The UCLA game was interesting in that the Bruins rushing attack was as bad as the Sun Devils pass defense, which has to have UCLA fans wondering what is wrong with their Bruins, since the offense is built around a very good QB in Rosen and all-star type RBs based on recruiting star ratings...

Plus, the Bruins have gone from a Noel Mazzone designed up-tempo, spread offense to a more power based offense under new OC Kennedy Polamalu that features the use of Fullbacks and Tight Ends more prominently...

Even though the Bruins still got a ton of yardage in the air their ground game was non-existent and they lost because of that and TOs and some missed FGs...

In short, it was a good match up for the Devils who used Wren in the middle of the D effectively, while moving Smallwood to a DE position...the use of Marcus Ball at safety and Mo Chandler being able to finally play at CB also paid dividends...

Now comes Colorado that has turned the corner from cellar dweller to a contender in the PAC South...they have two good QBs and several big play receivers to go along with a very good RB and lots of experience on both sides of the ball, so they will be very hard to beat, esp with the current ASU QB situation...

Unless something changes dramatically between today and Sat, I think it highly unlikely that the Devils can beat the Buffs by relying on their defense and special teams, while the offense is hindered in what they do because of the QB situation...

Meanwhile, USC travels to AU, where the Trojans will have a lot of trouble beating the Cats, in my opinion, unless they really take care of the ball and just pound the Cats on the ground so they are totally fatigued in the second half...

Oregon St will host Utah and, after beating the Cal Bears in OT, they have to be feeling much better about themselves but I suspect the Utes will end up handling them pretty easily but you never know in the PAC do you..??

UCLA now has to travel to Pullman to take on the Pirate's Cougs, which should be a somewhat interesting match up to begin with, but I think the Cougs will get it rolling at some point and end up winning going away, which will really upset the LA fans even more in Westwood...

Cal, Oregon, and Wash all have bye weekends while poor Stanford has to travel to South Bend to play Notre Dame...it looks like the Ducks will probably be looking for another Chip Kelly type coach following the season and Stanford has really looked pretty bad so far this season, although Shaw is in no danger of being fired at this point...

Hope you all have a good week...Go Devils!!!

1. It was really a great game from a fan stand point the way the crowd got into the game. Standing up and sitting down all night was like a church service for four hours. But the noise the crowd brought was not seen by this old fan in a long time. Love to see Devil House ROCK!

2.. I am convinced that PAC-12 Officials may be using two much Cannabis for their Glaucoma. Not are they blind but, "Excuse me" stupid. Polite but get the call right don't pause with the mike on. For what its worth after the last two weeks I no longer know what pass interference looks like, Is there a difference in the rules giving certain spoiled children and others variance in parameters from ASU, in our conference.

Sorry guys just had to get this out.

In a season that has provided more surprises than sobering realities, I wouldn’t put anything past this 2016 ASU squad to once again defy unflattering predictions.

UCLA at ASU Postgame Thoughts

Mornin Mates and a fine morning it is after beating the Bruins last night...

Today's Topic = Rebuilding the PAC

Jim Mora told reporters before the season started that this Bruins team would be his best since he arrived in Westwood five years ago...isn't this like shades of Todd Graham last year telling anyone who would listen that his 2015 Sun Devil team would be his best at the school to date..??

The Bruins are now 3-3 with a great QB but not much else apparently working much on offense and with a defense that is good but apparently not good enough to beat a Sun Devil team that had its starting QB on the bench due to injury...

The Bruins now have to go to Pullman where the Cougars just dismantled Stanford 42-16 and have their own great QB in Luke Falk and are playing well, after fizzling early in the season against some inferior competition...I had picked the Cougs as my dark horse team to win the PAC and they still may as they are 2-0 in PAC play and have a favorable remaining schedule...

I figure that Falk will throw for about 700 yards against the Sun Devils when the Cougs come to Tempe on 10-22, as our "now you see 'em. now you don't" defense should be easy pickings for Falk and his offense...

For those of you that don't know, our infamous "now you see 'em, now you don't defense" is identified by its ability to turn swing passes and other short passes into 60-70-80 yard touchdowns by opponents, as one tackler after another miss or bounce off the receiver or running back, as he takes a five yard pass and ends up in our end zone 65 yds away a short time later...

And, if we aren't missing tackles, etc, we're blowing assignments in the secondary, where the announcers point it out with a lot of regularity...

However, that isn't where I'm going with my thoughts this morning which is about how Todd fairs against his coaching brethren in the South where he, Rich Rod, Mora and Leach all started at their respective schools five years ago, and where Arizona is a mess, this is not Mora's best team so far in LA, and where Leach managed to lose to Eastern Wash to start the season with, perhaps, his best team to date...

You would think that five years into a programs development that you would have a solid enough foundation in place so that the word "rebuilding" would not be used by teams to describe their progress or lack thereof, to date...

After all, Rich Rod has recruited his kind of guys long enough that the Cats should not be rebuilding at this point, one would think, and that Mora would not be having the problems the Bruins seem to be having these days, given all the recruiting success he's had at UCLA, and that Leach shouldn't be losing to teams like Eastern Wash, and that ASU shouldn't have a "now you see 'em, now you don't defense" these days after developing its program for more than four years...

It even appears that past cellar dweller Colorado may now be ahead of some of these apparently "rebuilding" PAC South teams these days, although the season is still fairly young...

So, where does Todd fit when compared to the other PAC coaches that came on board when he did in the PAC like Mora, Rich Rod and Leach..??

Is he better or about the same as or worse than those coaches..??

On a different note, it would appear that Chris Petersen has already "rebuilt" the Huskies and they look like a legitimate play-off contender, while the Ducks, under Helfrich, now appear to be dead ducks, while the Cardinal, under Shaw, seem to have lost their title contending mojo and seem to be slipping down hill fast...

It sure looks like there is going to be a lot of "rebuilding" almost everywhere around the PAC once the season ends...

What say all of you about this "rebuilding" business in the PAC..??

G'day Mates and Go Devils!!!

Just got tickets to Saturday's game and was wondering if this was a particular color themed game for the fans or a 'just wear any ASU colors" type of game.

Go Devils!

A few thoughts after I watched the game on tape:

• DB's and safeties really played well all game long. I give the tackling a grade of B and a B grade on the coverage. Saw more DB's in the face of the WR and there were at least 6 tipped or knocked down passes by the DB's or safeties. Gump Hayes played really well and Ball was a tackling machine - although he did miss one crucial tackle that ended up in a long run for a TD.
• Defensive line also was solid. Wrenn and Smallwood really played hard and got good pushes up the middle quit a few times. Krump and Wicker were also were very good off the edge all night long. Krump is so quick and he is a handful for any LT. D-line did not give up any big running plays. I think their longest run might of been 8 yards. -1 rushing yards when you count in the sacks. I also saw 2-3 balls batted down at the line of scrimmage last night. I have been harping on that all year long. Solid A grade overall.
• Offense looked very shaky at times. Even the snaps from center to the QB looked low all night long. Was throwing off Brady's timing because he always had to bend down to get the ball. Not sure what McCollum's issue was with the snapping the ball last night but I have not seen that all year long. The Sparky formation was a little disorganized as well and even handing the ball off to the RB's was a challenge at times. Need to get that cleaned up.
• Why ask Sterling-Cole to throw the ball in that situation???? - You have a field goal locked up and would force UCLA to have to score a TD to win. But Lindsay decided to get brave and not play smart for some reason and asks a rookie QB on his second play to throw a 25 yard touch- pass fade into the end zone. A real dumb move in my opinion. Even if UCLA scores a TD then you just need a FG to win it and I would take my chances of Zane hitting a 50+ to win it. It worked out but that could of cost us the game.
• Mora is in big trouble at UCLA. They were a 10 point favorite and we had our 2nd string QB starting for the first time and they could not win. I think his seat just got very warm.
• 5-1 really looks good right now. I think this is realistically the best start all of us ASU homies could of asked for considering everything leading into this season.

By my count ASU gave up 14 plays of 10 yards or more last night.
We are ranked 126th in FBS in allowing plays of 10 yards or more with 107 (or 17.8 per game)
So I guess that knocking Rosen silly early helped us improve on that stat slightly.
If we averaged 14 (like last night) we would move all the way up to 80th and rubbing shoulders with a much better crowd.

25/32/42/49/52/66 and the 18 yd TD were particularly ugly

Nitpicking---48 seconds left in the game. UCLA has the ball on their 31. They need a FG to tie. So they have to get somewhere near the 35 yard line or closer for a realistic shot.....so 34 yards. (Even though 39 yards is the current long for their frosh kicker). Not impossible but no timeouts and an inept backup QB.

So we sack him for a loss of 2.

Naturally we don't want to rush things and should smother the QB so he can't get up quickly. But Calhoun/Smallwood jump up to celebrate and head deep into the defensive backfield to try to separate a few shoulders of their teammates. Meanwhile Crump is being substituted in for Wrenn or someone and he is getting lined up casually.

UCLA is getting to the LOS and calling the play. Smallwood decides he has gotten all the kudos he can and returns to the LOS and then looks back at the sideline for direction as he realizes there has been a substitution. Crump lines up on the right side of the defense and Wicker moves over from right to left as UCLA is calling the snap count.

Smallwood realizes he is in the wrong position and cuts in front of Latu as they bump and change positions. Smallwood looks at Wicker and starts jumping up and down and pointing for Wicker to move to the right side. Wicker doesn't buy it and they hold hands in a heartwarming moment.....then Wicker, with his hands and arms laid out saying WTFF!!!! pushes in front of Smallwood and Latu and screams at Crump to switch spots with him.

Unbelievably the ball has yet to be snapped. When it does get snapped, Wicker is looking at the sideline and Crump is leisurely making his way to his spot. (He actually is inside and behind Smallwood when Rosen has the ball in his hands).

The RT only sees Smallwood because that is the only DL there so he squares him up and miraculously it all benefits Crump as he makes the unintentional delayed blitz off the edge for the sack!!!!!

UCLA takes their time but with 6 seconds left UCLA is fully set on the LOS and Crump is our only man ready. Fortunately the count is long and we get all 4 lined up prior to the snap this time....but Moeak is having to turn his back to the LOS to direct Ball from the far right side of the defense, all the way across the field to cover the slot man on the opposite side

All's well that ends well as Wicker almost sacks their QB, who throws it up for grabs in double coverage and Robinson gets his pick.

We looked very unorganized at a very critical moment

OK, I'm done for now. GREAT WIN!!!

Greg Hansen doesn't exactly ask that question in his newspaper article today but does ask if the Cats are better off today than when they had Mike Stoops coaching them...

The Cats have 28 guys on their injury list and 18 of them are starters, including several QBs...

Hansen says that unless you are part of the Big 4 in the PAC that include Oregon, USC, Stanford and Washington you have problems sustaining success or something to that effect...

He asked former AU coach Dick Tomey about it and Tomey said it's almost impossible, in the conference, to put together five consecutive winning seasons...

UCLA hasn't had five consecutive winning seasons since 1988 and ASU hasn't done it since 1989, although the Bruins are on a winning streak under Mora so far while the Sun Devils faltered last season finishing 6-7...

Outside of the Big 4, only Cal from 2002-2009 has done it according to Hansen...

Tomey goes on to say that five years in college football is a long time and that just finishing .500 in the PAC is very difficult...

Here's where it gets interesting from an ASU standpoint, as Hansen points out that Rich Rod got significant mileage out of players Stoops recruited initially but now his kind of guys, that he recruited, aren't doing so well and you have to wonder if the same thing couldn't be said about Todd Graham and his Sun Devil program these days...

So, what do you think about what Hansen wrote this morning..??

BTW, Rich Rod isn't going to get fired anytime soon and neither is Graham unless the Sun Devils really hit the skids hard in the coming months and years...

Is it almost impossible for teams like ASU and AU to have winning seasons all of the time in the PAC, and is there such a thing as a Big 4 in the conference..??

Go Devils!!!

On those 18 plays we rushed X (or had 6 or more in the box) and the result was Y

4/5 yds
4/minus 13 (Rosen dropped the ball/slipped out of his throwing hand and we recovered)
4/2 yds (Ball very nice tackle)
4/2 yds
4/11 yds (Starks bounces of Perry's? kill shot and goes for 8 more)
4/3 yds
4/8 yds (Starks left Calhoun looking for his jock at the LOS and Ball mad tackle)
4/1 yd
4/minus 2 (Wicker)
4/4 yds
4/3 yds (Chandler slowed down at LOS and Ball made tackle)
4/2
(TOTAL WHILE RUSHING 4 was 12 carries/26 yds)

5/minus 3 yds (Gump with great TFL)
5/minus 3 yds (Wicker nice TFL)
5/0 yds (Moeak on backside blitz)
(TOTAL WHILE RUSHING 5 was 3 carries/6 yds)

6/6 yds (Latu tries arm tackle and Jamabo goes for 6)
6/0 yds
6/4 yds
(TOTAL WHILE RUSHING 6 was 3 carries/10 yds)

(Not counted in the 18 was a loss of 5 when we rushed 4 but Smallwood was called for the facemask)

Sacks--rushed X/ result was Y (WE GOT ZERO SACKS RUSHING 4)
6/minus 5 yds (Calhoun)
5/minus 5 yds (Wrenn)
5/minus 9 (Crump)
5/minus 2 (Smallwood/Calhoun)
5/minus 8 (Crump)

After going 6-7 despite having the most sacks in FBS (3.54 per game) and the 3rd most TFLs in FBS (8.54 per game), CTG began to focus on takeaways as a point of focus and a talking point with the media.

In 2015 ASU was tied for 59th-67th in FBS in takeaways with 21/1.62 per game (15 INTs and 6 fumble recoveries).

Meanwhile ASU was tied for 51st-60th in turnovers with 19/1.46 per game (9 INTs lost and 10 fumbles lost).

Tied for 51st-57th in Turnover Margin at +2

In 2016 ASU is currently tied for 49th-65th in takeaways with 9/1.5 per game (7 INTs & 2 fumble recoveries)

Tied for 87th-100th in turnovers with 10/1.67 per game (4 fumbles lost & 6 INTs)

70th in Turnover Margin at -1

So we have gotten worse in takeaways, worse in turnovers and therefore obviously worse in turnover margin.

So the focus in the press conference after the game was the high number of sacks (5) and TFLs (9) vs UCLA

Team
Fewest Penalties — 31st nationally/2nd Pac-12 at 29
Fewest Penalties per Game — 18th nationally/1st Pac-12 at 4.83
First Downs Offense — 21st nationally/5th Pac-12 at 140
Net Punting – 6th nationally/2nd Pac-12 at 43.97
Punt Return Defense — 21st nationally/3rd Pac-12 at 2.75
Red Zone Offense — 6th nationally/1st Pac-12 at 0.962
Rushing Defense — 5th nationally/1st Pac-12 at 89.3
Scoring Offense — 24th nationally/4th Pac-12 at 39.7
Team Tackles For Loss — 26th nationally/2nd Pac-12 at 7.3
Individual
All Purpose — Tim White, 15th nationally/3rd Pac-12 at 152.17
Combined Kick Returns — Tim White, 8th nationally/3rd Pac-12 at 479
Completion Percentage — Manny Wilkins, 21st nationally/6th Pac-12 at 0.651
Field Goal Percentage — Zane Gonzalez, 9th nationally/1st Pac-12 at 0.941
Field Goals Per Game — Zane Gonzalez, 1st nationally/1st Pac-12 at 2.67
Interceptions Per Game — Gump Hayes, 17th nationally/1st Pac-12 at 0.5
Passes Defended — Laiu Moeakiola, 8th nationally/1st Pac-12 at 1.6
Punt Returns — Tim White, 13th nationally/2nd Pac-12
Punting — Matt Haack, 15th nationally/3rd Pac-12 at 44.9
Receptions Per Game — Tim White, 20th nationally/3rd Pac-12 at 6.5
Rushing TDs — Kalen Ballage, 3rd nationally/1st Pac-12 at 9
Sacks — Koron Crump, 30th nationally/1st Pac-12 at 0.83
Scoring — Zane Gonzalez, 3rd nationally/1st Pac-12 at 12.0
Scoring — Kalen Ballage, 13th nationally/3rd Pac-12 at 10.3
Total Interceptions — Gump Hayes, 7th nationally/1st Pac-12 at 3
Total Offense — Manny Wilkins, 26th nationally/4th Pac-12 at 297.4

Opened at -4 for UCLA and immediately jumped to -10

http://www.vegasinsider.com/college-football/odds/las-vegas/

Alright fellas, let's see what the Sun Devils have tonight. It will be good to see early success from Brady White

By the far the toughest get ASU basketball will have in recruiting, but FWIW Hamidou Diallo did visit here over the weekend and was at last night's game

UCLA ran 77 plays
We sent 6 on 22 of those plays (by far our highest percentage of the season)
We sent 5 on 17 of those plays (again, by far our highest of the season)
We sent 4 on 31 of those plays
We sent 3 on 7 of those plays

DSC's INT was the first time we entered the redzone and did not score all season (4-5 on the night). We are now 6th in FBS in red Zone Conversion percentage 96.15%, 25 of 26.
We dropped down to 43rd in TD percentage in the Red Zone at 69.23% with 18 TDs in 26 trips

9 TFLs (had 10 vs UTSA) Now 17th in FBS with 7.33 TFLs per game
5 Sacks (most of the season, previous high of 4 vs. UTSA) Now 27th in FBS with 2.67 per game
3 INTs
2 FFs and 1 recovered

Sacks allowed-62nd in FBS with 2.0 per game (BY FAR THE BEST IN CTG's 4 1/2 seasons after averaging 3 per game over the first 4 seasons)

Matt Haack 14th in FBS with 44.89 average

Zach Gonzalez #1 IN FBS HISTORY and leads FBS in 2016 with 16 FGs (on 17 attempts=9th in FBS at 94.1%)

Thanks to Paul Yee

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WITH THE WIN…

• The Sun Devils improved to 19-13-1 all-time against the Bruins, earning their first win against UCLA at home since 2011.
• ASU earned its third victory in its past four games against UCLA while having now won 7 of its last 11 meetings with the Bruins.
• ASU improved to 8-2 in the regular season games since 2013 following a loss. The Sun Devils have lost consecutive games just twice in the Graham era (four straight in 2012 and three straight last season.
• The Sun Devils moved to 25-14 in Pac-12 games since Todd Graham took over in 2012 and 20-10 in such games in the past three-plus seasons – with both marks leading the Pac-12 South in those respective time spans.
• There’s no place like home…The Sun Devils improved to 25-6 at Sun Devils stadium under Graham.
• The Maroon and Gold moved to 5-1 though six games for the third time in Graham’s five seasons leading the Sun Devils.

ON THE RISE…

• Courtesy of tonight’s victory the Sun Devils now hold the best record in the Pac-12 South in conference games at 25-14 since 2012.

SUPER DEMARIO…

• Tallying 62 yards rushing on 15 attempts, Demario Richard became just the 19th player in program history to exceed 2,000+ career rushing yards.

ASU CAREER 2,000-YARD RUSHERS
1. Woody Green (1971-73), 4,188
2. Freddie Williams (1973-76), 3,424
3. J.R. Redmond (1996-99), 3,299
4. Wilford White (1947-50), 3,173
5. Leon Burton (1955-58), 2,994
6. Darryl Clack (1982-85), 2,737
7. Cameron Marshall (2009-2012), 2,700
8. Art Malone (1967-69), 2,649
9. Keegan Herring (2005-08), 2,635
10. Darryl Harris (1984-87), 2,617
11. Ben Malone (1971-73), 2,474
12. D.J Foster (2012-15), 2,355
13. Robert Weathers (1978-81), 2,168
14. Nolan Jones (1958-61), 2,122
15. Gerald Riggs (1978-81), 2,097
16. Michael Martin (1993, 1995-97), 2,087
17. Mario Bates (1991-93), 2,025
18. Demario Richard (2014-present), 2,018
19. Bobby Mulgado (1954-57), 2,003
A HAND IN THE COOKIE JAR…

• Forcing four turnovers on the outing (3 INTs and 1 Fumble recovery) the Sun Devils have now forced 120 turnovers under Todd Graham in the past five seasons.
• Forcing a Josh Rosen interception in the fourth quarter, the Sun Devils ended the quarterbacks streak of 127 consecutive passes without an interception

MADE ‘EM PAY

• Accumulating four takeaways on the night en route to outscoring the Bruins 9-0 on points off turnovers, ASU has now outscored opponents 509-246 in points of takeaways under Todd Graham and 26-21 this season.

NO RUSH…

• The Sun Devils Limited the Bruins to -1 yards rushing on the outing, marking the first time since 2013 that they have prevented an opponent from gaining positive net yardage on the ground.
• The Sun Devils have now held 22 opponents under 100 rushing yards in the Todd Graham era (58 games/37.9 percent), including four of the six games this year.
• ASU is now 4-0 on the season when holding opponents under 100 yards rushing and 18-3 when doing so in the Graham era.

TOP 10 BEST RUSH DEFENSE GAMES (1996-PRESENT)
-54, @Washington State (Oct. 10, 2009)
-5, Washington (Oct. 19, 2013)
-5, Idaho State (Sept. 5, 2009)
-2, @Stanford (Sept. 29, 2007)
-1, UCLA (Oct. 8, 2016)
HOLD ONTO YOUR SEATS…

• Garnering the 23-20 victory, ASU has now gone 9-5 in games decided by a touchdown or less since the 2012 Arizona comeback in Tucson. To put that into perspective, ASU had gone 6-16 in such games since the 2007 season up until that moment.
• The Maroon and Gold are now 2-0 in games decided by less than a touchdown this year.

STRIKE FIRST…

• Courtesy of a 35-yard Zane Gonzalez field goal at the 7:54 mark in the first quarter, the Maroon and Gold have now scored first in 41 of the 58 games with Todd Graham at the helm and are 32-9 in the Graham era when getting on the board first.

SUN DEVIL FOOTBALL HEAD COACH HOME RECORDS

• Todd Graham, 25-6/5 years; Dennis Erickson, 23-12/5 years; Dirk Koetter, 27-12/6 years; Bruce Snyder, 32-17/8 years

DON’T CROSS THAT LINE…

• Against the Bruins, the Sun Devils defense forced 42 negative or no yardage plays (9 TFLs, 24 incomplete passes, 9 rushes of no gain) of 77 plays run by UCLA (54.5 percent).

GOLD ZONE…

• Scoring on 4-of-5 trips to the red zone on the outing, the Sun Devils have now converted on 25-of-26 trips to the red zone for the season and have scored a touchdown on 18 of those trips (69.2).

IN-ZANE IN THE MEMBRANE…

• Tallying three field goals on the outing, Gonzalez improved his career total to 89 en route to setting an FBS career field goal record, previously held by Florida State’s Dustin Hopkins (88)
• Gonzalez’s 16 field goals on the season are the most in the FBS as of 10/8.
• Gonzalez has now scored at least one point in each of the 45 games he has played at Arizona State, tying Luis Zendejas’ school record.

CAREER-HIGHS…

• Junior linebacker Marcus Ball recorded a career-high 10 tackles while posting the second interception of his collegiate career and his first of the season.
• Junior defensive back Maurice Chandler made his first career start totaling seven tackles.
• Freshman defensive back Robbie Robinson recorded his first collegiate interception.

SEASON-BESTS…

• Boasting an exceptional outing, the Sun Devil defensive unit set season bests in turnovers forced (four, previous two/Cal (9/24)), sacks recorded (five, previous four/ Cal (9/24)), net rushing yards allowed (-1, previous 56/ NAU (9/3), fumbles forced (two, previous one/ USC (10/1), and interceptions (three, previous two/Cal (9/24)).

EXPLOSIVE PLAYS…

• Tim White- 20-yard reception
• Demario Richard- 17-yard run
• Jalen Harvey- 18-yard reception
• Tim White- 30-yard reception
• Tim White- 17-yard reception
• Demario Richard- 13-yard run

Thanks to videographer Nicole Walker

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Game story by Justin

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Ralph Amsden, Brett Quintyne and Chilly talk about Arizona State's blowout loss to USC, and what needs to be done to right the ship this week to secure a win over the UCLA Bruins.

The guys discuss the blowouts that have occurred during the Todd Graham era, and whether those types of losses are keeping people from being satisfied with the overall success of the program. They also continue to beat to death the notion that ASU has gotten away from its (or perhaps never had a) commitment to the running game.

Brady White's pros and cons are discussed and the guys predict the outcome of this week's game.

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