Arizona State football beats UCLA to secure first road win of the season

Arizona State football hit the road for the last time this season and their last time to the Rose Bowl for the foreseeable future.  UCLA is off to the Big 10 as the Sun Devils ship off to the Big 12.

In true Rose Bowl fashion, this one turned out to be a classic.

Arizona State football knocks off UCLA

The first quarter

The first quarter was about as big a defensive battle as you will get in the Pac-12 in this day and age.

The Devils started with the ball on their own 25-yard line looking to open up the game with a bang. Jalin Conyers started the game at quarterback taking a direct snap on the first play of the game and handing it off to Melquan Stovall. Conyers is the fourth different starting quarterback for ASU this season, a school record.

Bourguet eventually came into the game on the ensuing play but that would not be the last play Conyers would take under center.

As the drive progressed, Kenny Dillingham introduced a very interesting formation that would seem to progress along throughout the game.

The “swinging gate” features five offensive linemen spread out to the sideline, one center, and multiple receivers on either side. Dillingham ran the play three times in a row and one play resulted in a touchdown but was called back for an illegal formation.

The penalty would prove to be a killer as the Devils would eventually punt and give it to UCLA.

Arizona State football gets help from the defense

Coming into the game, the Devils’ defense was tied for 44th in the nation in rush defense, but tonight proved to be a little different. 

UCLA started the game off with run after run resulting in several first downs even getting into ASU territory. Eventually, Deshaun Mallory and Elijah O’Neal had seen enough and shut the Bruins down on third down.

ASU would get the ball back after a crucial stop on third down but would have some struggles converting on the opportunity.

After what looked like a promising drive, Bourguet threw a pass into the endzone with nobody around and was picked off by the Bruins. Not an ideal end to the quarter for Arizona State football.

Second Quarter

After the touchback via the interception, UCLA looked poised to march down the field and punch it in the endzone for the game’s first points.

UCLA quarterback Collin Schlee ran all over the Devils’ defense throughout the drive. Schlee had multiple gains of over 10 yards which would be highlighted by a 21-yard scramble to get into ASU territory.

After a few scrambles, Schlee settled in the pocket and threw a couple of passes that were tightly contested by defensive back Jordan Clark. With the great defense by Clark, he forced the Bruins into a third down in which they fumbled and gave up possession.

Dillingham knew that this possession was going to change the momentum either way seemingly for the rest of the game.

Could ASU take over the game by scoring or would they miss yet another chance?

Kenny Dillingham gets creative

With that being said, Dillingham elected to empty his playbook to try and get something going on offense. 

The drive featured multiple swinging gate formations and tunnel screens to Badger seemingly every other play. The drive was highlighted by a tunnel screen to Badger in which he juked a Bruin defender and eventually gained 30 yards. However, the drive would eventually stall out in Bruin territory but ASU would get a 28-yard field goal out of it to take a 3-0 lead.

Defense clutches up

While the story of the game will be all about the crazy formations on offense, it can not be overlooked how many huge stops the defense made.

Shortly after the field goal from ASU, the Bruins marched right down into the ASU red zone looking to take the lead.

The Bruins got all the way down to the ASU one-yard line but were stuffed on a critical fourth down play.

That wouldn’t be the last fourth-and-short stop for Arizona State.

Just one drive later UCLA had the ball inside the red zone and went for it on fourth down… again.

Once again, the defense stopped them on downs, this time Mallory came in with the pressure.

Going into the half, ASU took a 3-0 lead as both defenses clutched up multiple times to keep it a tight game.

Third Quarter

 The third quarter looked to be a good one as both teams looked to take a grapple of the game and race off to victory. However, the third quarter turned out to be exactly the opposite of that in the end.

The first three total possessions all ended in punts, one of those being a three and out.

Who would crack the ice first? 

Arizona State had an answer.

Getting the ball with nearly 10 minutes left in the third quarter, Dillingham looked to go on an extended drive and put the game away. After Stovall elected to not catch a punt, it rolled down to the ASU one-yard line. This set up the Sun Devils with the daunting task of trying to march all the way down the field.

The play calling on this drive was about as mixed as a bag of “Chex Mix”.

Dillingham ran swinging gates, screens, designed runs for Skattebo, and much more leading them all the way down the field.

The Sun Devils ended up scoring a touchdown… but in a very unlikely and unusual manner. 

Runningback Cameron Skattebo took the direct snap and threw a laser to Badger for a 25-yard touchdown. That’s not something you see every day.

The touchdown drive took up seven minutes as they went 99 yards down the field.

Going into the fourth ASU took what seemed to be a commanding 10-0 lead. 

Commanding, maybe not in a high-scoring game, but for a battle of this nature it sure was commanding.

Fourth Quarter

Going into the fourth, as mentioned ASU had a 10-0 lead and looked to shut down UCLA and put the game away for good.

On the first UCLA drive of the fourth quarter, they once again elected to go for it on fourth down from the ASU 37. Yet again, the Devils’ defense came up huge and stopped them on downs for the third time in the game.

While the defense was playing lights out the offense was struggling, but Dillingham had a trick up his sleeve. When the offense got to fourth down, Dillingham elected to intentionally get false starts and delay-of-game penalties for the clock to continue moving.

Dillingham did this several times and shaved about two minutes of time off the game clock.

The Bruins did not take kindly to the clock shaving and put on an offensive masterclass and their subtle response. Schlee led the Bruins into the endzone in just six plays hitting Logan Loya for a 16-yard touchdown catch.

UCLA put themselves right back in the mix down 10-7 with 10 minutes remaining in the game.

Arizona State football looks to put the game away

With ten minutes left, ASU looked to once again milk the clock and finish the game off for good. The offense struggled a little bit to get going and eventually got to a fourth down after just three plays. 

After the first third down of the drive, on their own 32, ASU was stopped but UCLA committed an unsportsmanlike conduct that gave the Devils a free first down. A costly mistake for the Bruins.

The Sun Devil offense rode that penalty down the field and Skattebo ran it in the endzone from 17 yards out.

End of the game

UCLA did not have a response from then on out, and the Sun Devils would hang on to collect a 17-7 win.

Dillingham gets his third win of the season and second Pac-12 win at ASU.

Arizona State football now moves to 3-7 on the season and 2-5 in PAC 12 play.

Next week the Devils face Dillingham’s former team, the Oregon Ducks as they come to Tempe.

Postgame Quotes

Jordan Clark: “They do some unique stuff, some stuff you don’t see too often in college football, ya know three back sets, playing a lot of big guys in a spread league, so it was had to adjust at first but ultimately coach Ward has a plan for everything and if we do what we are supposed to we can go out and win.”

Trenton Bourguet: “I’m not surprised by [Skattebo] there…. When he threw that touchdown in practice I think he threw a 55-yard over the top, dropped it in the bucket. So for me it’s a little closer but I think he can zip it in there. But him and (Elijhah Badger) they got that Sacramento connection.”

Cam Skattebo: “We worked it (passing plays) all week. That wasn’t the throw I threw all week but I knew that was an option. I knew we didn’t have much field…. He improvised and I saw him and got it to him.”

Kenny Dillingham about the swinging gate: “I googled it, found it on YouTube and they were running normal passing plays with the swinging gate in football. So I’m like alright if this guy was an NFL head coach, then why can’t we do it here.”

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