UCLA
Arizona State
Football Set to Visit Arizona State Saturday
December 01, 2020 | Football
GAME 5: UCLA at Arizona State
Venue: Sun Devil Football Stadium
Kickoff Time: 8:30 p.m. MT/7:30 p.m. PT
Television: FS1 (Aaron Goldsmith and Brady Quinn)
Radio (UCLA Sports Network from IMG College): AM 570 - Josh Lewin (play-by-play),Matt Stevens (analyst), Wayne Cook (reporter)
XM Ch. 383 / Internet 973
The Bruins enjoy a 21-14-1 overall advantage (9-7 edge in games played in Tempe) in the series against Arizona State, which started in 1976. UCLA is 1-1 versus the Sun Devils under Coach Kelly, having won last season's contest in the Rose Bowl 42-32 over then-No. 24 ASU. The Bruins dropped a 31-28 verdict in the last meeting between the two schools played in 2019 in Tempe. Joshua Kelley ran for 164 yards and four touchdowns in UCLA's 42-32 win over ASU in the Rose Bowl last season. The Bruins carried a 42-10 lead into the fourth quarter before the then-No. 24 Sun Devils scored three late TDs. The win was the Bruins' second against a ranked opponent that year.Kelley became the first Bruin since Myles Jack in 2013 (vs. Washington) to score four rushing touchdowns in a game. It marked the fourth straight contest in which the Bruins had rushed for more than 200 yards. Stephan Blaylock led the UCLA defense with seven tackles and forced a fumble on ASU's opening drive to get the Bruins off to a good start.
In the last meeting played in Tempe, UCLA battled until the end, but their comeback attempt fell short in a 31-28 loss in 2018. Down by just three with a minute and a half to play, quarterback Wilton Speight connected with two quick passes to Chase Cota to move the ball up to the UCLA 41, but a sack and a couple of penalties dashed UCLA's comeback plan. Tight end Caleb Wilson made 11 receptions for a season-high 164 yards and two touchdowns. ASU built upon a 17-14 halftime lead by scoring first in the second half and led 24-14 before UCLA answered on a TD pass to Wilson. After the teams traded touchdowns, the Bruins tried an onside kick with under two minutes left but the Sun Devils fell on it. UCLA's defense stepped up, forcing ASU into a three-and-out, but the offense could not move into scoring position.
THE WATCH LIST
โข RB Demetric Feltonย ranks 8th nationally in rushing yards per game this seasons (134.2) ... Chip Kelly has had a top-10 rusher in all but two of his seasons in the Pac-12 -- 2007-Jonathan Stewart (7th), not 2008, 2009-LaMichael James (9th), 2010-LaMichael James-(1st), 2011-LaMichael James (1st), 2012-Kenjon Barner (4th), 2018-Joshua Kelley (9th), not 2019, 2020-Demetric Felton (8th).
โข The UCLA defense has 32 tackles for loss in the first four games this season ... The 8.0 average per game ranks 11th in the NCAA and is 1st in the Pac-12 ... The 10.0 tackles for loss at Oregon are the most since last year against Stanford (11 TFLs and 7 sacks).
โข UCLA enjoyed a 20-7 halftime lead over Arizona. It has now led at the half in both games it has won this season. UCLA owned a halftime lead in three of the four games it won in 2019. The Bruins are 7-1 under Coach Kelly when ahead at the half.
โข UCLA has rushed for at least 200 yards as a team in 8 of the last 12 games, including the last three vs. Arizona (281), at Oregon (267) and vs. Cal (244) and currently ranks 11th in the NCAA in rushing offense (241.8 yds/g). Last season, it ran for at least 200 yards in five straight contests (vs. Colorado, vs. ASU, at Stanford, vs. Oregon St., at Arizona) which was its longest streak since it registered six straight in 1978.
โข The Bruin offensive line did not allow a sack last week vs. Arizona and its 0.75 sacks allowed mark this season ranks 7th in the NCAA ... UCLA's lowest mark, dating back to 1990, is 1.08 sacks allowed during the 1998 campaign.
โข UCLA's average rushing offense per game currently sits at 241.8 yards per game ... The Bruins have surpassed the 200 yards rushing per game average mark for a season just three times since 1990 -- 2014-209.5, 1995-212.5 and 1991-200.1.
โข LB Mitchell Agudeย leads the Bruins with 6.5 tackles for loss this season and he is the only Bruin to have at least one TFL in each of the first four games ... his 1.6 TFL/g mark ranks 20th in the NCAA ... he registered a season-high 3.5 TFLs vs. the Ducks ... Agude was also credited with the forced fumble which was returned for a TD at Oregon and two forced fumbles vs. Arizona.
โข Feltonย registered a career-high total of 278 all-purpose yards at Oregon, the 8th-highest total in the nation this season and the best performance by a Pac-12 player in 2020 ... He had a career-best 206 yards rushing against Arizona on 32 carries after posting 167 yards rushing on a career-high 34 carries at Oregon the previous week and 107 against Cal on 25 attempts. The last Bruin with more than three straight 100-yard rushing games is Joshua Kelley (four in 2018). Tyler Ebell, with six in 2002, is the last Bruin with more than four straight.
โข TEย Greg Dulcich is averaging 23.67 yards per catch (1st in Pac-12 and 6th in NCAA) ... His 100-yard receiving game at Colorado marked the seventh straight season in which a Bruin TE has gone over the century mark in at least one game in a season.
โข UCLA has outscored each of its first fourย opponents in the fourth quarter of play (28-3), surrendering only a field goal to Colorado.
โข Eight different players have caught UCLA's season total of 9 touchdown passes. Dulcich is the only receiver with more than one.
โข UCLA has now held two opponents to 10 points or less in a season for the first time since 2015 when it limited three opponents to 10 or less.
โข DB Stephan Blaylockย leads the Bruins in tackles this season (27) ... He picked off his first career pass vs. Arizona ... He matched his career best earlier this season with 11 stops at Colorado ... Last season, he ranked 18th in NCAA in solos (5.4/g) and had 11 stops at USC.
โข RB Brittain Brown has found the end zone in three straight games -- on a 16-yard pass play vs. Arizona, from 2 yards out on a rush at Oregon and 31 yards out against Cal. The score versus the Golden Bears was his first TD run since the 2018 season vs. Temple while at Duke.
โข True freshman Pย Luke Akersย is averaging 44.4 yards per kick (2nd highest nationally among freshman punters) to rank 23rd nationally and 3rd in P12 ... He has four 50-plus yard punts on the year and has placed seven inside the 20, including four of his six boots vs. Arizona ... True freshman kicker RJ Lopez has recorded touchbacks on 13 of his 24 kickoffs this season ... Redshirt freshman Kย Nicholas Barr-Miraย connected on his first two field goal attempts (31 and 30 yds) last week versus Arizona.
โข QB Chase Griffinย notched his first win as a starter against Arizona. He threw for 129 yards and a touchdown and also ran five times for 14 yards. It was his third appearance of the season (start at Oregon, played last series vs. Cal).
โข QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson moved to 10th on UCLA's career passing yards list with 4,511 after the Cal game ... Next up is Wayne Cook (9th, 4,723) ... DTR is now ninth on UCLA's career completions list with 362 ... His three TD passes moved him into 8th on UCLA's career TD list with 35 ... At Colorado, he became the first Bruin to throw for 300 and rush for at least 100 yards in same game ... He had 303 yards passing and a career-best 109 rushing yards ... It was his 3rd-career 300 yard-plus passing game and 3rd 400-yard total offense performance of his career.
