Surely, ASU senior quarterback Rudy Carpenter believed the coup de grace of his career at Sun Devil Stadium would turn out differently.
Carpenter and the rest of the seniors on offense will never charge out of Pat Tillman Tunnel again.
On Friday night, though, it might not have mattered if they had stayed in the locker room.
The Sun Devils (5-6, 4-4 Pac-10) gained just 122 yards of total offense in their 34-9 victory over UCLA (4-7, 3-5 Pac-10).
“We just played pretty poorly on offense. We haven’t really played great all year on offense,” Carpenter said. “We should have started punting on first down.”
Despite Carpenter’s futility, he was able to break Andrew Walter’s school completion record of 777. Carpenter now has 786 total after completing 13 of his 26 pass attempts for 101 yards, one interception and no touchdowns.
Carpenter will have a shot at breaking another record in Tucson against UA on Dec. 6. He needs 250 yards to become the Sun Devils’ all-time passing leader.
Even after a win, there were empty expressions on some of the players’ faces.
Senior running back Keegan Herring welled up with tears as he waited to run onto the field before the game and it looked as if he would have a nice sendoff. Instead, he gained a quiet 32 yards on 13 carries, the only yards that kept ASU in positive net rushing yardage.
At the half, the offense had only netted a meager 61 yards on 29 plays. The offensive line allowed Carpenter to be sacked three times.
The line’s play contributed to the nonexistent rushing attack as well. The Sun Devils ran the ball 24 times for 21 yards.
“They just kicked our rear ends basically,” ASU coach Dennis Erickson said. “There was no rhythm whatsoever. Once you lose rhythm like we did … it’s hard to get it back.”
He added that he would burn the game tape of ASU’s offense.
Lucky for Erickson, the defense was able to carry the offense on its back and right into the ASU record books with a four-touchdown performance.
Aside from the defense, sophomore kicker Thomas Weber was one of the only bright spots for the ASU offense. He converted two field goals, from 31 and 38 yards, and pinned the Bruins inside the 20-yard line with punts on five occasions.
Reach the reporter at emschimm@asu.edu.
