Football’s defense allows 2nd-most total yards all season to ASU offense

This post was updated Oct. 7 at 1:20 a.m.

Jerry Azzinaro-coached defenses blitz often.

According to The Athletic, one Pac-12 coordinator said Azzinaro will blitz about 75% of the time as part of UCLA football’s (3-2, 1-1 Pac-12) 4-2-5 defensive scheme.

But against No. 22 Arizona State at the Rose Bowl, Azzinaro’s defense allowed the second-most total yards to an opposing offense all season.

Despite the same heavy blitzing Saturday night, UCLA was unable to record a sack against Arizona State quarterback Jayden Daniels. The Sun Devils often elected to max protect Daniels, routinely surrounding their signal-caller with six to seven blockers.

That extra time, combined with the fact that the Bruins sent more defenders in pursuit of Daniels, meant that UCLA defensive backs found themselves in one-on-one coverages with Arizona State receivers – often deep down the field.

“We’ve just got to win those battles,” said senior linebacker Bo Calvert. “At the same time, it goes both ways – the D-line and the linebackers have to get home and get pressure on the QB.”

But the Bruins’ secondary didn’t win those battles, instead allowing 286 yards through the air and 22 yards per completion. On its biggest five plays of the night, Arizona State picked up 233 yards.

“We had some issues on the back end,” said coach Chip Kelly. “When you rely on a lot of pressure, that’s when you’re putting your guys in the back end in one-on-one situations, and you can’t always put them in one-on-one situations.”

Granted, the Bruins were missing two key members of their secondary for much of the game Saturday because of injuries.

Redshirt junior defensive back Kenny Churchwell III and senior defensive back Quentin Lake both missed a sizable number of snaps, and the Bruins at one point opted for walk-on redshirt junior defensive back Alex Johnson to fill the safety position.

Kelly said Churchwell and Lake were available for Monday’s practice but added that they would be monitored to see exactly what activities they could participate in.

“Kenny and Q-Lake, they’re both very experienced guys,” said redshirt senior defensive back Cameron Johnson. “But at the end of the day, we’ve just all got to do our jobs and our jobs only. We can’t get mixed up – we’ve just got to lock into the game plan.”

Despite missing two of their free safeties, Azzinaro kept dialing up the blitzes. On the Sun Devils’ biggest play – a 65-yard touchdown to receiver Ricky Pearsall midway through the second quarter – the Bruins sent seven players on a blitz.

As those players rushed up to the line of scrimmage, a hole was left on the near side of the field. Pearsall ran through virtually untouched, and Arizona State had turned a screen pass into its longest pass play of the night.

No-Fly Zone

Senior quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson sustained an injury to his shoulder during UCLA’s matchup against Stanford two weeks ago and said he’s still feeling the pain.

“It’s week five in the middle of the season, so I wouldn’t say I’m (a) hundred (percent),” Thompson-Robinson said.

But against the Sun Devils, the signal-caller was the Bruins’ leading rusher on 19 carries, taking a number of hits in the process.

On one play, Thompson-Robinson even took to the air, attempting to hurdle a defender after he had already crossed the line to gain on 4th-and-four. He didn’t clear the defender, however, and instead fell hard to the ground.

“(I’m) not really even close to (a) hundred (percent),” Thompson-Robinson said. “There’s gonna be aches and pains coming up every week.”

Saturday’s hurdle attempt wasn’t Thompson-Robinson’s only attempt of the season either. In week zero against Hawaii, he also attempted to clear a defender through the air – he was also unsuccessful.