Football to face Arizona State team that hasn’t seen action in nearly a month

Some games come down to a team’s sharpness and preparation, or a lack thereof.

UCLA football (2-2) is heading to the Grand Canyon State to play Arizona State (0-1), facing a Sun Devils team that hasn’t seen the gridiron in the last three weeks because of COVID-19 concerns within its program.

Its one game was played Nov. 7, ending in a 28-27 loss to then-No. 20 USC, which scored 14 points in the last 2:52 of the fourth quarter to complete the win.

Arizona State quarterback Jayden Daniels went 11-of-23 for 134 yards and a touchdown, but added 111 yards on the ground on 11 carries. Coach Chip Kelly mentioned seeing Daniels’ performance last year in the Bruins’ 42-32 victory, but said that won’t help UCLA prepare for Saturday’s matchup, as the Sun Devils have new coaches on both sides of the ball.

“(Daniels is) a true dual threat. … We’ve known that, we faced him last year,” Kelly said. “He can hurt you with both his arm and his legs. We have only one game to go off of and what I mean by that is that really last year’s film doesn’t help anybody because they have a new defensive coordinator and a new offensive coordinator. So really we just have the (USC) game to go off of.”

Arizona State added offensive coordinator Zak Hill from Boise State, where he led the Broncos to 36.8 points per game in 2019 – good for 14th in the nation.

In addition, the Sun Devils brought in ex-Cincinnati Bengals coach Marvin Lewis to help coordinate the defense. The franchise leader in years coached and career wins with 16 and 131, respectively, Lewis reached seven NFL playoff appearances, but won zero postseason games.

Kelly said the Bruins have done their due diligence on both of Arizona State’s new coaches, adding that the team’s experience in shifting its focus in less than two days to a new coach earlier this season against California will be helpful.

“We’ve gone back and broken down both coordinators, where they were at (at) their former places and have that information,” Kelly said. “But obviously the game plan you implement with Arizona State is going to be different than where you were in the past just because your personnel will be different. I think we learned that valuable lesson when we played Cal with 43 hours to prepare for a new offensive coordinator and I think our defensive guys handled that.”

Offensively, UCLA has relied on redshirt senior running back Demetric Felton, who is averaging 160 scrimmage yards per game. Under center, redshirt freshman quarterback Chase Griffin started the previous two contests, as junior quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson was out because of COVID-19 contact tracing protocols.

It is unknown who will start for the Bruins, but it is believed Thompson-Robinson will get the start if available.

Meanwhile, the defensive unit is in the top 30 in the country in sacks per game and is top-15 in team tackles for loss per game. Additionally, the Bruins are outscoring opponents 28-3 in the fourth quarter.

Graduate transfer defensive back Qwuantrezz Knight – tied for second on the team in total tackles – said the team holds weekly competitions to see who can accumulate the most tackles for loss in an effort to help keep the team’s top-15 ranking.

“The tackles for loss thing is actually a big thing for this team,” Knight said. “It’s so big that we all have competition on (who’s) going to make the most tackles for loss this week. That’s how we kind of stay up on the edge of being high-ranked as far as in the country of tackles for loss. In practice every week, we’re racing towards the ball. Everyone, not only the front seven.”

A win against the Sun Devils would see the Bruins move above .500 for the first time in Kelly’s tenure at Westwood. Junior linebacker Bo Calvert said the team’s success can be attributed to the squad’s increased bonding.

“I would say that we just kind of (grew) up, and then we’ve come together as a unit, as a brotherhood and being able to really play together,” Calvert said. “Ultimately, it’s a team sport, and if you can get everybody on the team in the right direction, then you’re going to be doing good things.”

Kickoff at Sun Devil Stadium is at 7:30 p.m. and will be televised on FS1.