Check out more photos from Saturday's game against UCLA in this slideshow.
Pasadena, Calif. – By the time the game clock hit triple zeros Saturday night, the ASU football team didn’t have any body parts left.It lost its head, foot and heart all in the final seven minutes of the game.
The No 20 Sun Devils (6-3, 4-2) fell apart down the stretch, missing chances on offense, defense and special teams in a 29-28 loss to UCLA at the Rose Bowl.
“It’s a gut-wrenching loss for this team,” ASU football coach Dennis Erickson said. “We had so many opportunities in the second half to either put it away or win it. In a game like this, there are so many different things that happen that could have made a difference in the game.”
After taking a five point lead late in the fourth quarter, ASU recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff to set up a potential game-winning drive. Instead, the Sun Devils went three and out and settled for a 36 yard field goal attempt.
ASU redshirt freshman kicker Alex Garoutte missed the kick and the Bruins (5-4, 4-2 Pac-12) took over. Nine plays later, the Sun Devil defense forced a third-and-29 but allowed a 33 yard pass to set up UCLA with a first-and-goal.
“It was a great call by them,” ASU redshirt senior linebacker Colin Parker said. “I was hoping we could keep everything in front of us and force a fourth down at least but they went up and made a huge play.”
Three rushing attempts later, the Bruins took a one point lead with 47 seconds remaining on a short touchdown run.
The Sun Devils managed to work the ball down to the UCLA 29 yard line with four seconds left despite clock management errors to set up a potential 46 yard game-winning field goal.
Garoutte, however, couldn’t reverse his fate and end Saturday as a hero. His kick fluttered wide right and at least five yards short for his third miss of the night to seal ASU’s dismembering road trip.
“Before he went out there I told him he’s a great kicker and he’s made a million of these in his life,” ASU junior quarterback Brock Osweiler said. “Obviously it didn’t work out…. I don’t know if it’s really set in yet. It hurts but we did it to ourselves.”
The Sun Devil signal-caller finished the game 22-of-38 for 264 yards and three total touchdowns.
ASU junior running back Cameron Marshall rushed for a career-high 168 yards and a score.
“It doesn’t mean much with the loss,” Marshall said. “I can’t really describe it. The look on everybody’s faces, it shows how much this hurts us.”
UCLA junior running back Johnathan Franklin put the Bruins on the board first with an 11 yard touchdown run six minutes into the first quarter.
On ASU’s ensuing drive, Osweiler hit junior wide receiver A.J. Pickens across the middle of the field for a 35 yard touchdown catch and run. Marshall scored from 14 yards out a minute into the second quarter to give the Sun Devils a 14-6 advantage.
After a Tyler Gonzalez 43 yard field goal, UCLA senior running back Derrick Coleman added a one yard touchdown run to leave the Bruins up 16-14 at halftime.
On the second play of the third quarter, UCLA redshirt junior quarterback Kevin Prince hit a wide open senior receiver Nelson Rosario for a 76 yard touchdown after the Sun Devil secondary blew its coverage.
ASU cut the Bruins’ led back to two after its defense forced a punt out of the UCLA endzone and junior wide receiver Jamal Miles caught a nine yard touchdown pass from Osweiler.
The Sun Devil quarterback put ASU ahead to set up the frantic finish with seven minutes and 48 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter on a one yard sneak.
With the loss, ASU must now win one more game than UCLA in the final three weeks of the season to advance to the Pac-12 title game Dec. 2.
“It sucks to have your destiny taken it out of our control,” Osweiler said. “But we lost that today. We have a lot of fight left in us though.”
Reach the reporter at tyler.emerick@asu.edu
