Mazel Tough — UCLA gives up NINE Sacks for 60 yards, circumcising any chance to complete a comeback from 22 down to Arizona State at Halftime, so despite showing heart by cutting the deficit to 5 and having the ball in the red zone in the final minutes, the Bruins can’t finish the deal, going down 38-33. Two missed Field Goals and two Holding penalties on the final drive don’t help
First things first: There is definitely a silver lining to this Bruin loss. That silver lining is the fact that with the win, Arizona State clinches the Pac-12 South Division Title, thus eliminating u$c from the Rose Bowl. The way the Bruins and trojans are playing lately, there is a damn good chance that the home team will prevail next week at the Coliseum, which could have sent the trojans to a rematch with Stanford, the winner of said rematch going to the Rose Bowl. So at least we dodged THAT bullet. Of course, the price was WAY too high, because the Bruins’ loss on Saturday evening also eliminated UCLA.
For a while it looked like the Bruins had no chance to win this game. With Myles Jack moved from Defense to Offense, the UCLA Defense looked pretty awful in the First Half, as the Bruins fell behind 35-13 by Intermission. Brett Hundley threw a bad Pick 6 so only 28 points are on the Defense, but still, that was way too many. ASU shredded the Bruins’ D, and it looked like a blowout.
In the Second Half, the Bruins showed true grit and lots of character, coming back to score two quick TD’s, on short runs by Jack and Paul Perkins. After an ASU Field Goal, the Bruins got another TD, this time on a Hundley pass to Shaq Evans. That 4th Quarter score made it 38-33. The Bruin Defense was a whole different animal in the Second Half, allowing only the one Field Goal. Led by Anthony Barr, Randall Goforth, and Ishmael Adams, who also was a beast returning Kicks and Punts, the Defense got the ball back for Hundley two more times with a chance to win the game. But Sacks, penalties, a second missed Field Goal, and one bad pass that missed an open Receiver for a TD kept the Bruins from completing a miracle comeback.
It’s late now (I had that wedding to attend last night) so I will cut the analysis short, and just give you the 50 best game and CHEER photos of the night. Click on the pics to enlarge them.