.

The punting unit was very disappointing in a game where its services were desperately needed. The Bruins did land two punts inside the Sun Devil 5-yard line, but also received a pivotal 13-yard shank from senior Matt Mengel early in the second half. If Mengel had managed to just get a 30-yard punt in that situation, UCLA would have had Arizona State pinned back at its own 19-yard line. But instead, Mengel kicked it off the side of his foot, and Arizona got the ball at its own 36-yard line. The Sun Devils cashed in on their above-average field position and scored a touchdown on that drive. Mengel was benched from that point forward.

Redshirt sophomore punter Adam Searl stepped in for Mengel, but he didn’t really make things better in a field-position battle that the Bruins lost all night. Searl finished the game with a mediocre average of 39 yards per punt.

As for UCLA’s kickoff coverage, it was atrocious. Players did a poor job of sticking to their gaps and wrapping up Arizona State kick returner Tim White. The Bruins made White – who entered the game with just six career kick returns – look like an All-American. White was even able to bobble Fairbairn’s safety kickoff and still pick it up in time to dodge multiple tacklers and run 63 yards downfield. Arizona State would score a touchdown just two plays later, making it a 9-0 game in the first quarter.

Overall, the UCLA special teams should receive much of the blame for Saturday’s loss. In a defensive-struggle game where field position was paramount, Arizona State dominated the punting game and the return game, and UCLA’s special teams didn’t step up to the challenge.