By Juan Roque  for DieHardDevil.com

During the course of a college football season there are highs and lows.  There are moments of great joy that can suddenly change to disappointment in a few seconds or minutes.  That’s the game of football.  For the Arizona State Sun Devils, that was the theme at the Rose Bowl on Saturday.  Favored by 9 ½ points, the Sun Devils arrived in Pasadena in the driver’s seat and in complete control to win the Pac-12 South.  They were coming off an expected and convincing win against a hapless Colorado team and were looking to bring the 4-4 UCLA Bruins back to reality.  UCLA was coming off a huge win against Cal and were looking to position themselves for a first place tie with the Sun Devils in the Pac-12 south.  Bringing talent on both sides of the ball with their high powered offense and hard hitting defense, the Sun Devils clearly had the advantage…on paper that is.

Unfortunately for ASU, the Bruins had other plans.

UCLA came out of the tunnel focused and determined, played an inspired second half and capitalized on ASU special teams and coaching issues to earn a 28-29 victory in Pasadena. The Bruins were victorious despite a late drive by the Sun Devils which would have won the game, but Alex Garoutte’s third field goal attempt of the night fell short. Despite leading the game in statistics, the Sun Devils were not able to get the “W” on the road and surely are scratching their heads knowing they were the better team. The loss set the Sun Devils back in their goal to earn a trip to the Pac-12 Championship Game and now share the conference lead with the Bruins and USC.  With three games left in the 2011 season, the Sun Devils will need to rally, win out and witness another UCLA loss to ensure a first place finish.

Grading the Game

Quarterback

Brock Osweiler had another decent outing as he effectively managed the game and continues to be smart with the football with no turnovers.  His decisions were good and there were some dropped passes by the ASU receivers that did not help his stats. Brock would be the first one say that stats don’t matter and he would rather win the game.  However, on the night Osweiler was a respectable 22 of 38 for 267 yards and two touchdowns.  He was not intercepted and had 38 yards running the ball.  He led a heroic late game drive that put ASU in position to win the game.  Brock also admitted that he made the wrong read on an important play at a very crucial point in the game when he should have thrown to an open Jamal Miles for what would have been a sure six points.

Grade: B

Running Backs

Cameron Marshall was gallant in defeat rushing for a season high 168 yards on 27 carries with a touchdown. Also, Cameron’s blocking ability as well as skills in picking up the blitz continues to be a big asset to the ASU passing game. Jamal Miles caught five passes but was hit behind the line several times and only totaled 19 yards. He had a nice touchdown run after a catch for ASU’s third score of the game. In limited action, Kyle Middlebrooks continues to struggle when he runs the football with one carry for two yards.

Grade: B

Wide Receivers

Dropped passes plagued the unit again Saturday but overall they put in a valiant effort. Gerell Robinson continues to shine catching six passes for 131 yards.  He has become a solid possession receiver that can take a hit after the catch while fighting for extra yardage. George Bell contributed after a quiet day against Colorado catching three passes for 24 yards.  Although we would like to see more out of him, Mike Willie caught three passes for 19 yards, and A.J Pickens made an exciting catch on a crossing route before outrunning three Bruin defenders for a touchdown in the first quarter.

Grade: B

Offensive Line

The unit played very well and opened some big holes for Cameron Marshall.  They only gave up one sack but otherwise pass protection and run blocking was solid.  This was one of the better games the Hell Hogs have played all year and everyone seems relatively healthy.

Grade: B

Defensive Line

When UCLA runs the ball for 220 total yards, you know this unit did not play well.  ASU had four sacks on defense Saturday; none by this unit. Bo Moos led the group in tackles with three. Junior Onyeali is still not 100% and Will Sutton only managed one tackle. UCLA QB, Kevin Prince and running back, Derrick Coleman shredded the front seven and combined for 170 yards on the ground. Although some of Prince’s runs to the outside should have seen more action from the Sun Devil  linebackers and safety’s, the D-Line needed to do a better job containing the Bruin rush.  Not a good effort Saturday as this unit underachieved.

Grade: D

Linebackers

They played decent at times, awful at others. Missed assignments and tackles plagued them as they had difficulty filling the gaps to stop the run. A lot can be blamed on the defensive line getting driven off the ball, but this linebacker unit is far too talented not to make a bigger impact. Vontaze Burfict had six tackles and a sack, but seemed to miss coverage assignments. Colin Parker continues to be the steady leader of the group and made six tackles as well. Shelly Lyons made five stops but was beaten on a few big runs by Kevin Prince. This unit is capable of much better and will need to step their game up in the coming weeks.

Grade: C

Secondary

Nelson Rosario scored a touchdown at the start of the second half due to disastrous broken coverage. Deveron Carr and Clint Floyd were both beaten bad  on that play. At other times, Carr over pursued QB Price on his runs which resulted in some big gains on the ground. Late in the fourth quarter was perhaps the most pivotal play of the game. Defensive back, Alden Darby got turned around in his coverage of UCLA’s Rosario on a long third and 29 pass play which resulted in new downs for the Bruins. Game tape shows that ASU may have executed wrong coverage on that play given the likely pass play. Clint Floyd made nine tackles and fought for very one. Keelan Johnson had a big sack, broke up a pass and made five tackles. Other than Bruins receiver, Rosario, catching five passes for big yardage, no other Bruin made any meaningful contribution. Also of note, the group failed to force any turnovers in this contest.

Grade: C-

Special Teams

Three missed field goals and one kick off out of bounds.  Nothing more needs to be said.

Grade: F

Summary

This loss was tough to swallow. Bottom line, by not closing the game out when they had the chance, the Sun Devils put themselves in a difficult position with two minutes left on the clock. Although most will point the finger at the missed field goals, this was a team loss, including the coaching staff. There are questions about the defensive coverage package late in the fourth quarter when ASU had UCLA facing a third down and 29. On that specific play, ASU showed three linebackers  instead of two linebackers and an extra defensive back to help with pass coverage.  The likelihood of UCLA choosing to run the ball on third and 29 was well… very unlikely. Immediately after that play, the clock management issues began when  timeouts were called very late as valuable time dissolved late in the game. Could those extra seconds have allowed ASU to run 2 to 3 more plays and gain another 10-15 yards, setting up a more reasonable game-winning field goal. Yes, there were notable coaching errors made, but the fact that ASU found themselves fighting to come from behind in the final seconds of the game is the harder pill to swallow. The pressure on ASU has cranked up a few notches for the final three games of this 2011 season. These are three winnable games, just like UCLA. Saturday was a reminder that every game is a battle in the Pac-12, and no one can be overlooked.