UCLA football trails Arizona State by 1 point at halftime in back-and-forth game
Senior quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson is No. 20 UCLA football’s leading rusher as the Bruins trail the Arizona State Sun Devils by one point at halftime. Thompson-Robinson has linked up with redshirt junior wide receiver Kyle Philips through the air for one of the Bruins’ two first-half touchdowns. (Jason Zhu/Daily Bruin staff)
By Jon Christon
Oct. 2, 2021 9:38 p.m.
The offenses are on full display at the Rose Bowl.
No. 20 UCLA football (3-1, 1-0 Pac-12) trails Arizona State (3-1, 1-0) by a score of 24-23 after the first 30 minutes of play. The Bruins and Sun Devils have scored on all but one of their possessions from 6:31 on in the first quarter, with the two teams combining for 554 yards of total offense so far in the first half.
The 47 combined points are the most in any first half of a UCLA game so far this season. The Bruins have already taken four leads in the contest, but the Sun Devils have responded each time. An Arizona State touchdown with 1:07 on the clock gave the Sun Devils the halftime lead.
UCLA’s one punt came with six seconds left in the first half, however, a muffed punt by Arizona State’s special teams allowed the Bruins to cap off the high-scoring first half with another score. A field goal by redshirt sophomore kicker Nicholas Barr-Mira put the Bruin deficit at one heading into the halftime locker room.
Barr-Mira is the Bruins’ leading scorer in the first 30 minutes, finishing the half with a career-high three field goals and nine points.
Arizona State has done the majority of its damage from the air, with quarterback Jayden Daniels already totaling 210 passing yards and two touchdowns. Daniels and the Sun Devils have two passing touchdowns of 50 yards or more, with Ricky Pearsall the recipient of both of them. The junior receiver has three catches for 124 yards.
The Bruins entered the contest with the fifth-worst passing defense in the country, giving up 330.2 passing yards per contest before Saturday.
For UCLA on offense, the majority of the yards came from senior quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson, who has 206 yards of total offense entering the halftime break. The signal-caller also added a touchdown pass to his totals – a 3-yard pass to redshirt junior wide receiver Kyle Philips – while redshirt senior running back Brittain Brown is responsible for the other touchdown.
The Bruins have kept the ball on the ground more than the Sun Devils, accumulating 121 rushing yards on 29 rushing plays compared to Arizona State’s 64 yards on 11 carries. Thompson-Robinson is UCLA’s leading rusher, taking off from the pocket multiple times and running for 64 yards.
The two teams have only combined for two punts, with the first coming on Arizona State’s inaugural drive of the contest and the second resulting in UCLA’s late field goal. After the Sun Devils’ first punt, the teams would trade scores nearly all the way until the halftime break, save for an errant snap turnover from the Bruins midway through the first quarter and UCLA’s punt-turned field goal with six seconds left.
Arizona State will receive the ball to start the second half.
